Gerard Buxton Sports Ground, 2 October 2021

Royal Wootton Bassett Town's winless run in the Hellenic League Premier Division extended to five games as they were beaten 3-1 by Westfields on an afternoon of relentless, torrential rain at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground.

The result sees Bassett slip further into the midfield pack, though the team were certainly much improved from their midweek thumping at the hands of Roman Glass St George.

In an open contest, Bassett - not only without manager Sam Collier who was attending the birth of his son Fred, but also leading appearance makers Dave Bampton and Adam Corcoran as well as midfield dangerman Tommy Ouldridge - performed well enough but ultimately succumbed to their visitors' potent attacking force.

Bassett started excellently, taking the lead after just seven minutes. Patient build up saw the ball worked into Alan Griffin on the edge of the area and, taking advantage of some slack defending, he was able to work enough space to squeeze home the opening goal of the game.

Westfields reacted immediately to going behind though and were on the front foot. Daniel Stoneman brought out a good save from Eddie Cavanagh before Josh Hunt went close.

Eventually their equaliser arrived on 27 minutes as Hunt found the net. The goal owed a lot to Matt MacDonald's firm but fair challenge inside Bassett territory. The loose ball then spurted forward and a pass played into Hunt, who controlled with his chest before confidently curling beyond Cavanagh.

It was still anyone's game with Bassett probing forwards. But the best opportunities before the break fell the visitors way as Cavanagh denied Harrison Iddles and Richard Greaves narrowly missed the target.

It then took Westfields all of two minutes to go ahead after the restart. After collecting the rebound from a shot of his that hit the post, MacDonald squared to Stoneman, whose clever low delivery was turned in. The visitors credited Iddles with the goal but it seemed as though an unfortunate Jon Beeden was actually the player to divert the ball into his own net.

Bassett should perhaps have been on level terms soon after falling behind though. A clever backheel from Griffin opened up the right side of the visitors' defence and Joe Selman threaded a pass through to John Mills. However his attempted chip of an on rushing Ian Havard lacked the required height to beat the 'keeper. Griffin then saw a powerful rising drive from the edge of the area held by Havard.

It was clear that there was at least another goal in the game. Westfields' Iddles placed wide from a prominent position before Joe Davies headed over and Hunt saw a half volley saved well by Cavanagh.

Finally, with quarter of an hour to go, the visitors got their third to kill off the game.

Stoneman broke forward down the right and squared to MacDonald whose powerful effort crashed off the bar and into the net off the back of a helpless Cavanagh.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 3rd October 2021 at 11:49