Rylands Way was the venue for our first ever competitive cup match which was against Ferndale Rodbourne 'C'.

From the kick off it was all Bassett and we tested the opposition keeper four or five times in the first five minutes before our first goal came. It was Josh who received the ball wide and did well to beat two players before crossing into the area where Alex and Max combined to score, Max getting the final touch. Next it was Alex who went close after following up a long shot from Martin but the ball went just over the bar. Josh it was who made it 2-0 after some good build up play from Mitchell, Alex and Reuben and Josh again went close twice more but the FR keeper was in fine form and this kept the score down to 2-0 at half time.

During the interval we decided to change our formation and play two upfront, this took us a while to adjust to and in turn allowed FR too much room in the middle of the park which they exploited well to pull back a goal. But after a few words with the team we were soon back on course. Again it was Josh who had the shot and again the FR keeper was equal to it but Scott followed up well to bury the rebound. Bassett were now well on top and before long we had made it four. Mitchell played a good ball out to Max who ran at the FR defence and tried to finish with a powerful shot, again the keeper parried it and Josh followed up with another good shot which the keeper again somehow managed to block and this time the ball fell to Max who had the final say as he tucked away the rebound to make the final score Wootton Bassett 4, Ferndale Rodbourne 1.

This was a good result which carries us into the next round of the cup but we know we can play a lot better and we will be looking to do so as the season goes on. After saying this on another day we could easily have reached double figures but unfortunately for us, today the FR keeper was in brilliant form.

There were a few players in contention for the MOTM award today, Josh had his best game for a long time looking very lively upfront and Mitchell worked hard in defence and supported well when we were in possession but it was Max who for the second week running ran his socks off and was the main threat which the opposition couldn′t contain as well as weighing in with two well taken goals.

MOTM – Max Passingham

Credit: Unknown
Last modified on Saturday 26th December 2020 at 14:21