Peter Raynbird (Basingstoke & District Saturday League) Cup Final
Winklebury Stadium, Basingstoke
Admission including Programme: £4.00 (Suggested Donation)
Attendance: 150 (estimate)
One of the very few plus points of a horribly fragmented and disrupted season due to Covid-19, is club football continuing throughout June this year, with the FA waiving their usual banning of all club football throughout June. I had long since planned to visit the Isle of Wight today for the Hampshire FA Cup Finals, however that would mean a revisit to Beatrice Avenue, and when I became aware of this game a few days previously there was much appealing about it. The opportunity to visit a Step 4 ground, my first opportunity to watch clubs from the Basingstoke & District Saturday League, and a cup final between the two standout clubs in that league.
This cup final was played at Winklebury Stadium, home of the Hampshire FA, which was refurbished with the installation of a 3G pitch in 2019, and further upgraded within the last year to enable it to host the home fixtures of Basingstoke Town, hopefully temporarily as their battle to return to their spiritual home, The Camrose, goes on. Situated about a 20 minute walk westwards from Basingstoke train station, entrance is gained behind one end, through a prefab metallic turnstile block. Along one length, close to the corner flag there is a two storey building housing the offices of the Hampshire FA, whilst straddling the half way line is a modern but quite attractively designed stand, offering excellent elevated unobstructed views from its seating area, although there are only two rows of seats, with a further row to the rear behind a glass fence, which was closed off to spectators today. At the foot of the stand, there are two partly enclosed areas with four terrace steps. Behind each end there are stands recently installed to ensure the ground would pass Step 4 ground grading requirements to host Basingstoke Town's fixtures, a blue stand with yellow seats between the entrance and a corner flag, whilst behind the opposite goal is a similar sized blue stand covering steps to stand on. Around the rest of the ground is just hard standing, and almost inevitably for a venue with a 3G pitch, the perimeter fencing is of the green cage variety, with some sheeting attached to prevent viewing from outside. The Winklebury Stadium is actually a really pleasant venue, closely surrounded by trees and has a lot more character than most modern 3G cages. Pleasingly, a 12 page colour programme was produced and included in the admission donation, covering an earlier Memorial match, as well as this fixture. It contained ample information about both clubs, the tournament and also about Peter Raynbird, a man who served both the Hampshire FA and the North Hants Divisional FA for 55 years, and the Basingstoke & District League for 66 years, and was elected President of Basingstoke Town Community Club in 2019, but who sadly passed away in February this year. Today would be a very fitting tribute to a true legend in the local football administration scene, with both games played today carrying his name, the main stand newly named in his honour today, and various generations of his family were present to meet the players ahead of kick off, and hand over the medals and silverware following the match.
With only six teams competing in Division One of the Basingstoke & District Saturday League, and therefore only ten league games to be played by each club, finishing this season was never going to be a major issue for this league. Hook won the division following nine wins and a draw from their ten games, whilst Twentyten finished as runners up, following seven wins and a draw, six point behind Hook but eleven points ahead of the third placed club. The match between the two clubs finished in a 2-2 draw at Hook in early April, whilst Hook secured a 1-2 away win back in October. Both clubs successfully negotiated three rounds to make today's cup final, although Hook were helped on their way by a walkover. Twentyten won the last competition to be completed, in 2019, whilst Hook would be trying to lift the cup for the fifth time in their history, previously triumphing in 2015, 2006, 2001 and 1999.
On a warm and sunny afternoon, with temperatures in the low twenties, the first half was quite an even affair, if anything Twentyten slightly having the better of things, although on ten minutes Hook had the first clear chance of the match when a drilled shot was caught by the keeper. On the quarter hour mark, it was Twentyten's turn to shoot straight at the keeper, and they probably should have taken the lead two minutes later when a looped ball forward set a couple of their players clear, but in the end the ball could only be prodded into the keeper's midriff. And it was Hook who broke the deadlock on 41 minutes following a quick break, the ball was played up to the edge of the area, and the Hook player took a couple of touches before firing the ball past the keeper.
Hook made a fast start to the second half, but it was Twentyten who created the first big chance, on 58 minutes, when the ball was passed to the near post and the ball was tapped first time just wide. A minute later, Hook saw a shot blazed over the bar, and five minutes after that, on 63 minutes, Hook doubled their lead when the Twentyten keeper got his fingertips to a shot but could only divert the ball onto the inside of the far post, and then bouncing over the line. And it seemed that the game was all over on 72 minutes when Hook scored their third, when a cross to the near post was headed home. They had a great chance to make it four on 90 minutes, when a one on one opportunity ended with the eventual shot hitting the keeper. Twentyten did pull a goal back in the third minute of added on time, with a poked shot beyond the keeper's dive and inside the far post, and within a minute they saw a shot deflected just over the bar, which could have made the game very interesting had it gone in. But Hook saw the remaining time out to lift the trophy shortly after the final whistle.
This was a most enjoyable day out, in nice surroundings with a friendly environment, and a well organised event provided a fitting tribute to Peter Raynbird, as well as raising well over £2000, to be passed to Basingstoke Town Community Football Club, as Peter Raynbird would have wanted.
Video highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here
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