Bassett Under 13's came back down to earth in their second match in Holland as they slumped to a 7-3 defeat at the hands of a strong G.D.A side. Again, Phil Tearle got a hat trick for Bassett being their only outlet in the match but this was too little as most of the side went hiding. On chances alone it could have been a draw though as Mike Ford missed a penalty and Bassett missed numerous one on one chances. Bassett lacked team spirit before the kick off and this showed during a dissapointing match. G.D.A started the better team and it stayed this way but it took ten minutes before the deadlock was broken when Bassett went ball watching leaving a man totally unmarked in the box and he slotted away a whipped in cross. The second came moments later when a Mike Ford goal kick went straight to a G.D.A forward and he made no mistake of burying the ball past Craig Munday. Bassett had a couple of good attacks after this and the referee blew for handball against G.D.A and Mike Ford stepped up to take the penalty, but it was saved. Then, a minute later when substitute Phil Tearle and Pete Willis beat the offside trap and the G.D.A 'keeper but they tackled each other going for a shot and the ball trickled wide. G.D.A continued to dominate with the presence of their height and made it 3-0 easily with another thundered strike. Phil Tearle then got Bassett a goal back before G.D.A made it 4-1 before half time.

Will McCurrach, Luke Cressey and Phil Forster came on at the break to try and change things but made little impact as G.D.A made it five shortly into the second half. Curt Postill then replaced Stuart Smedley before Phil Tearle grabbed his second when he latched onto a ball over the top from Josh Dimond. Quickly, G.D.A made it six as the game was becoming an exhibition match for the Loosduinen side. Jonny Aitkenhead had to be brought off for Bassett as he was lacking breathe due to his asthma and Dean Wason replaced him. Bassett missed Aitkenhead although the score was brought back to 6-3 again through Phil Tearle who latched onto another ball over the top. The final goal came through G.D.A as they played the ball around the inferior Bassett midfield and defence to slot past Craig Munday. Mark Smedley said of the performance, 'The one thing about Bassett is we are inconsistent. Often, we play bad after a good performance. They were outplayed the whole game by a good side who we actually beat last year. We missed too many open goals and a penalty, but it would have been an injustice if we'd have drawn. Hopefully we can learn from this performance and win against Dordrecht.'

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Thursday 19th November 2020 at 18:39