Corinium Stadium, 31st August 2013

It was not pretty but it was certainly efficient and sweet given the opposition. Former manager Dave Turner went home pointless and with Wootton Bassett Town having the bragging rights in Monday's Adver following a comfortable 3-0 win to Bassett. It was a typical local derby, blood and thunder, no tackle shirked and a game sensibly refereed by Mr Okole. He could easily given red cards to a player from both sides following a minor scuffle between the two players midway through the first half but sensibly gave just a yellow to both when other refs may have been less lenient. Later in the first half Swindon Town loanee Josh Helm then handled outside his box and had it been a Premier League game would probably have taken an early bath. Once again the referee only showed a yellow and as a consequence the game remained a tight and even contest.

In blustery conditions at the Corinium Stadium it was Wootton Bassett, playing up the slope, who played the better passing football and were rewarded on 9 minutes when following a quick attacking move the ball fell to Jordan Roberts on the edge of the Shrivenham box and he fired into the top corner past the despairing dive of Holm. The closest Shrivenham came to scoring in the first half was from a curling free kick which Steve Allison managed to scramble away for a corner. 1-0 to Bassett at the break in a game of few clear cut chances.

Playing down the slope and with the wind behind them, Bassett effectively killed off the game as a contest four minutes after the break. A neat passing move culminated in Sam Packer being put in on the left hand side of the box and his powerful shot into the far corner of the net gave Holm no chance in the Shrivenham goal. Two minutes later, Bassett man-of-the match Ryan Stanners hit the post after a great passing move had put him in the clear. It was now all Bassett and Sam Ockwell shot just over on 67 minutes as Bassett went for the kill. Three minutes later Alex Rigley went close again as his curling free kick just went the wrong side of the post. The game was ended as a contest on 80 minutes when substitute Sean Bailey, despite the close attention of a Shrivenham defender bundled in a Ryan Stanners shot which had skimmed across the Shrivenham box. Five minutes from time Tyler Sheppard, also on as a substitute, had a chance to make it 4-0 but his shot went miles over. In the end a comfortable win against an away side who created little in front of goal all game. Danger man Steve Robertson was well marshalled by Steve Yeardley and Shaun Carter all afternoon. With 3 members of last season's promotion winning side in opposition shirts, as well as the manager, it was an enjoyable 3 points but Bassett will need to up their game when Wantage Town visit on Wednesday evening in a tough looking Uhlsport Hellenic League encounter against a side that currently have a 100% league record.

Bassett Man of the Match: Ryan Stanners – along with Jordan Roberts, always seemed to have more time on the ball than everyone else. The youngster was always involved in the best attacking moves for Bassett.

Rating; 6 out of 10. Never really needed to step up that extra gear and there was always only ever going to be one winner. Second goal killed off Shrivenham's hopes and in the end it could have been a lot more than three.

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