A 3-1 defeat against Hereford Lads Club saw Royal Wootton Bassett Town eliminated from the Bluefin Sports Challenge Cup.

Royal Wootton Bassett Town fell to a 3-1 Bluefin Sports Challenge Cup third round defeat against Division One West side Hereford Lads Club.

Injuries and unavailability forced Bassett boss Sam Collier into making a number of changes, and he used the occasion to offer first team debuts to promising Under 18 players Morgan Francis and Jed Phillips.

While they both showed promise, the former starting and latter coming on a substitute, the game represented a steep learning curve against physical opponents.

Bassett were forced to chase things early on as they fell behind on the quarter hour mark. James Hancocks raced onto a long ball over the top, and after outmuscling Caine Bradbury, he curled a left foot strike into the top corner.

The hosts levelled in style shortly after the restart. Alfie Presley threaded a pass through to TJ Bohane in the left channel and the forward thrashed a stunning, unstoppable drive into the top corner from the edge of the area.

Partiy did not last long though. Bassett failed to clear from a corner and, after the ball was recycled, it fell to Jay Cuthbertson to steer in from close range.

In an evenly matched contest, Bassett thought they had equalised again shortly after. Bohane rose highest at the far post to redirect a Presley corner back across goal and Danny Langford was extremely unlucky to flick a header onto the crossbar from a matter of metres.

The hosts then found themselves playing with a man advantage for the final quarter of an hour as Adam Newbury was dismissed for a lunge on Bohane.

And that almost paid immediate dividends. However, the woodwork came to deny Bassett again as a Bradbury free kick was headed onto the bar by Chris Jackson, with the rebound falling to Dale Richards, whose deflected effort trickled onto the post.

Having survived that let off, the visitors sealed victory. With Bassett committing men forward, a headed clearance left Adam Hockey alone against Callum Wright and the Hereford forward fashioned a yard of space before firing clinically into the bottom corner.

The Division One West side therefore advanced. However, the Lads Club's victory was marred by the incessant foul and abusive language employed by some of their supporters.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 29th September 2019 at 17:54