Southern League Division One South football: Bashley left languishing in the bottom three after Larkhall Athletic loss
Southern League Division One South
Larkhall Athletic FC 2
Bashley FC 0
BASHLEY’S hopes of climbing away from the bottom three in the league were blown away on a wet and windy Wednesday night at Larkhall’s Plain Ham Stadium.
Sitting in the bottom three, Bashley have the benefit of several games in hand over most teams above them, but this used up one of those with no return.
Bash started well in a mainly even first half, but they fell behind just after half an hour and could not recover, their task hindered by the loss of skipper Brad Morris to injury early in the second half.
Conditions became trickier as the surface became wetter, and Larkhall adapted better. Bashley had gone close when Max Wilcock forced a terrific save out of home keeper Arthur Nesta, but Larkhall found the net on 33 minutes.
A ball over the top caught out the Bashley backline, and Harvey Pritchard was away clear. Ross Casey tried to force him wide, but the in-form striker kept his cool and found the net from an angle.
With the second half around six minutes old, midfield general Morris received lengthy treatment but could not continue, being replaced by Lewis Ross.
Conditions were beginning to worsen, with the heavy rain – falling since an hour before kick-off – starting to affect the run of the ball, and the quality of play suffered as a result.
However, on 69 minutes the weather was the least of Bashley’s problems as Larkhall stole a second goal. Again, a ball over the top was Bashley’s downfall, with Eben Mortimer-Taylor getting in behind for a cross, which Pritchard had no problem smashing in to double his and the Larks’ tally.
Larkhall looked completely comfortable protecting their lead, and with Bashley unable to mount a late rally, the game fizzled out.
Now Bashley return to their GlenMex Stadium home on Saturday for only the third time since Boxing Day, with play-off contenders Evesham the visitors.
Bashley: R. Casey, C. Baughan, J. Webber, S. Steel, S. Wright, B. Morris, A. Pickles, L. Delaney, E. Hodge, B. Williams, M. Wilcock. Subs: J. Johnston, L. Ross, D. Thompson, C. Stanley, M. Frampton.
