Rylands Way, 14th September 2010

Wootton Bassett Town's hopes of an inaugural place in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup were exstinguished by Hamble ASSC, whose clinical finishing proved the difference in an extremely tight replay which the Wessex Premier Division outfit edged by two goals to nil.

Over the two games that determined who Old Woodstock Town would face, the Hampshire outfit were undoubtedly the better of the two sides, but Dave Turner's side turned in a valiant, improved display at Rylands Way, and – had it not been for their lack of end product – could well have taken the game.

Indeed, they were the first of the two sides to pose a threat, with Liam Edmondson seeing a glancing header hooked off the line in the second minute following a well worked short corner between Matty Bown and Jon Beeden. Then, the latter's left-wing cross was only half cleared to Bown, who cut inside onto his left foot and saw his half volley from the edge of the area go agonizingly wide.

The visitors' potency in attack – evident in abundance during the drawn contest on Saturday – first reared its head just before the quarter hour mark when a sudden burst of pace from Jamie Barron enabled him to fly past Richie Carter and fashion an opening. However, his curling effort took a deflection before being gloved wide by Adam Miles.

Ten minutes later though they had the lead. Sean Bailey failed to deal with a switch of play, the ball skidding beneath his foot on the slick surface, affording Richard Gregory a free run at Beeden down the right.

Whilst the young defender is by no means slow, the electrifying pace of the Hamble winger was too much for him, and Gregory swung in a ball that fell perfectly for an unmarked James Musselwhite to head in at the far post.

The lead should have lasted for all of seven minutes when Alex Green, narrowly beating the visitors' offside trap, latched onto a Ryan Banks flick on, leaving the forward with just John Webb to beat. But the ‘keeper kept his composure and was able to parry Green's effort away for a corner.

Bassett continued to threaten after the restart, but couldn't find the magic touch. Twice in the space of a minute Bailey came close after his clever movement created openings. Firstly, Green cut the ball back to the winger, who had drifted away from his marker and into a prime position ten yards out. However, he failed to keep the ball down and sent his first time effort over.

He then found himself on the end of a cross from the deep from Edmondson, and after taking a touch struck at goal on the bounce from twelve yards but could only drag the ball wide.

On the hour, Hamble made Bassett pay for their missed opportunities, scoring what was a sloppy second. A testing free kick from the deep was not properly cleared, and Beeden skewed a header back into the danger area where Barron was lurking, and the tricky attacking midfielder prodded home from close range to double his side's advantage.

Demonstrating the team's character, Bassett did not fall apart and continued to press for the goal that would open the game back up. With fifteen minutes remaining, a looping header from Green sailed narrowly over before a low effort on the turn from Collier forced an outstretched Webb to tip wide.

With seven minutes remaining the visitors were inexplicably reduced to ten men when substitute Chris Morris was dismissed for headbutting Ryan Banks in an off-the-ball incident. He then proceeded to take his frustrations out on the away team dressing room door after he had to be restrained from confronting a fan positioned behind the goal his side were defending.

His was the only Hamble head to be lost though, and they were able to see out the rest of the game without any further trouble thanks to their well organised, stingy defence.

Scoop's Man of the Match: Liam Edmondson – was a figure of force along the Bassett backline and dealt well with what Hamble threw at him.

Scoop Rating: 6/10 – the difference between the two sides come full time was the standard of their finishing. The two goal margin of defeat was not as emphatic as it may sound and Hamble were certainly given a good run for their money.

Last modified on Monday 22nd June 2015 at 23:38