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Ladies leave it late to reclaim top spot

Royal Wootton Bassett Town Ladies scored twice in the last twenty minutes to seal a come from behind victory by the odd goal in three away at Swindon Spitfires in a tense derby encounter.

The victory, which game despite a below par performance, sees Becky Gammon's side reclaim top spot in the South West Women's League Eastern Division. It also maintains their 100% league record, though that appeared under threat for the majority of the afternoon thanks to a spirited Spitfires performance.

Bassett cruised to a 9-3 triumph when the teams met earlier in the season. But Spitfires had finished 2017 in good form, winning three straight games while conceding just once.

With the teams not having played since December 3rd, there was going to be some rust in both camps too.

It was the visitors who were slowest out of the blocks. Despite having the lion's share of possession in the opening period, Bassett were unable to muster many chances. Instead, Spitfires had the better openings, with Katie Wadey narrowly missing the target on two occasions before eventually putting the home side in front.

Bassett changed things up at the break and that proved to be the difference as they started to threaten the Spitfires goal.

And on 70 minutes their pressure paid off as leading scorer Beth Westlake conjured up an equaliser.

Then with eight minutes to go midfielder Amber Egerton slid in to finish inside the box and claim the points for Bassett.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 7th January 2018 at 17:42