WITHOUT a win in over a year, conceding goals like they’re going out of fashion and taking three phone calls on a morning of a match against a side who have already thumped you 6-0 from players pulling out with a variety of excuses.
Few would have given battered and bruised Bashley, pointless all season, a prayer heading into their FA Trophy Preliminary Round match with Cinderford Town last weekend.
Fewer still when, after an injury to striker Dave Jerrard, goalkeeper Nic Jones had to play as a lone frontman for the first time in his career because their one sub could only play between the posts.
Bash manager Steve Riley couldn’t even take his team’s warm-up as usual as he was putting in calls to the club’s reserve’s players in an attempt to cobble together a team so they could play at all.
But sometimes that hard work and effort pays off – a first victory since September 20, 2014, a 2-0 success against Taunton, and it ended a run of 19 straight defeats.
Riley explained: “It was a special and significant win for a lot of reasons. We’ve not won for a very long time and the odds were stacked against us.
“I came back in the summer hoping to turn things around but it’s been a slow start, until last weekend that was. It didn’t start well. I had three calls from players withdrawing; one had family issues, another car problems and there was illness too.
Game plan
“We had only 12 going into the game, playing against a side who put six past us a few weeks ago.
“We knew even to avoid a repeat of that scoreline we needed to ride our luck but lo and behold injury struck, our striker couldn’t continue so our only substitute had to come on. Only issue was that he’s a goalkeeper -– and we had one of those!
“Nic found a shirt and went up front so Rob (Gillett) could go in goal. It was 0-0 at half-time and I just said stay in it, you never know. We were 4-5-1 with our keeper as the target man…who would be a manager!
“But Dan Maher, our centre back playing in central midfield, tapped in a great ball from Sam Chilman and it turned out to be the winner. We had a game plan and stuck to it… now for the league!”
And how they need to do something about that little problem. Bashley are not only without a single point in the Southern League South & West but already they have let in 53 goals in 11 matches.
Since New Year’s Day, they have only not lost once – a 0-0 draw with Shortwood on March 14.
“I want this Trophy result to give everyone at the club a lift,” Riley demanded. “You could see on the fans’ and players’ faces what it meant to them. I think this will prove to people we are no pushovers.”
Bashley travel to Mangotsfield United in the first qualifying round.
