Wednesday night saw the Development sides of Royal Wootton Bassett Town and Malmesbury Victoria meet at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground.
It was the visitors who had the first clear cut chance of the game when Josh Hughes had a powerful shot from the edge of the box brilliantly saved by Adam House in the Bassett goal.
The deadlock was finally broken on twenty minutes and it was Bassett who edged in front when Rob Lincoln got on the end of a cross from George Staten.
The game remained a close contest with both sides playing some good football. Bassett nearly extended their lead on 32 minutes when veteran Glenn Armstrong got behind the Malmesbury defence, but his square pass across the box did not meet its intended target and the visitors cleared the ball to safety.
Danny Lachacz thought he had extended the home side's lead a minute later when he headed into the net, but the goal was disallowed for a push in the box. Malmesbury 'keeper Macawley Brown then ensured his side did not fall further behind when he pulled off an excellent save from Bassett's young star player Elias Youssef.
Bassett continued to push for a second goal, but chances were spurned. Iggy Illot fired in a weak shot that was easily dealt with by Brown and five minutes later Lincoln beat the Malmesbury defence with a fine solo run, but he shot well wide. Malmesbury then went close at the other end when some good build up play down the left saw a half chance which was unfortunately blazed over the bar by Gareth Jones as he cut inside to make room for the shot.
It remained 1-0 at the break to the home side.
Bassett did manage to extend their lead five minutes after the restart when Youssef fired in from the edge of the box.
Malmesbury got themselves back into the match just after the hour mark though when George Stone netted after the Bassett back four failed to deal with a free kick into the box.
However, almost immediately Bassett went down the other end and a fine ball in from the right wing from Ben Paul was met by Armstrong, who fired the ball into the Malmesbury net to make it 3-1.
That shortly became 4-1 when 'keeper Brown failed to hold onto a ball into his area and Steve Yeardley was on hand to take advantage.
Malmesbury continued to play some good football and were duly rewarded on 75 minutes when Gareth Jones outpaced Yeardley to score a fine solo goal and put his side back in the match at 4-2.
As with the first Malmesbury goal, Bassett went straight down the other end but this time a superb save from Brown from an Armstrong effort prevented another immediate response from the home side.
Bassett were not to be denied though and scored three times in the final ten minutes.
The fifth came after another fine solo run from Lincoln saw him get past the Malmesbury defence and fire hard and low under Brown for his second of the game.
Lincoln then had the chance for his hat-trick when an exquisite ball over the top from Paul found him clear of the visitors' defence again, but he blazed over as the chance went begging.
Yeardley did then find the net as he also bagged a brace when a Lachacz cross found him unmarked at the far post and he headed over the keeper to make it 6-2.
That was not the end of the scoring as in the final minute of the match another cross from the right from Paul found Armstrong a couple of yards out. Brown did well to challenge him and the forward' initial effort hit the bar. But cruelly for the Malmesbury shotstopper, who had played well throughout the game, the ball fell kindly to Armstrong on the line and he made no mistake with his second attempt.
In truth the game had been a lot closer than the final 7-2 score line would suggest. Bassett moved four points clear of Malmesbury but, crucially, the Vics still have five games in hand.
Credit: Mark Smedley
Last modified on Friday 1st March 2019 at 11:29
