Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development had been kicking their heels for a couple of weeks due to postponements through no fault of their own but returned to action at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground when Shrewton United were the visitors. While their break from action may have been cause for concern, Bassett showed few signs of rust as they earned a 4-0 win in which hat-trick scorer Matt Bennett was the star of the show.

Shrewton welcomed back leading scorer Charlie Utterson and with Christian Boothe looking lively up front it was a tight affair during the opening half an hour.

The better chances were falling to the home side though, with Bennett being involved in most of those. And it was no surprise when it was he who eventually broke the deadlock with a fine individual goal. Cutting in from the right Bennett beat three Shrewton defenders before firing into the net.

Just as it looked like that would be the only difference between the sides going into the break, Bennett went from scorer to provider as his square ball to the far post found Dale Richards, who controlled the ball and then fired a powerful shot into the roof of the net.

There was still chance for Richards to go close again, his header from another Bennett cross coming back off the post and it remained 2-0 at the break.

Shrewton grew into the game in the second half and went in search of a goal to try and claw themselves back into the contest. Playing some neat football, they created a number of chances with Boothe going close on a couple of occasions.

The game was eventually put beyond the visitors fifteen minutes from time though when Richards cut in from the right and threaded a neat reverse pass into the feet of Bennett, who stroked in a low shot for his second of the game and Bassett's third.

Bennett then rounded off a fine afternoon's work when he got on the end of a pinpoint cross from youngster Alex Stephenson to head home a fourth and complete his hat-trick.

The win for Bassett saw them move back into second in the Wiltshire League Premier Division table.

Credit: Mark Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 14th November 2021 at 16:14