There was yet more frustration for Royal Wootton Bassett Town as they slipped to a 2-1 home defeat against ten man Lydney Town.

Another Saturday, another hugely exasperating afternoon. The pangs of frustration at the sound of the full time whistle must be getting maddeningly familiar for manager Paul Braithwaite as he witnessed his Royal Wootton Bassett Town side slip to a 2-1 home defeat against ten man Lydney Town – their third loss by a single goal against the Gloucestershire outfit this season.

For what feels like the umpteenth time this season, a sloppy mistake – on this occasion a mix-up between Nathan Hawkins and Jamie Richards - was the difference between Bassett finishing the game with at least a point in their pocket and ending the contest empty-handed.

That the incident which gifted Harry Williams the match-winner came just two minutes after Lydney had been reduced to ten men for Ryan Pendrey's needless petulance in the wake of a Steve Olphert challenge made it all the more infuriating.

In a campaign which has seen Bassett flit between passing moments of excellence and bouts of mediocrity, they have developed a knack for finding multiple ways to ensure that the team fails to match the promise and potential possessed within the squad.

Fortunately, the damage is only going to be minimal. But for a team more than capable of a top half finish, it's going to take a reverse in form and fortune over the course of the season's eight remaining games to have a shot at realising that.

Certainly it's going to require better against the middling ranks of the Hellenic League Premier Division, to which Lydney belong.

By no stretch do the Severnsiders boast the talent held by a number of sides in the division.

However, what they lack in craft and skill, they make up for in organisation. In the end, it was this quality which took them to a league and cup clean sweep of games against Bassett this season.

Defensively they were able to ensure that the home sides were rarely able to threaten, with Bassett failing to register a handful of meaningful shots on goal.

One of those resulted in Steve Robertson scoring the game's opening goal on the hour when he beat the offside trap to latch onto Hawkins' long ball forwards and lift coolly and composedly over the onrushing Richard Thomas.

But aside from that Bassett were unable to craft the number of chances necessary to put themselves in a position where they could perhaps afford to put a foot wrong at the other end.

In the opening period, Dan Bailey did force Richard Thomas into an improvised save with his face in after Dan Comer's cross deflected into his path. Then, in the early stages of the second half, Scott Walduck shot into the stopper's hands after a bustling run down the right channel, while Robertson rattled the post from a mighty tight angle later on.

Yet that was the extent of the threat the hosts posed. Even they enjoyed a numerical advantage, it was the visitors who spent a greater amount of time on the offensive.

Lydney were thus able to do enough to come away with all three points.

They equalised six minutes after falling behind, Declan Morley-Lyne spinning a stunning 25-yard free kick that Curtis Meare had no chance of keeping out into the top left corner

Nine minutes from time, they grabbed the winner despite having been reduced to men. Hawkins and Richards going up for the same header and inevitably colliding presented Morley-Lyne with an easy pass inside to an unmarked Williams, who slotted home from twelve yards.

To that there was no reply, leaving the Bassett boss to justifiably continue totting up the points his side have missed out upon thanks to the bouts of carelessness and naivety they have been all too frequently plagued by.

Man of the Match: Dan Comer

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Saturday 27th February 2016 at 22:58