A BRIEF snow storm may have ended 10 minutes before kick-off, but Supermarine were caught cold by an impressive Bashley side as they went down 2-0 at Hunts Copse in the Southern League Premier Division yesterday.

Two almost identical strikes, one with just four minutes on the clock and the second a minute before half-time, condemned Marine to their first defeat in 10 games.

And despite a much-improved second half showing, Mark Collier's side had given themselves far too much to do and, in truth, never seriously tested visiting keeper David Elm.

Bashley opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Richard Gillespie out-paced Chris Thompson down the left and sent a low ball into the six-yard box, where Ryan Moss tapped home.

Richard Kear had Supermarine's best chance on 22 minutes when Gary Horgan chested the ball down into his path, but the front man saw his superb half volley fly inches the wrong side of the upright.

That was as good as it got for the home side in the first half as Bashley took control. Gillespie and Moss both missed decent chances before they finally doubled their advantage.

Gillespie again got down the flank, this time the right, and another great delivery into the danger zone was finished from close range by Craig Davies.

Marine boss Collier rang the changes at half-time, bringing on Stuart Pearson and Nick Stanley for Alex Rigley and Kear.

And while Marine huffed and puffed after the break, they were unable to blow the Bashley house down.

In fact, despite their territorial dominance in the second half, Supermarine were indebted to keeper Tom King, who pulled off three superb late stops to deny the visitors a greater margain of victory.

Supermarine boss Mark Collier was philosophical in defeat, admitting he had seen two very different sides of his team.

"I don't think we can have any complaints about the result because of the way we started the game," he revealed.

"We knew all about Bashley's front two and talked about the need for concentration and for good starting positions, and that didn't happen.

"The first 15 minutes we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

"We weren't organised, we were a little bit sloppy, and against good sides you can't do that.

"People got in bad positions and didn't do their jobs early on and the game was taken away from us.

"On the positives, I thought we were excellent in the second half and it was largely backs-to-the-wall stuff for them.

"With a bit more care around the box we could have scored goals.

"We asked for a reaction in the second half and we got it, so we'll take the positives from that.

"We asked for a bit more tempo and intensity, and we got that desire and work rate and kept them on the back foot."

  • ELSEWHERE, Chippenham Town kept up their promotion push with a 4-1 win over Gloucester City at Hardenhuish Park.

The Bluebirds were forced to come from behind to claim all three points as Will Morford put the visitors in front with nine minutes on the clock.

But first half goals from Ross Adams and Sean Seavill put Chippenham in charge at the break, and they put the result beyond doubt after the restart through Seavill again and Luke Gullick.

Cirencester Town appear doomed as they suffered yet another defeat, this time away at Hemel Hempstead Town.

The Centurions went down 2-1, despite a goal from manager Adie Viveash to level things up midway through the first half.