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Injury time winner from Gio Wrona seals the three points

Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development's unbeaten start to the season had been ended at the beginning of the month by Corsham Town Reserves and the two sides met again just a fortnight after that first meeting. It was a really tight affair for the whole ninety minutes with the game ultimately being decided by an injury time penalty. Both sides defences were on top in the opening 20 minutes with no real chances being created. The first real chance for the home side Royal Wootton Bassett fell to Manuel Mesas but he just failed to connect with a ball into the box. The visitors first real chance fell to Jason Henley when he cut in from the left but fired his shot straight at home keeper Adam House. Mesas then forced Corsham keeper Joe King into making a save on 36 minutes when his powerful shot was palmed away by King and then cleared to safety by his defence. Mesas went close again when a ball in from the right from Tony Joyce was missed by the Corsham centre-half and fell to Mesas but he fired just over. Six minutes before the break Corsham found themselves temporarily reduced to ten man when Ben Thomson was sent to the dugout for comments made to the assistant referee. There were two further chances before the interval, one for both sides. Firstly, Corsham's Chay Forrester fired just over on 41 minutes after creating space for himself and then at the other end RWBT's Dale Richards set up Gio Wrona but his shot went just wide of the far post to leave it 0-0 at the break.

Corsham thought they had broken the deadlock early in the second half when Ben Wickens fired in from just inside the 18-yard box only to see his strike disallowed by the assistant referee's flag. Comments made by strike partner Adam Mitchell to the assistant referee saw him become the second Corsham player to spend time in the sin-bin. Despite the numerical disadvantage, with the wind behind them Corsham continued to enjoy the better of the early exchanges in the half and Wickens should have done better after dispossessing Sam Ockwell to get through on goal but he rushed his shot and fired straight at keeper House. Just after the hour mark Corsham went close again as the home side failed to clear their lines and a powerful shot through a melee of players came back off the Bassett cross bar and was cleared to safety. At the other end the home side went close to breaking the deadlock when Bailey Gallagher met a Tony Joyce corner, but his header was cleared off the line by defender Ben Thomson who had also kept the Royal Wootton Bassett Town's skillful forward quiet for most of the game. Two minutes from time the experienced Adam Mitchell found himself past the home sides' defence but fired straight at keeper House and then strike partner Jason Henley fired just over in the final minute of normal time. The deciding moment then came in the third minute of added time when a Charlie McCuish shot from close range struck a Corsham defender on the hand and the referee pointed to the spot. Gio Wrona kept his nerve to fire the penalty low past Joe King in the Corsham goal to make it 1-0 on his first appearance of the season for the Development side. There was just about time for the visitors to kick-off before the referee blew the final whistle. Defeat was hard on Corsham who had been the better side for much of the second half, but the home side avenged that earlier defeat to stay in touch with the top two going into the Christmas break.

Credit: Mark Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 20th December 2020 at 15:22