Wootton Bassett TownWBTFC
Wantage Town
Wootton Bassett Town Logo
0 ‒ 1
Wantage Town Logo

WBTFC Scorers:
None

Poor Bassett Performance Costs Them 3 Points Again

Rylands Way, 18th March 2003

Another poor performance from Bassett cost them a further three points as they stumbled to a 1-0 home defeat to Wantage Town who are currently dwelling 21st and last in the Hellenic Premier Division table. A Mark Stevens goal midway through the second half earned Wantage all three points.

This was one of the games which Bassett should have taken three points from in the run in to the end of the season but this wasn't to be.

The first half was a sloppy affair for both teams with neither team challenging the respective keepers; Darren Curtis in the Bassett goal or Paul Belcher at the other end for Wantage.

In the 11th minute Ben Jarrett nearly created an opening when he was put through as a result of a ball over the top but he was beaten to the ball by Belcher.

At this point Bassett were defending too deep allowing Wantage to control the pace of the game therefore having most of the possession. Whilst Wantage had most of the possession Bassett weren't really putting a challenge in to gain the ball back.

Wantage had their first breakthrough of the half when Danny Allen put a ball in from the left but Matt Searis failed to connect with the ball in the Bassett box.

Allen was proving a handful for Bassett and on 28 minutes nearly put Searis in again but Searis again failed to connect with the ball. Wantage continued to challenge Bassett with Danny Allen being the forefront of these attacks on the left wing.

In the 33rd minute, against the run of play, a one-two between Ben Jarrett and Geoff Swatton failed to split the Wantage defence before Dave Turner was booked for a reckless challenge in the same minute as Wantage tried to counter-attack.

Darren Curtis was forced into action three minutes from the break when he made a good save from a Danny Allen shot; again poor defending allowed Allen through.

Allen and Searis again combined on 44 minutes when Searis headed an Allen cross just over.

No team had broken the deadlock by the end of the first forty-five minutes although Wantage could and should probably have. In contrast the first half performance from Bassett was a shambles with no challenges for the ball or any passing football.

The second half started the way the first half ended with Wantage the team on top. Wantage had a couple of attacks come to nothing inside the first ten minutes with Bassett on the back foot.

Time came for a Bassett change when on 57 minutes Gary Ashford replaced Neil Bridges. Ashford got straight into the action and three minutes after coming on he had a half chance when his shot was comfortably dealt with by Wantage 'keeper Paul Belcher.

In the 62nd minute Wantage took the lead when a Danny Allen corner came back out, he squared the ball to Mark Stevens and Stevens hit home from the edge of the area.

Bassett had a second player booked in the 72nd minute when Damon Sefton went into the referee's book for kicking the ball away on his own free kick. Bassett made another change two minutes later when Danny Clayton replaced Ben Jarrett.

On 79 minutes Gary Ashford had another chance for Bassett when he collected a deflected Geoff Swatton shot after a quick Mark Vaughan free kick; his shot was spilt by Paul Belcher but there was no follow up by any Bassett player.

Bassett continued to push for an equaliser but none came although Tony Macek and Mark Vaughan came close.

In the closing minutes Bassett brought Stu Hemsley on for Damon Sefton who had picked up a strain.

Just before time, in the 97th minute there was a mini brawl but no cautions were given. Save for this mini-brawl, Bassett went down without a fight on the night and deserved to lose this match after this poor performance.

Scoop's Man of the Match: Mark Hammond – had a mistake free evening and was comfortable on the ball all night. Danny Clayton showed promise when he came on but Hammond just scraped the award.

Scoop Rating: 5/10 – No fight from Bassett and some slack passing cost them three points. A poor performance.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Wednesday 2nd September 2020 at 14:33

Wootton Bassett TownWBTFC
Wantage Town
Wootton Bassett Town Logo
0 ‒ 1
Wantage Town Logo

WBTFC Scorers:
None