Nursteed Road, 15th January 2005

Two goals from Jonathan Scott were enough for Devizes Town to see off Wootton Bassett Town in the Wilts Senior Cup in a close game which came down to two crucial errors from the Bassett defence, which Scott duly took care of.

Devizes nearly took the lead on only seven minutes after a Nick Mooney corner was directed towards goal but Bassett cleared off the line to avert the danger, Mooney then had a shot from eighteen yards easily held by Gill.

Gill was then able to easily get to a half chance from Nathan Perkins before Bassett got creative and nearly took the lead on 23 minutes.

Matt Bennett chipped in a free kick, which was headed across goal by Dave Tyler, but Andy King held a soft header from Mark King.

Perkins received a caution in the 29th minute after lunging into Steve Yeardley, injuring the Bassett midfielder in the process.

Dave Macey and Scott both squandered chances as the clock ticked towards half time before Bassett allowed Scott to have three more chances before half time, one which was put into the back of the net.

Firstly, a Rich Willis slip allowed Scott to get in behind the Bassett defence all alone but Ian Gill made a great save at the feet of the Devizes midfielder. Then Gill turned away a shot from the midfielder before finally he found the back of the net, albeit luckily.

A ball from Simon Price ricocheted off a Bassett defender into the path of the unmarked Scott who chipped Gill and the ball crept over the line after Gill had got a slight hand to the ball; Scott was then booked for dissent later on in stoppage time.

Both teams had chances early on after the second half as both defences were slow to wake up – Bennett had a shot easily for Bassett before Nick Taylor came close for the home side.

Mooney could have doubled the lead three minutes after the restart but his lob went just over before Gill held from Scott after good work from Perkins and Steve Sartin.

Yeardley was replace by Stu Hemsley in the 52nd minute before Bassett had a great double chance to tie up the game.

Matt Bennett struck the crossbar from twenty yards and the rebound fell to Mark King who put the ball over after finding himself in a great position to score.

Andy Hallett was booked with quarter an hour left and later found him lucky not to walk after a stupid foul just outside the box.

Rich Gee replaced Steve Bunting with nine minutes left leaving Bassett with a midfield lacking quality going forward apart from Tyler and Ash Bradshaw at a stage in the game where Bassett needed to commit more men being a goal down.

Perkins struck a post with a free kick with only three minutes left and the Gill shot Bassett in the foot, slipping up and allowing Scott to easily roll the ball into the back of the net and kill the game off.

Bassett now have two absolutely crucial league games coming up against Milton United and Pegasus Juniors – both likely to be scrappy affairs and a league cup tie with Fairford Town sandwiched between them.

Scoop's Man of the Match: Ash Bradshaw – The Devizes full backs had no match for Bradshaw's pace; linked up well all game with the front two.

Scoop Rating: 7/10 – Two errors cost Bassett again, but it was a good performance all round with Bassett being the better team throughout.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Wednesday 16th September 2020 at 12:04