SATURDAY, February 25 has turned out to be something of a red letter day for Bashley and Leamington as the Brakes exacted revenge for their defeat in the New Forest eight months ago.

The Warwickshire outfit lost that fixture 2-1 on a fateful afternoon last season, extending a winless run to nine matches before rediscovering their form later in the campaign.

It was too little, too late for Paul Holleran’s men, though, as they missed out on the play-offs by three points.

Steve Riley’s Bashley, meanwhile, cobbled together enough momentum to ensure safety with two games to play, with the result proving pivotal for both teams.

Fast forward to the present day, however, and things could not have changed more dramatically.

Leamington remain unbeaten in 21 league matches since Bash strikers Mark Gamble and Dave Allen secured victory for their side. How the New Foresters are sorely missing the men who made that result happen earlier this year.

In stark contrast to Leamington, Bash have won just five from 24 competitive matches in that time, the latest setback this reverse, which came courtesy of Matt Dodd’s strike and a late goal from substitute Alex Taylor.

In a match of few chances, Dodd rifled home at the far post following Tom Berwick’s low centre as the visitors edged in front.

Bashley’s Brad Strickland should have done better with efforts either side of half-time, but the hosts were beaten when Dodd slipped in Taylor to apply a simple finish late on.

The performance was encouraging enough to give Bash fans hope, as Frank Gray’s men showed no sign of capitulating as they had in recent matches.

But Gray was left to rue a lack of punch in the final third from his team.

He told the Daily Echo: “We felt we were as good as they were for long spells and, considering their position in the league, we defended well and created as many chances as they did.

“They had three or four chances in the game and scored two goals, while we had three or four equally good chances and didn’t convert them. That was the difference.

“The players the chances fell to are not goalscorers.

“You need people apart from the strikers to chip in with a few goals now and again which we haven’t been doing.

“Rob Gradwell came on for half-an-hour and Mark Gamble will, hopefully, be back next week as well so we’ll have some more firepower.

“It will be like having two new signings when we get those two back.”

Bash: Moore, Bell, Oliver, Strickland, Middleton, Richardson, Casey (Gradwell, 63), Hill, Stokoe (Foster, 80), Jenkinson, Knight. Unused subs: Vokes, Finlay, Kearn.