French School Meadows, 25th March 2006

On a miserable day, Wootton Bassett Town put in a quite miserable performance that saw them dumped out of the Supplementary Cup at the quarter final stage by Penn and Tyler's Green, going down 2-0.

Playing against the slope in the first half, it was a case of damage limitation for Bassett as they looked to keep the score down to enable them to take the game to the Division One East side in the second half. Inept play and lack of organisation put pay to that tactic.

On 10 minutes a silly foul on the edge of the area nearly led to the first goal but John Haines produced a good save to deny Paul Gardner's low free kick.

Four minutes later Stu Hemsley played a ball into the right corner where Chris Mills latched onto it and shot first time. His attempted lob of Gareth Tinsley sailed just wide.

In the 18th minute Penn took the lead following some poor communication between Haines and Rich Gee. The two left a long ball over the top, thinking the other would deal with it and Gardner was able to sneak in unmarked and head home from 15 yards.

Just before the half hour mark the home side had a chance to double their advantage when Jack Dixon cut inside from the right before beating Steve Yeardley and Stu Hemsley. Dixon shot from 20 yards but his effort blazed just over the bar.

Nine minutes before the break Dixon became the first player in the book as he was cautioned for a late challenge.

Attacking downhill in the second half, Bassett should have had the advantage and early on Hemsley had two decent chances. On 47 minutes Tinsley was equal to a Hemsley free kick before, five minutes later, a 20-yard strike from the Bassett midfielder forced another save from Tinsley.

Simon Jones replaced an injured Sam Lawro in the 53rd minute – Lawro had picked up a shoulder injury early on but managed to play on before the pain became too much.

Losing Lawro seemed to coincide with the breakdown in organisation at the back for Bassett and this cost Bassett.

After earning a free kick that brought a yellow card out for Lee Marshall in the 62nd minute, Ben Sturgess sent a crossfield ball to Adam Morris. Morris played a low ball across the face of goal and an unmarked Jason Danning connected with the ball but shot over.

Two minutes later Danning made no mistake. Morris sent another low ball into the box and, after losing his marker, Danning clipped the ball over Haynes at the front post.

In the closing stages Bassett threw everything upfront in an effort to grab a goal as, first, Lee Marshall was sent up from the back and, following a double substitution which saw the introduction of Steve Howse and Luke Jones, the veteran Howse joined the attack.

The closest Bassett got though was when Ben Gascoyne struck over after a mazy run down the left. Rob Clarke almost made it three for the home side but blasted just over from 20 yards.

A flurry of rash challenges, provoking more cautions, littered the final few minutes with Jon Davis for Bassett and Gardner and substitute Clarke all finding themselves in the referee's book by the end of the day.

Scoop's Man of the Match: Steve Yeardley – considering he wasn't anywhere near match fitness, Yeardley produced a brave performance as he never shied away from challenges.

Scoop Rating: 4/10 – One of the worst performances of the year as the side lacked organisation and didn't look like scoring all day. At the end of the day the 2-0 defeat was deserved.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Friday 18th September 2020 at 10:49