SHOLING overcame an early scare to see off relegated Bashley 4-2 in today’s Southern One South & West derby at a sun-drenched Silverlake Arena.

The Boatmen fell behind with less than three minutes gone when they were caught unawares by a long throw.

But after going in 2-2 at the interval, they roused themselves in the second half to see off a spirited challenge from the New Forest basement boys, who look destined to return to the Sydenhams Wessex ranks next term.

Ronan Moore snaffled the early Bash goal with Sholing boss Dave Diaper admitting afterwards: “Having played so well at (second-placed) Stratford on Saturday, we got caught in the headlights for the first ten or 15 minutes today.

“I do my homework on the opposition, but I’ve not seen such a long throw as that and it caught us right out. I had no idea they had someone capable of that and their goal came from it.”

Sholing quickly recovered with two goals in five minutes from Tobi Adekunle and Dan Mason, but Bashley – who have won just one league game all season – hit back through livewire former AFC Bournemouth youngster Clive Makoni – to make it 2-2 at the break.

Having brought in a hog roast and beer tent to create a party bank holiday atmosphere, Diaper reminded his players at half-time of the importance of not letting the day go flat in front of a 255 crowd.

The Boatmen duly lifted their game with Dan, the youngest of the Mason brothers, and defender TJ Cuthbertson securing an ultimately comfortable victory.

“Despite conceding early, I was always confident we were going to win the game and I was really pleased with the effort. It could have been five or six in the end and their ’keeper has made three brilliant saves,” said Diaper.

“We’d come from playing the top two (Merthyr and Stratford) to playing the team at the bottom and that can be difficult because it’s a different sort of challenge. It becomes mental rather than physical because there’s a different type of pressure when you’re expected to win.

“When you’re playing a team lower down in the table, it’s so important to have the right mental attitude.

“I said to the lads at half-time: ‘A lot of work’s gone into the day and we’ve got a good crowd in who we want to come back, so we can’t lose the game.’ “But give Bashley credit, they made it hard for us and played with a lot of pace.”

Sholing wouldn’t be Sholing this season without an injury thrown into the mix and, true to form, they added two more to the list. Sam Olaofe and Adekunle were virtual passengers at the end with hamstring pulls.

“With all my experience, I can’t remember having so many injuries – and hamstrings in particular,” rued Diaper. “We had Lee Webber in goal because Rory Anderson pulled out with a bad back and both Marvin McLean and Pete Castle were out.”