04 May 2013 - NALGO Wanderers (N)

Wootton Bassett Town Development's hopes of lifting the Fountains Trophies Junior Cup were dashed as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat against NALGO Wanderers in an uneventful final.

For all Bassett's neat passing and possession, they were unable to fathom a shot on goal, and instead paid the price for conceding a cheap penalty quarter of an hour in that left the team chasing the game.

Guilty of overplaying in defence, a cheap throw in was conceded that NALGO took quickly. While trying to control the ball, Aaron Wellend received a light, but unnecessary nudge in the back from Luke Carter and was rightly awarded a penalty. From the spot, Dennis King confidently swept the ball into the bottom left corner to give NALGO the lead.

Bassett had twice defeated NALGO in the league, but seemed short of ideas against familiar opposition, failing to create an opening for the remainder of the first half. Indeed, the only other chance of note fell to NALGO's Lee Beavis, who raced onto a defence splitting through ball only to see ‘keeper Russell Faulkner parry away at his feet.

Dave Terry and Wayne Petrie's team began to turn the screw following the restart, forcing NALGO deeper and deeper. But still Wanderers' keeper Kevin Sawyer was little more than a spectator.

NALGO then almost doubled their lead when Dave Levett's curling free kick struck the crossbar.

As time wound down, Bassett desperately attempted to grab an equaliser. Yet the closest they could get was when Scott Large mishit an effort from beyond 30 yards, which almost fell perfectly for Lewis Petrie, who was lurking in space on the edge of the area. However, the midfielder's touch let him down and the opening had gone.

The game was now desperately stretched, and Faulkner was forced to make a brilliant reaction save to keep his side in the game, diving low to deny Kenny Hawkins' header from a rare NALGO corner.

Yet the ‘keeper would be beaten again with two minutes remaining. A long ball evaded the Bassett defence and, after hesitatingly initially, Faulkner was forced off his line to attempt to clear danger. A bobble saw him swing and miss though, allowing Scott Edenborough to tap into the empty net.

It was a disappointing finish to a fine first season for the Development team. Yet, for such a young team, there is plenty to build on for next year.

Last modified on Monday 22nd June 2015 at 23:39