Eynsham Park, 3rd October 2012
Injury may have sidelined him for the best part of a month, but Mark Barnes showed no signs of any rust, scoring a hat trick on his return as Wootton Bassett Town ended their four game winless streak with an emphatic 5-0 rout of North Leigh Reserves.
After an edgy start, Barnes put Bassett in front in the 32nd minute.
The prolific forward, who has been missed in his absence, then doubled the advantage shortly after the restart. And from there onwards there was never any doubt as to who would take the spoils.
Shaun Terry scored for the first time since August 10th to make it three and his strike partner bagged the match ball with ten minutes remaining.
Defender Adam Corcoran then got in on the act in the dying stages to round off a comprehensive, confidence boosting victory.
The three points lift Dave Turner's team from sixth to third, six points behind leaders Brimscombe and Thrupp with two games in hand. More importantly Bassett are in a position to now put distance between themselves and the chasing pack. It won't be easy however, with Letcombe and local rivals Purton, who will be smarting after their underwhelming start to their campaign, up next before a run of six games against five teams currently in the top eight and last season's champions Tytherington Rocks.
Last modified on Monday 22nd June 2015 at 23:38
