Saturday 4th June 2022

A runners-up finish in North Wilts League Division Three made sure that Royal Wootton Bassett Town Under 12 Blue deservedly ended what had been an excellent first season of competitive football with an honour to show for their first efforts.

Champions Fairford Town Youth Hawks, who finished their title-winning campaign undefeated while dropping just six points, may have been a class above their division rivals. But in the face of such tough opponents, emerging as the best of the rest was itself an outstanding achievement.

And Bassett can also lay claim to being one of just three teams in their division to have taken something from Fairford.

That the Blues wound up as runners-up was impressive considering the team's record after their opening five league games. Indeed, Bassett would suffer their only three league defeats of the campaign during that spell.

Their season began in comfortable enough fashion as Bassett struck thirteen unanswered goals past FC Abbey Meads Youth Purple, with both Jude Turnbull (four goals), Alex Greenouff and Harry Scott netting hat-tricks.

Bassett then fell to an agonising 4-3 loss away at Croft Junior Red. After another Greenouff hat-trick had helped them to a 4-2 triumph at home against Bishops Canning Youth Scorpions, Bassett subsequently suffered two further defeats as they lost 6-2 at Fairford and 4-3 on the road at Stratton Youth Blue.

That left the team lying in seventh place. However, a stunning eleven-game unbeaten run propelled the Blues to their eventual final position. And Bassett were in free-scoring form throughout, scoring three or more goals in nine of those matches.

Their streak began with consecutive clean sheets as Bassett gained revenge for their earlier season loss at Croft by triumphing 4-0 before completing a double over Bishops Cannings with a 2-0 triumph.

A 3-1 triumph at home against Wims 11 Foothills – a result that would prove vital come the end of the season – was then followed by a 7-2 thrashing of Marlborough Youth Lightning, in which six different players netted, with a Scott brace leading the way.

Although Bassett's winning run would be stopped in their next match, they claimed an impressive point at home against Fairford as Greenouff (2) and Mason Brooks scored in a 3-3 thriller.

It was back to winning ways as Kyle Lillis' brace inspired his team to a 4-2 win against Marlborough Youth Thunder. Consecutive draws then followed as Bassett and Wims 11 shared four goals before six goals were split with Stratton.

While the former was a positive result, the latter was frustrating, leaving the team third, four points behind Wims with just three games to go.

But Bassett would successfully manage to overcome that deficit thanks to an impressive final trio of away victories when the chips were down.

Greenouff and Turnbull both struck twice as Bassett outlasted Marlborough Lightning to win 5-3 on the same day Wims suffered defeat at Croft.

In their penultimate game, Bassett saw off Marlborough Lightning 4-1. Greenouff once again scored twice, while Alfie-Jack McCarthy and Ewan McGeachie also netted.

Wims' defeat to Fairford a week later then meant Bassett were in charge of their own destiny ahead of their final match against FC Abbey Meads. And the Blues duly clinched second spot thanks to a 9-0 win. Excellent from front to back, Bassett ended their campaign on cloud nine, with Greenouff scoring five times – to take his season tally to 29, Connor Iles twice, and McCarthy and McGeachie once each.

Last modified on Saturday 4th June 2022 at 08:00.