Basingstoke 22pts, Weston-super-Mare 25pts

BASINGSTOKE'S unbeaten home record was lost on Saturday as they suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of Weston-super-Mare.

In a close contest, the FX-backed side dominated large phases of the game and had usually reliable player-coach Ian Calder had his kicking boots on, 'Stoke would have won.

In the end, the home side's inability to secure ball at the breakdown, and their indiscipline, cost them dearly as they gifted Weston possession and territory.

'Stoke applied the early pressure but were reduced to a single penalty attempt which Calder missed badly.

Weston countered and took the lead as they took advantage of the Down Grange outfit's mistakes and indiscipline. Several penalties in 'Stoke's 22 eventually led to a push-over try which was well converted by James Reid.

'Stoke replied immediately as good pressure from the kick-off forced a scrum on the Weston five-metre line and, for the first time in the game, the home side put four or five phases of play together. This eventually created a hole for Simon Wickes to crash over. Calder converted to make the score 7-7 after 15 minutes.

Weston opened up a small lead in the following phases of play. Matt Britton scored a try with a 50-metre solo effort. This was converted by Reid who also added a penalty to give the visitors a 17-7 advantage.

At this stage of the game, Weston were on top as 'Stoke, who missed captain Kelvin Chapman's usual lineout dominance, struggled to secure any good set-piece possession for their backs.

It was 'Stoke who scored next, though, as Calder gathered possession in his own 22 and beat several tackles before off-loading to ever-present stand-in captain Jim Dixon. He put Robbie Holmes in for a try from 15 metres.

Unfortunately, Calder, who had earlier missed with a penalty from in front of the posts, again missed the relatively easy conversion to leave the half-time score at 17-12 in Weston's favour.

'Stoke started the second-half in lively fashion and, after only two minutes, Simon Buckland (pictured left) broke through the Weston defence from 10 metres out to score under the posts. Calder added the extras to give the home side a 19-17 lead.

Weston came back and began to turn the screw as they kept the ball in their forwards who, after 15 second-half minutes and several pick-up-and-drives, scored an unconverted try wide out to retake the advantage.

Calder eventually recorded his first penalty to pull the scores level before silly backchat from 'Stoke gave Weston a simple penalty attempt for a 25-22 lead with only eight minutes to go.

The final minutes saw 'Stoke trying to break through a robust Weston defence, but their inability to win solid scrum ball gave the backs no platform to launch any reasonable attacks and the side went down to their first home defeat.

This was a disappointing result for 'Stoke in which the work rate of Dixon and the hard-hitting of Selwyn St Bernard stood out in an otherwise ordinary performance.

After the game, the honest assessment from stand-in captain Dixon was: "Weston turned up for a game and we didn't."

Calder echoed these comments and added: "Individually, we must look at our perfor-mance, but also collectively as a team.

"Man-of-the-match Elimon Chimbina did what was asked of him whereas others didn't."

'Stoke: Calder, McFayden, Buckland, Chimbina, Holmes, Lucas, Wickes, Hobden, Evans, Ryder, Wilson, Drawbridge, Appleby (Northcote), Dixon (capt), St. Bernard.