Bashley through to semi-finals

A heavily rotated Bashley side conquered Sporting Wessex 2 – 0 in the Southampton Senior Cup and have progressed through to the semi-finals. This is their first win in 2026 after some tough losses in the league.

Head Coach, Kieran Filmer, says: “Really pleased, I think the coaching team are pleased considering the conditions and the rotated side. I love the opportunities for the younger lads and players with less minutes.”

Man of the match debutant Hayden Wells opened his Bashley account with an unorthodox strike from the right-side nestling into the top corner of Sporting Wessex’s goal.

Shortly after the half-time break, Harvey Bertrand doubled the lead with a header following a corner. The right wing back has now scored four in his last three for Bashley and remains in top form.

Weather conditions were not in either team’s favour, heavy rain and strong winds pestered the Bashley players during the opening sequence and Sporting Wessex came with a game plan designed to disrupt Bashley’s class.

Three players made their first start for Bashley; Hayden Wells; Will Cherret; and Corey Elwick all performed well and seemed to fit into their new roles in the squad.

Head Coach, Kieran Filmer, says: “Hayden especially showed his quality tonight, so today was a great opportunity for him to express himself and he did just that. Harvey has taken a huge responsibility with the changes in the squad and the positional change has let him show his quality.”

“I think we take the last few weeks on, it has been a good opportunity for us as coaches to take the boys through different shapes and processes.”

Bashley now have a semi-final fixture against Stoneham FC, but first, Westbury United in the league is a major hurdle for Bashley. Their league form has been poor all season and now they need to build on this performance.

Filmer says: “I think we take this in our stride and build momentum from this performance and some of the passages of play and principles we have worked on in the last two weeks. We need to take every game as it comes and see where we can go from there.”