Sunday 7th January 2024

Tuesday night is set to be a big occasion for Royal Wootton Bassett Town as Sam Collier and his side visit Swindon Supermarine in the semi finals of the 1st Office Wiltshire Premier Shield (Webbswood Stadium, 7.45pm kick off).

Admission is £10 for adults, £6 for concessions (60+), £4 for youths (13-17) and free for those 12 and under.

Facing Southern League Premier Division South opponents on their own turf, Bassett go into the game as huge underdogs. But with the chance to shoot for silverware and cause an upset, Bassett will be giving it their all as they seek to reach a cup final for the first time in 23 seasons.

In that long stretch since their 2000-01 Wiltshire Senior Cup triumph, Bassett have reached six semi finals. Frustratingly, they have come up short on each occasion.

In 2001-02, after seeing off Supermarine with a 2-0 quarter final victory (the teams' most recent competitive meeting), Pete Yeardley's side fell to a 2-0 defeat against Swindon Town in the Premier Shield final four. A season later Bassett suffered a 5-2 aggregate loss against Brackley Town in the Hellenic League Floodlit Cup.

It was another six years before Bassett reached another semi final when in 2008-09 Dave Turner's team advanced to that stage of the Wiltshire Senior Cup. However, Warminster Town denied Bassett a final berth with a narrow 2-1 victory.

Since then there have been three further single-goal semi final defeats.

In 2013-14, Brimscombe and Thrupp edged a Hellenic League Supplementary Cup encounter 1-0.

In 2020-21, with Sam Collier now in charge, Bassett fell to a 2-1 loss at the hands of Kidlington Reserves in the Hellenic League Challenge Cup.

Then last season, Bassett were beaten 3-2 by Lydney Town in the Challenge Cup.

Having been unable to achieve more than a semi for close to a quarter century, can Bassett finally reverse their cup fortunes?

Last modified on Monday 8th January 2024 at 09:03.