Parkway made a couple of positional changes at the break with Hall dropping from central midfield to left back and Williams moving from left back to the right flank. Basingstoke started the half the stronger with Baker doing well to gather a dangerous cross from Bridgeman on 47 minutes with Parkway responding and Hall and Jones linking well to cross to Beardmore whose header flashed narrowly wide.

On 52 minutes a last-ditch block by White denied the visitors a shot finding the target as the visitors now began to dominate the game. Both sides rang the changes around the hour mark with James Watts-Barciela replacing Williams for Parkway with the visitors making a double change with Jonathan Efedje and George Reid replacing Bridgeman and Warre respectively.

On 62 minutes a Basingstoke free kick on the left created a couple of close-range headers with Baker doing well to stay strong under pressure to make a good save.

An awful mix up between Baker and Taylor Scarff gifted the visitors the lead on 63 minutes. Attempting to play out from the back an under hit back pass allowed Efedje to pounce and roll the loose ball into the empty net with arguably his first touch since coming off the bench.

This seemed to unsettle Parkway with Basingstoke now dominating completely and looking dangerous with every attack. Only a superb save on 67 minutes by Baker from a powerful drive by Reid prevented the visitors going further ahead. Parkway were now being outmuscled and outfought in midfield and offering little in attack with Rio Garside replacing Alex Cairo on 69 minutes. Basingstoke continued to control the pace and tempo of the game seeing another effort blocked by some backs to the wall defending on 69 minutes.

The visitors made further changes on 70 and 75 minutes with Paul Hodges replacing Ben Cook and Rudy Appiah-Allen on for Dunn.  With the pace of the game dropping and Basingstoke content to slow the game to contain,

Liam Ferdinand replaced Gallagher on 81 minutes and made an almost immediate impact with his close-range shot hitting the inside of the post and being cleared to safety.

Approaching full time Parkway managed to create a bit of pressure winning a free kick centrally just outside the penalty area with some claiming it should have been a penalty. They almost grabbed a late equaliser from the kick with Tom Deans effort smacking against the cross bar and rebounding away to safety with Grant well beaten. Sam Joce replaced Carlo Garside for Parkway in the 90th minute and as they pushed forward in the 8 minutes of stoppage time searching for an equaliser, they left themselves exposed at the back with the visitors sealing the game in the 92nd minute by breaking quickly with Ferdinand cutting the ball back to the unmarked Appiah-Allen who calmly slotted home from close range. Max Smith then saw a long-range effort sail narrowly over as the visitors comfortably saw the game out with Curtis Angell picking up a late yellow card.

After completely dominating the first 35 or so minutes with a pleasing style of play and taking an early lead, Parkway began to lose their way after conceding the equaliser and were not the same side after the break. Basingstoke became stronger physically as the game progressed winning the majority of 50/50 situations and after being gifted their 2nd goal, dominated the rest of the game.

Very early days for the new management team and their embryonic squad with today’s game giving them plenty of food for thought and lessons to be learnt. Parkway now travel to Gloucester City on Tuesday with the hosts, who were relegated from the National League South last season, coming from 3-0 down at half time to draw 3-3 at Taunton Town today.