22 Sep 2013 - Wootton Bassett Town 'B' (A)

Birthday boys Jamie and George arrived after opening their presents this morning but, sadly, George wasn't to play a part in today's match after an injured ankle let him down before kick-off. Nevertheless, the lads looked to pick up from last week's impressive draw with Malmesbury and, after two early chances for Bassett Blue, a Callum free-kick floated dangerously into the area only for Jamie to send the ball narrowly wide. Another Callum cross soon after failed to find a powerful head but we did take an early lead on 9 minutes when Dan jinked through the middle and sent a lovely ball out wide to Tom who, forced wider still, managed to control things beautifully and slammed the ball home: 1 - 0

We seemed to be on top at this time and a second goal wasn't beyond us with Lewis sending a high shot sailing over the bar - but it was the Blues who scored next - a floated shot launched from behind a crowd of players on 14 minutes giving Conor no chance: 1 - 1

This goal seemed to inspire our hosts and Conor now became the busier 'keeper, rushing out to clear with his feet - Charlie also had to be quick to get back in time to slant another ball out for a corner. At the other end, a Lewis cross gave Dan a chance to the left but there was quickly another chance for our opponents with Conor pulling off a great save, tipping round the post. A cracking Blues shot then rattled our bar before we had a period of pressure in the other box with a Tom cross and Euan free-kick giving our opponents something to think about at the interval. Half-time: 1 - 1

The Blues pressured from the off in the second half and looked very dangerous going forward. Soon, untypically loose defending from Bassett saw a Blues striker powering through on the break and Conor was exposed and unable to do much to stop a strong shot to his right that doubled the Blues' tally and edge them into the lead: 2 - 1 We didn't buckle under sustained danger, though , and a Euan free-kick followed by another from Callum saw the Blues on the back-foot for a change. But when Euan's next shot skimmed the bar it began to look as if it wouldn't be our day. The Blues always looked capable of scoring a third but it is to our boys' credit that they didn't - Callum particularly catching the eye with a number of great interceptions. Jamie, too, never let our hosts settle on the ball - harrying them and always trying to get things going in the middle. Josh and Ed were solid once more. Mind you we did have the bar to thank twice more as the Blues slammed further shots at our goal. The game seemed to slip away from us in the end and a first defeat was chalked up - plenty of lessons learned nevertheless.

Final score: 2 - 1

Man of the match: In a game where few players managed to put a strong stamp on proceedings, one player never gave up - making a number of crucial tackles, taking some great free kicks and looking to pass creatively at every opportunity - today's man of the match is once again Callum Bridges.

Coach's comments: A game where we never got our passing game going & credit has to go to our opponents who showed their experience of playing in Division 1 was the difference between the 2 teams.Losing George in the warm up was a big loss to us but we can have no excuses as the better team won on the day.The lads can still be proud of the effort they put in & how positive they were when we changed the team formation.

Team: Callum Bridges, Euan Burke ,Jamie Byrom, Lewis Cholod, Joe Fenton, Conor Chivers, Edward Fish (capt.) , Ben Croydon, Josh Curtis, Charlie Emmerson, Tom Miller, Daniel Hulse ,Zak Robinson , Adam Robbins

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