NEW Bashley boss Frank Gray hailed the return of popular winger Charlie Knight after his side’s gutsy performance against a full-strength Crewe Alexandra side.
Knight has signed a one-year contract with Bash after leaving Salisbury City – the club he joined from the Recreation Ground two years ago, before ending last season on loan at AFC Totton.
Gray said: “Charlie is a good acquisition with good experience at this level. He is happy playing behind the front man or a front two as well as playing on the left.”
Other than Knight, the only new face in Bashley’s starting line-up was former Cherries defender Brad Strickland, who was released at the end of last season.
Trialists who featured in the second half included Leighton Speechley-Price, a striker from Sholing, and Fawley pair Lewis Ross and Matt Vinning, but Gray remained tight-lipped on potential signings.
“Our plan when we came in was to have a fresh start and give the lads from last season a fair chance.
“We haven’t made any decisions yet and we’ll give it a couple of weeks – a lot of players will be available in pre-season, so there’s no great rush.”
Bashley fought valiantly against a strong Crewe outfit, who starved them of possession. Mathias Pogba wasted a host of first-half chances before Byron Moore gave the Alex a 47th-minute lead and Pogba latched onto Strickland’s poor backpass to complete the scoring midway through the second half.
Gray added: “The lads got some good, hard minutes under their belts. We went into the game after only two training sessions, so it was pleasing from that point of view.”
