A BAD day at the office is probably the kindest way to describe Bashley's woeful performance against Histon on Saturday, in what in the end turned out to be a comfortable 3-0 win for the visitors to Bashley Road.

Histon will more than likely be in the hunt for promotion at the end of the campaign if this match is anything to go by, but following two excellent victories for Bash in the opening two games, it was a rare home defeat that was a bitter pill for them to swallow.

Apart from a Dave Wakefield right foot curler from 25 yards out that produced a stunning finger-tip save from Paul Barber in the Histon goal, Bash rarely threatened the visitors throughout the entire contest.

The possible saving grace for the New Foresters is the fact that this afternoon's game away to Salisbury City (kick off 3pm) is a chance for them to eradicate Histon from the memory banks almost immediately, which Bash manager Barry Blankley endorsed.

"It was a horrible match, and we just never got going at all," said Blankley.

"Work-wise everytime one of our players had the ball they would have two or three players closing him down. They didn't let us play at all and we stood off.

"If you stand off good players, it doesn't matter what the level of football is, they're going to destroy you, and unfortunately that's what happened.

"It was a very disappointing first half and a little bit better in the second, but it's how we react now for the game against Salisbury. If there is anything good to come out of this, it's the fact that we've got this game against Salisbury straight away, so we can get this match out of our system."

Wakefield in particular, Craig Davis and Mat Jones were pretty much the only players to come out of the game with any sort of credit, and Blankley acknowledged that his usually reliable set of players were collectively not at the races.

Blankley added: "The thing is, if you get two or three players playing below par you can normally muddle through, but when you've got seven or eight that don't play to their potential it makes it difficult.

"If you've got eleven men pushing a car, it's a lot easier than two men.

"The reason we won our first two games is because we really worked our socks off, and earned the right to play. We didn't do that and it hurts me to say that."

Neil Kennedy rounded Simon Arthur in the Bash goal, to slot home the opener after just 11 minutes.

Bash had a little spell just before the break where they threatened to return to their usual flowing standards, but were then hit with a sucker punch as Histon made it 2-0.

Arthur gave away a needless corner, and from it Histon won another one.

Adrian Cambridge played the second successive corner short and then collected the return before cutting inside and rifling a left foot effort beyond the dive of Arthur.

Just nine minutes after the break the game drifted from Bashley's possible recovery exploits as a twice taken penalty from Neil Andrews made it 3-0 and game over.

Bashley: Arthur, Connolly (Quirke 81), Wakefield, Mark Jones, Mat Jones, Cook, Gee, Davis, Gibbons, Wallis (Gillespie 56), Lister (Gazzard 68). Unused subs: Cherrett, Elm.