In a contest played in difficult, freezing conditions at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground, Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development triumphed 2-0 against Melksham Town Reserves.

Melksham played the first half with the wind behind their backs but despite the ball spending much of the time in half of the pitch being defended by Bassett, the visitors created few chances in a poor half of football.

The closest Melksham went to scoring was on ten minutes when Tom Arliss fired a free kick just over the bar.

Despite being against the wind, Bassett also created a couple of decent chances with Tyler Sheppard going close soon after the Arliss opportunity and Nathaniel Bell shooting just over on the half hour mark.

However, the teams eventually turned round at half time with the game still looking for a goal.

With the strong wind behind them in the second half, the home side dominated possession. But, as with Melksham in the opening period, Bassett struggled to create any real chances in the opening half hour.

The deadlock was finally broken when James Johnson was put through down the right-hand flank and whilst his cross eluded everyone in the box, Nathaniel Bell retrieved it at the far post before playing a ball into Dale Richards, who controlled it and then smashed a powerful unstoppable half-volley past Harry Pickering in the Melksham goal.

At the other end Sam Dowell had a half chance to get Melksham back on level terms but he fired his shot well over.

The points were then finally made safe a couple of minutes from time, Nathaniel Bell firing in another unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net, this time from outside the box.

The win saw Bassett move back into second place in the table, nine points behind Pewsey Vale but with three games in hand.

Credit: Mark Smedley
Last modified on Monday 29th November 2021 at 11:15