Finally a bit of luck and three points in the bag. On a night that North Sea fishermen would be more accustomed too rather than footballers, it certainly wasn′t going to be a game for the purists.

After Saturday′s valiant display against North Leigh, manager Mike Hartley and his assistant Chris Jones decided to bring back into the starting line up Nisar Sultan and James Townsend.

Bassett started well and deserved their lead midway through the half, Captain Paul Davis finishing off a goal mouth scramble. That was just what was needed to give Bassett the confidence to push for that elusive win.

Up until the goal, Bassett were working the ball effectively, but for some reason as soon as the goal was scored decided to stop doing what had worked so well and encouraged a period of sustained pressure from the opposition . A rash decision by Nis could have ended in red, but the covering defenders ensured he only saw yellow. Apart from that one mistake, Nis produced a solid performance as he made some exceptional saves in some very difficult conditions.

Just before the break, Simon Jones showed tremendous determination to firstly pressure the ball and then seize on the defenders mistake to beat the Carterton keeper and calmly roll the ball into an empty net. With displays like this, Jones must be hammering on the 1st teams door, a sentiment embellished by Mike and Chris.

The second half saw the introduction of Matt Phillips, replacing the influential Sean Walsh, who had been struggling with an injury throughout the first half. Just as the half got under way the Heavens opened up, and it continued to rain for the rest of the game. Conditions were atrocious and it became impossible to play any kind of football.

Facing into the wind and torrential rain made things even worse, and Bassett were finding it difficult to get out of their own half. It was only going to be a matter of time before the Carterton breakthrough – a goal mouth scramble and the ball was firmly struck into the corner.

The Bassett goal on occasion was leading a charmed life with Nis making some good recovery saves and a clearance off the line, but Bassett, with their never give up attitude, are a different prospect than earlier in the season, and with this determination saw the game through with the 3rd and final goal 10 minutes before the final whistle. A free kick created by the vastly improving Tony McCusker finally finished of a valiant Carterton side. After initially giving up possession, McCusker won the ball back with determination and some wonderful skill, purposely drove towards goal and just outside the penalty area he was crudely hauled down from behind. From the resulting free kick, Luke Jones lofted a delightful ball for Paul Davis to place an excellent header into the net.

Reflecting on the game, Mike and Chris took a lot of satisfaction in the improvements being made by the squad, but stated that this is only part of the long term plan and that with the talent we have at the club and the players being brought in we should expect things to keep improving.

Damo DeBono is Mike′s latest signing, a player that he has managed previously at Stratton Rovers and rates very highly, and will only add to an already improving squad. Speaking about the signing Mike said "Damo was my captain at Stratton and at a very young age is a player I think has a very bright future and is capable of big things. I′m delighted to have captured such a talented young player".

Credit: Unknown
Last modified on Friday 4th December 2020 at 09:14