By Roger Ware, Bashley FC
After a dispiriting run of home losses and postponements since mid-October, the Bashley faithful – a fine crowd of 389 on a chilly afternoon – were rewarded for keeping that faith.
Recent matches had been a tale of frustration for fans and management alike, not only at the GlenMex, but away as well in the past week.
With the huge turnover of players this season, the stop-start nature of the weather-affected schedule and unfortunately-timed injuries to key players, manager Ollie Cherrett has been unable to find a settled formation.
Even here, skipper Brad Morris, the team’s midfield general, and in-form striker Conor Whiteley were both watching from the sidelines because of recent knocks.
However, those on the field rose to the occasion. Ashton Pickles, star of last season’s Bashley Under-23s, who moved away last summer, made a “return” home debut in a new-look midfield.
Sean Wright, who has been playing in the back line, moved forward, with Sam Steel taking his place at the back.
Callum Baughan, more at home at right-back, continued to fill in well for the departed Ben Jefford at left-back, with Jamie Webber in his familiar place on the other flank. Lewis Ross took over Brad’s armband and gave his best performance of the season.
The first half had been a cagey affair with only half-chances at either end – right up until the six minutes of added time.
One minute in, Bashley produced the best move of the game. A long cross-field ball from Jamie Webber found Jamie Johnston in space wide left. He sent it into the middle, Max Wilcock fed it on to Luke Delaney racing in from the right – and he did the rest with a fierce shot across keeper Ben Taylor and in at the far post.
So far so good – it looked as though Bash had edged a half-time lead and could make plans to defend it or better still add to it in the second half. However just two minutes after the goal the home crowd was silenced and it was the highly-vocal band of Evesham fans who were celebrating.
Tony Rolls, who had looked assured at the back, slipped as he attempted a routine clearance from near the penalty spot and the ball fell perfectly for Amer Awadh to smash it straight past the advancing Ross Casey.
The second half saw more goalmouth action than earlier, with anxious moments at both ends. Early in the half Delaney almost had another when his piledriver was blocked by a timely lunge from Will Owens, and there was another anxious moment for Evesham as Michael O’Regan cleared off the line from Lewis Ross.
At the other end play was surprisingly allowed to continue after Casey was clearly fouled jumping for a high ball into a packed goalmouth, but the keeper had time to jump up and spread himself to save Levi Steele’s goal-bound follow-up shot.
In the end it came down to a toss-up – or rather, the bizarre spin-up – of the ball. Wright burst into the Evesham penalty area and six yards out the keeper only half-stopped the ball, which was sent spinning tantalisingly along the unguarded goal-line. Wright looked favourite to finish the job, but slipped as he lunged forward.
Luckily for Evesham, the ball was spinning “outwards” along the goal-line – if it had been “inwards” Bash would have had three badly-needed points.
Manager Cherritt now has a week to fine-tune his troops before a crucial match at bottom-place Exmouth on Saturday.
BASHLEY: Casey; Webber, Steel, Rolls, Baughan; Delaney (Hodge 87), Ross, Wright, Pickles (Williams 70); Wilcock, Johnston. Unused Subs: Stanley, Thompson, Wooding.
Attendance: 389
