Bassett and Eastville met at Warneford School in difficult windy conditions on a pitch with a massive slope. Bassett won the toss and elected to play down hill with the wind in the first half. This looked to have been a good tactical move when they went in front on 9 minutes. Mike Ford pumped the ball forward and Phil Tearle beat the keeper to the ball to head into the net. Bassett continued to use the elements to their advantage and attacked the Eastville goal but were unable to find the net again in a frustrating half of football.

Playing against the wind Bassett started to play some neat passing fottball and opened up their opponents on 41 minutes, when Dominc Juggins put Tom Marchment through on goal but his shot just scraped the outside of the post. On 50 minutes Bassett again looked like they would score when Shaun Mochan had a shot from a Phil Tearle cross but this was brilliantly saved by the Eastville keeper.

As the game went on it looked like Bassett would win by that solitary goal but disaster struck on 65 minutes when David Lazenby sliced the ball from the edge of the Bassett 18 yard box over his own keeper, Craig Munday. The home side encouraged by this goal then threw everything at Bassett, hitting the bar and going close on a number of occasions. In the end a draw was a fair result but if only Bassett could learn to kill off a game when they go in front.

Credit: Mark Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 29th November 2020 at 14:39