THE Fleet are through to the third round of the Ryman League Cup after making heavy weather of beating Basingstoke during last midweek.

Manager Andy Ford fielded a Fleet team minus most of his key first-teamers, but it gave him the chance to utulise some reserves and players on the PASE scheme.

Although the Fleet survived one early scare, it was virtually one-way traffic towards the Basingstoke goal as Fleet created, and missed, a host of chances.

The Fleet took the lead after 13 minutes when Paul Booth intercepted a back pass meant for keeper Scott Tarr, before pulling the ball back to Danny Lye to score.

From that moment until the closing minutes you would have needed an abacus to have recorded the number of chances which Fleet sqandered.

And they paid for their generosity when Basingstoke broke upfield with 90 seconds of normal time left to equalise, when Tony Sumner's shot dribbled past the Fleet defence and into the net to force extra time.

Ironically, having spent the best part of 90 minutes missing a glut of chances, Fleet took the lead straight from the kick off in extra time when Booth shot past Tarr.

Liam Hatch and Perry Spackman, who netted his first ever senior goal for the club, added two more goals to finally emphasise Fleet's overwhelming superiority.

December 20, 2001 14:30