St Albans City 2, Basingstoke Town 1

BASINGSTOKE Town missed the chance to go second in the Conference South table by losing at lowly St Albans City on Saturday.

Town boss Ernie Howe was forced to change the side which won against Cambridge City in mid-week, as defender Scott Smith was ruled out with a groin strain.

Nathan Stamp dropped back into defence, while David Ray returned after illness in place of the injured Neville Stamp. There was also a place on the bench for Cristian Levis, returning from injury.

The first action in the match came after eight minutes, when Stuart Tanfield slipped the ball through the home defence to Martin Whiddett.

The Town striker beat the offside trap to run into the penalty area and shrug off the challenge of advancing goalkeeper John Armand but, somehow, he blasted over the crossbar from 15 yards out with the goal at his mercy.

Basingstoke were to rue that miss some four minutes later when City took the lead. Ben Walshe was allowed time to cross from the left. His pass picked out Thomas Beech, who headed across the face of goal and the ball was bundled home by Ben Martin from five yards.

The next time Town threatened the home goal was on 28 minutes, when a 20-yard free-kick from Tanfield forced Armand to push the ball away. Whiddett pounced on the rebound, only to be denied by a second save by the 'keeper.

David Ray sent a neat ball through to Whiddett, behind the defence, but he shot straight at the home 'keeper from 15 yards.

The two remaining chances of the first period came when Basingstoke felt they should have had a penalty. Goalscorer Martin took Neville Roach's legs away with the minimum of contact on the ball.

Town goalie Scott Tarr was then called upon to push out Lee Clarke's shot with a diving save.

The second half was only three minutes old when a long free-kick from Jamie McClurg into the penalty area was met by Jason Bristow's header, which went just wide.

The home side continued to push forward, looking to add to their tally and, on 61 minutes, a Richard Thomas cross from the right picked out Dean Hooper after a storming run, but his shot was saved by Tarr.

Soon after, St Albans had another good chance when a dangerous inswinging ball from Clarke was missed by a matter of inches by the diving Walshe.

Basingstoke pulled themselves back into the contest on 72 minutes when Nathan Stamp's free-kick went too deeply into the penalty area.

However, the alert Levis shot across the face of the goal and Roach finished off with a fine header.

Town felt they could have gone on and won the game and, on 79 minutes, a Sergio Torres corner from the right was headed by Whiddett and Levis - both getting something on the ball - but the downward header bounced over the bar from 10 yards out.

The sucker blow came for Town on 83 minutes, when a simple knock over the top found Clarke in what looked like an offside position.

The flag stayed down and Clarke carried on to beat Tarr from 15 yards out.

Town manager Howe said: "Once again, we have shown our inconsistency against lower sides than us and only have ourselves to blame for the result."

Tomorrow, Town start a busy week of cup action with a trip to Horndean in the Hampshire Senior Cup.

Howe will use the game to give some of his squad players a run-out but is not taking anything for granted and knows that the home side will be out for a scalp

The Wessex League division two side had a fine league win on Saturday - 1-0 over Poole Town.

Basingstoke: Scott Tarr, Brett Cooper, Nathan Stamp, Jason Bristow, Liam Parrington, David Ray, Jamie McClurg, Sergio Torres, Martin Whiddett, Neville Roach (sub Garry Haylock 87min), Stuart Tanfield (sub Cristian Levis 65min). Subs (not used) Rob Chamberlain, Liam Castle, Ricky Allaway.