Baston 2 – 3 Netherton A
A toothless Baston performance saw them lose further ground on the league leaders with a poor home defeat against Netherton, and now makes automatic promotion seem very unlikely.
Baston were missing key players Craig Bullivant, Greg Rawlinson and Mindy Valys for this clash, but were able to call upon experienced forwards Russ Grimes and Josh Cattermole to bolster the front line.
Despite being the favourites on paper, Baston made a poor start and struggled to keep good possession, Netherton meanwhile adapted to the game well and could have taken an early lead but for a misfire from their striker Starkey, before another one on one was stopped by a desperate last ditch challenge from Ben Hudson.
Netherton took the lead after half an hour, Hudson failed to control a loose ball, and was easily dispossessed, Starkey then saw his one-on-one shot saved by Rob Clarke, but managed to get to the loose ball first and knock it past a collapsing Matt Barnett on the goal-line.
Baston’s only real chance of the first half fell to Josh Cattermole, who skilfully took the ball past 2 players but dinked his shot just wide
The half time break couldn’t have come at a better time for a faltering Baston, but things got worse as Netherton completely dominated the opening 15 minutes of the second half, with another Josh Cattermole miss the only time Baston got out of their half. Netherton should have doubled their advantage as their plump midfielder Stanford managed to weave through about 3 challenges, but then send a horrible effort wide.
Baston started to improve and after 65 minutes, they drew level, with Cattermole latching onto Scott Waters’s through ball before slotting home past the keeper. Amazingly Baston took a surprise lead 5 minutes later; Steve Clay turned provider this time as Cattermole scored a great goal, placing the ball inside the far corner.
With just 10 minutes left, Netherton drew level. The shortest player on the pitch, Stanford, got free of his man and headed home at a corner. A horrible one on one shot from Setchfield was denied by Clarke, as Netherton were fortuitously awarded a corner by the referee, who had a poor game overall, and the Netherton striker Starkey got up to power home the winner, which his team deserved on the day.
Baston manager Phil Davies said “Today was very disappointing, last week we put in a great performance and lost to a good side, but this week we put in our worst performance of the season against a team who we beat comfortably a few weeks ago. Hopefully the Christmas break and we can make an improvement in the season run in”
Man of the Match: Josh Cattermole
Baston: Rob Clarke, Matt Barnett, Justas Poderis, Ben Hudson (c), Ryan Jones, Jacob Parkin, Steve Clay, Tom Hames (Paul Johnson), Scott Waters, Russell Grimes, Josh Cattermole.
Baston will return to action in the new year on the 14th January at home to Stilton Reserves.
