Pre-Season Goal-fest at Basingstoke

Basingstoke Town 4-3 Corinthian-Casuals
Tuesday 15th July 2025
Pre-Season Friendly
Report: Josh Lamey
​Interview: Chris Randall
Images: Stuart Tree (full set here)
Additional  Images from Andy Nunn here
 
Corinthian-Casuals’ quest to Hampshire brought both torrential rain and an onslaught of goals, but despite a spirited performance, Mu Maan’s side were edged out in a seven-goal thriller by Step 3 side Basingstoke Town.
 
The pink-and-chocolate army have been revelling in the return of the ‘Casual life,’ having now got four pre-season games under the belt. There was an opening defeat in a match of fine margins, as Burnham battled back to clinch it late at the 1878 Stadium. Then Mu Maan shuffled his squad against Chessington & Hook United and secured a win on the hosts’ practice pitch.
 
Most recently, Corinthian-Casuals welcomed supporters back to an upgraded Armada Group Stadium, which has had a makeover over the summer. The stylish new club shop and Roger’s Bar weren’t the only successes of the afternoon, as Corinth came from two behind to secure a deserved draw against a youthful Sutton United.
 
Tuesday night brought Casuals’ toughest test so far, as they travelled to Basingstoke’s Winklebury Football Complex. The visitors – who play in the Southern League Premier Division South – flourished in the opening 20 minutes, as a perfectly timed slide-rule pass from new acquisition Raekwon Bailey-Allen glued to the feet of Trey Masikini, who made no mistake with a cool finish.
 
Following an early fright, the Stoke created a series of opportunities to draw level. Twenty-five minutes in, and after fashioning a pocket of space in the area, the hosts’ No4 rattled the post with a venomous strike. Casuals were forced into a rearguard action, and it was thanks to the athleticism of our trialist goalkeeper that we took a lead into the break.

Basingstoke, who finished 15th last year, were by no means out of it, and exhibited just how deadly they were upon introducing more first-team faces after half-time.
 
The Corinthian backline had displayed resilience in their defending thus far, but they couldn’t subdue the mounting Basingstoke pressure. The hosts found an equaliser on the hour mark after an initial strike was charged down by returning Casuals centre-half Tommy Smith, but the Stokes’ number 12 fired into the roof of the net at the second time of asking.
 
Just moments later, Casuals were unpicked again. This time, a dangerous through ball split the defence, before being prodded beneath the ‘keeper. The rampant Basingstoke were seemingly cruising to victory when their centre-back bundled in a scrappy third less than 10 minutes after their first.
 
Yet those goals and the downpour that continued to soak those out on the pitch, failed to dampen the spirits of Maan’s side, who found a ray of hope amidst the heavy cloud cover in the form of substitute Diogo da Silva. The Brazilian No10 rode a series of challenges before unleashing a thunderbolt from 30 yards that dipped and swerved beyond the goalkeeper.
 
Seconds later, and Da Silva – attempting the spectacular, the audacious, the unbelievable – tried to catch the keeper out from the halfway line, but a miraculous recovery saw the Brazilian’s effort tipped on to the bar. A heart-in-mouth moment for all in the ground. Casuals did force home an equaliser after reaping the set-piece rewards again, as Da Silva’s corner was met by Arsenii Protsyshyn’s bullet header at the near post. With 10 minutes left on the clock, it was three apiece.
 
However, a back-and-forth friendly was finally settled in the 82nd minute, when Protsyshyn was adjudged to have clipped a Basingstoke attacker in the area, and the referee, albeit hesitantly, pointed to the spot. A firm spot kick into the bottom left-hand corner decided a very competitive match.

“We stood on our own two feet today, the first half was very good,” Manager Mu Maan speaking to Chris Randall after the match. “I’m proud of the boys after today; that was a good shift, against a good team. That was a good overall performance.”

It was clear Mu felt that the Corinth should’ve got more from the game, and that decisions, more often than not, fell in favour of the hosts: The deciding penalty was a key focal point late on in the game. 
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It didn’t dampen the boss’ spirits though, as he joked about the quality of the Casuals’ performance: “I don’t know if it’s the 3G surface that a few of the boys love! Well, not the older boys on their knees!”

Asked about the impact of some new faces on the night, Maan said: “The lads that I have brought in bring leadership, quality, the main ingredients. I’ve kept a lot of the players from last season and it’s just a few tweaks - they’re here to make us stronger and I am sure they will do that.”

Casuals’ pre-season has seen a well-balanced mix of ingredients; the return of some familiar faces and new ones, and as the coaching staff have dialled in their selections, the performances on the pitch have moved in tandem. 

“I’m just looking for performance and for the boys to understand the way that we’re trying to play. Tooting and Mitcham is around the corner, so now it’s about performance and sticking to our structure, ultimately implementing everything we’ve done in pre-season.”

“I think there has been a good energy from the Burnham game. Burnham, Chessington and Hook, the first half of Sutton United I wasn’t very pleased with but overall the energy has been very good; we look lively, we look sharp, and may long it continue!”

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