Rylands Way, 25th February 2003

A superb performance by Bassett Town earned them a point in a tough battle against Hellenic Premier League high-flyers Yate Town. Bassett overturned a 6-0 loss to the same team last Tuesday despite conceding a penalty which was missed by the visitors.

Neither team could create an opening during the first ten minutes – the game mostly being played in the middle of the park.

The first decent opportunity in the match came after eleven minutes when a good looking deep cross from Gary Ashford was headed clear by Yate.

A minute later at the other end, an identical cross to Ashford's from Kevin Coles was headed clear by Brian Kayll. Yate continued to push forward and created another chance in the twelfth minute when Gary Powell fired a shot from the edge of the area but it was just tipped over by Rich Stevens in the Bassett goal.

Bassett continued to play on the back foot allowing Yate to create more chances and in the 19th minute Yate came close again when a Ross Casey shot from 30 yards was tipped over by Stevens.

Yate continued to push for the opening goal and on twenty-four minutes, Lee Barlass headed just over before in the 28th minute Yate had the best chance to this point when again Ross Casey rose above the Bassett defence but he headed onto the bar from a cross from the right.

Bassett had a good opportunity on 31 minutes when Geoff Swatton made one of his great runs but hit just wide from twelve yards out.

Then came the turning point of the first half when Brian Kayll fouled Paul Metheringham in the box on thirty-five minutes when both of them went up for a header – the result of which a booking for Kayll, for disputing the decision, and a penalty to Yate. From the resulting penalty Paul Metheringham stepped up and put the kick wide and to the right of Rich Stevens' net; a disastrous penalty.

This was to be the last action of note of the first half – a good performance by Bassett denying Yate a goal although the penalty should have been put away.

Yate got off to the quickest start in the second half and had two decent opportunities within the first ten minutes of the restart, on 48 minutes Andy Neal hit over from twenty yards and five minutes later Rich Stevens made a point blank save to deny Yate again.

On 56 minutes Mark Simpkins hit a free kick over from 30 yards for Bassett before two chances for Yate's Leigh Williams as he headed just over twice in a row.

The first change of the match was made by Bassett on 68 minutes when Stu Hemsley replaced the injured Steve Yeardley. After this change, Bassett got on the attack and in the 71st minute, a Geoff Swatton run wasn't put away by him or the oncoming Gary Ashford.

Two minutes later Tony Macek – playing his first match back from injury – put Mark Simpkins through on goal but Yate 'keeper Tony Court blocked the shot.

Three minutes later a Gary Ashford corner from the right wasn't dealt with by Yate and the ball fell to Ben Gascoyne but Gascoyne's shot from four yards was well saved by Tony Court, as was the resulting shot from the initial save.

Bassett had another player booked in the 78th minute when Mark Simpkins entered the referee's notebook for arguing with him. Bassett made their second change a minute later when Neil Bridges replaced Ben Gascoyne.

Bassett were let off again in the 83rd minute when Rich Stevens spilt an Andy Neal shot from the edge of the area but luckily for Bassett Mark Vaughan cleared it away.

Bassett continued to push for a goal and nearly got one five minutes from time when a great Swatton ball across goal was just knocked clear ahead of the oncoming Neil Bridges.

Bassett made their final change on 89 minutes when Mark Hammond replaced Mark Simpkins but Hammond had no time to make an impression on the game. The final action of the game came a minute into stoppage time when Andy Neal was booked for a foul on Paul Patel.

Nil-Nil was a good result for Bassett after a great team performance earned them a point.

Manager's Man of the Match: Team performance

Scoop's Man of the Match: Mark Vaughan – solid as always in the tackle and was a key figure in keeping Yate out

Scoop Rating: 8/10 – A great team performance. Bassett had the most clean-cut chances all game and were solid at the back.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Wednesday 2nd September 2020 at 10:23