Meadowbank, 10th September 2011

When the draw for the FA Vase was released back in July pairing Wootton Bassett Town with a daunting trip to perennial Hellenic Premier Division favourites Shortwood United, it was obvious that it was going to be an uphill task for Dave Turner's side to progress in the national competition for teams at step five of the pyramid and below. And so it proved as the Nailsworth-based side triumphed 4-0, scoring a pair of goals either side of half time.

Although the scale of defeat was equal to that which put the club out of the competition in the 2002/03 season, Bassett did nothing to disgrace themselves, yet were punished ruthlessly by a squad littered with quality talent hoping to finally guide Shortwood into the Southern League and - who knows - possibly to national acclaim with a lengthy Vase run.

Both goals the hosts scored in the opening period came courtesy of headers. Firstly, Joe Tustain - the former Cheltenham Saracens, Slimbridge and Witney United forward, as ever, a thorn in Bassett's side - rose above Liam Edmundson to steer the ball into the back of the net on 13 minutes. Two minutes later, Craig Bowden was next to lose a critical aerial duel as midfielder Tim Haddock netted to put Shortwood in a commanding position.

Their advantage became three ten minutes after the restart when a Haddock run ended with the midfielder being tripped in the box. Alton Axton's penalty left debutant 'keeper Pete Doolan rooted to the spot as the classy defender placed the ball into the bottom left corner. A fourth from Kevin Slack twenty minutes from time then added further gloss to the score, and left Bassett to curse the luck (or lack of it) of the draw.

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