Rylands Way, 8th October 2002

Bassett marched through to the second round of the Norman Matthews Floodlit Cup against Hellenic Premier Division frontrunners North Leigh in what was to be an unexciting but vital victory to get Bassett back on a winning run.

Bassett came out of the tunnel for Tuesday's match on the back of an 8-0 loss to Bishops Cleeve away.

Both teams started off brightly with Bassett's Dave Jones having a good opportunity in the 7th minute but his shot was saved by North Leigh 'keeper Kevin Alder.

North Leigh got on the attack when two minutes later a Matty Ellis free kick was headed over by the Bassett wall for a corner.

Both teams created further scoring chances. In the 19th minute a North Leigh header wasn't cleared by the Bassett defence but luckily for Bassett the follow up shot was cleared off the line for a corner. Matty Ellis had another shot saved from the resulting corner.

North Leigh had got the upper hand, also having a few chances just before the half hour mark.

In the closing stages of the half Bassett themselves created opportunities, two for Paul Garbutt and one for Neil Bridges, but the chances were not converted.

Bassett went into the break after a good first half performance seeing no goals conceded and having created more chances than in the entire game against Bishops Cleeve.

Both teams again started off the half brightly and within the first ten minutes of the restart Dave Jones had blasted home a beauty for Bassett from the edge of the area after North Leigh's defence could not clear a Bassett counter attack.

North Leigh then had Darren Macey booked for a professional foul.

Bassett continued to play attacking football when Justin Hyde and Paul Garbutt had two near misses in the space of five minutes.

Neil Bridges had a good opportunity to score for Bassett in the 67th minute but nothing came of it.

Nick Forster had a good opportunity for North Leigh in 73rd minute but he failed to convert what was an easy chance.

Bassett continued to attack and in the 75th minute Paul Garbutt connected with a Luke Sharps free kick in the North Leigh danger area but Garbutt headed over.

Bassett had Neil Bridges booked for kicking the ball away in the 78th minute. Bassett made their first change after that bringing Nick Tooley on for Paul Garbutt who had put in another solid performance for Bassett upfront.

North Leigh should have scored in the 81st minute when they missed an open goal following a Rich Stevens mistake. North Leigh made their only change in the 84th minute trying to create a goal bringing Chris Catchpoll on for Neil Howe. Bassett meanwhile brought on a defensive sub so that North Leigh couldn't get the goal they needed, bringing Mark Hammond on for Justin Hyde, who had also put in a solid performance.

Mark Hammond nearly created a second goal for Bassett when a brilliant cross was connected with in the North Leigh area. Bassett held on for the win and marched on into the second round of the cup.

Managers Man of the Match: Mark Simpkins

Scoop Rating: 8/10 – A good solid performance by Bassett. Great games for Mark Simpkins, Paul Garbutt, Neil Bridges, Justin Hyde and Dave Jones especially. A good debut for Brian Kayll as well.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Wednesday 2nd September 2020 at 08:50