Southfield, 20th August 2011

Dave Turner must have felt a sense of deja vu after his seeing his Wootton Bassett Town side once again dig themselves a hole that would prove difficult to climb out of. Against Western League Radstock Town in their FA Cup Extra Preliminary round tie, a pair of first half mistakes from Adam Corcoran and Shaun Carter - two typically reliable centre backs - gifted the hosts a 2-0 lead. And although Bassett would snatch a goal back courtesy of a Sam Collier penalty, it was not to be as they crashed out of the grand old cup competition at the earliest opportunity.

A nightmare afternoon was destined to be on the cards as Bassett arrived in Somerset with just a 12 man squad thanks to suspensions and a nasty incident on Thursday night involving young forward Ethan Delaney. Therefore, Turner did not find himself in a particularly great mood when the afternoon began.

And conceding inside the opening five minutes did little to calm his temper.

Bassett had begun brightly, having had the majority of the early possession, but they were to fall behind to a cheap goal that it was extremely avoidable. Jamie Mines' right-wing cross was not particularly troubling, but Corcoran scuffed his clearance straight to Barry Sandquest, who picked his spot well and slid the ball home from close range.

Unsurprisingly, the goal dented Bassett's confidence as they began to rush play and concede possession all to cheaply.

This brought an increased amount of pressure onto their own defence and only a solid stop from Stewart Thompson prevented the lead from being doubled on the quarter hour mark as he saved low to keep James Rustell's snap shot out.

But fifteen minutes later he could do little to deny the home side's forward. Carter, rather than attacking the ball, allowed a hopeful clearance to bounce, and Rustell stole in before blasting a helpless Thompson from an angle just inside the box.

An almost carbon copy chance followed as Carter kicked at thin air, but Thompson produced a composed save to parry away Rustell's effort after the forward had been afforded a one-on-one opportunity.

Bassett though were thrown a life line four minutes before half time. Lee Bowen's through ball allowed Sam Packer to burst into the box, and the lively midfielder was felled by last man Carl Stone leaving referee Madaras no option but to point to the spot. He should also have produced a red card for the Radstock defender, but fortunately for Stone, he issued merely a caution much to the anger of the Bassett bench.

Sam Collier stood up to take the penalty and thumped the ball down the middle to cut the deficit in half going into half time.

The visitors were given a further boost in the 55th minute as Stone received a second yellow for raising his arms at Collier in an off the ball incident. Having to play the remainder of the match a man down, Radstock took the opportunity to batten down the hatches though. Time after time, Turner's side camped themselves in their hosts' side of the pitch, but were repelled.

On three occasions, however, Bassett were able to muster excellent openings.

Midway through the half neat play by Packer allowed him to feed Bowen in down the right-wing and the ex-Cricklade man sent a low delivery across the face of goal, which Collier was inches away from diverting home.

With quarter of an hour remaining, Radstock 'keeper Gary Stevens found himself stranded, and the ball fell to Collier on the edge of the area. His snap shot was blocked, but the ball fell straight to James Turner, yet his header was cleared off the line.

Finally, on 84 minutes a marauding run from Corcoran opened up a shooting lane for the defender and a chance to atone for his costly mistake earlier in the contest. He opened fire from 25 yards with a pile-driver of a shot, which Stevens thought was headed wide. It wasn't. However, the swerving ball clipped the post much to the relief of the home crowd, who minutes later were celebrating victory.

Scoop's Man of the Match: Sam Packer - asked to fill the void up front alongside Sam Collier, Packer delivered another driven performance. The only real playmaker Bassett had on the field, he was at the heart of most of what his team did going forward, winning the penalty and creating a couple decent chances.

Scoop Rating: 5/10 - another disappointing result, which means Bassett remain winless this season. Two costly errors were once again the team's undoing, leaving Dave Turner's side with far too much to do for the rest of the game.

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