The old saying of a match being a game of two halves was never better demonstrated than in this Swindon & District League Division "A" fixture at Ballards Ash. Stratton Juniors have only ever lost in 11'a side matches against one side, Westbrook, and must have been thinking at half time that they were going to be on the end of a surprise defeat against mid-table Bassett. Bassett went in front after two minutes when, following a corner, the ball was cleared to just outside the Stratton 18-yard box and fell to David Lazenby who scored with a stunning shot into the bottom corner of the net. Five minutes later Bassett extended their lead when Tom Marchment continued his excellent goal-scoring run of late, with a goal following good work from Jonny Aitkenhead and Matt Purse. Bassett went further in front after 23 minutes when Sean Toomey found the net with a low shot. With a half time lead of 3-0 the Bassett players were in a confident mood.

What a contrast in the second half as Stratton Juniors threw everything at Bassett. The deficit was reduced after just one minute of the second half. Bassett gave the ball away in midfield and allowed Stratton to break quickly and score a well taken goal. Two minutes later Bassett pressed the self-destruct button. A short goal kick routine went badly wrong and the ball was passed straight into the path of a Stratton forward who made no mistake with the late Christmas present courtesy of Bassett's defence. This goal put a completely different complexion on the game and Stratton continued to press forward in search of an equaliser. Bassett's supply to the front players dried up and the defence were under constant pressure as midfield kept conceding possession with either a sloppy pass or trying to hold onto the ball for too long. With six minutes to go Bassett still led but a Stratton equaliser five minutes from time gave the visitors added momentum. Bassett continued to lose possession cheaply in midfield and following a Bassett attack in the 59th minute, which broke down, Kevin Glover scored with a lob from the far right hand side of Bassett's box. Bassett still had a chance to equalise at the other end, but Jonny Aitkenhead shot over when a square ball to the unmarked duo of Matt Purse and Stuart Smedley would probably have resulted in a goal. In the last minute of the match Stratton scored a fifth to complete a tremendous fightback.

Managers Man of the Match: David Lazenby

Credit: Mark Smedley
Last modified on Saturday 21st November 2020 at 20:04