Gerard Buxton Sports Ground, 23 October 2021
A near faultless performance, a clean sheet, a John Mills hat trick and a place in the hat for the Buildbase FA Vase second round: it was pretty much a perfect afternoon for Royal Wootton Bassett Town as they brushed aside Wessex League Division One outfit Downton with a 4-0 victory.
With the run of league form they have endured, there hasn't been much for Bassett to celebrate in recent weeks. While Bassett's position in the league does still need to be addressed, Sam Collier's side deserve a great deal of credit for how they emphatically saw off Downton and earned a place in the Vase for the second round for a second consecutive year - and only the fourth time in club history.
Bassett's second half display was particularly impressive as they turned the screw on their opponents, notching three goals while not offering Downton even a sniff of a consolation.
At half time, the tie did seem to hang in the balance. Bassett were a goal ahead thanks to Mills 35th minute opener, but Downton were by no means second best. They gave the impression of being a well drilled side capable of playing some good football. Yet they lacked the cutting edge to cause any major threat.
Indeed they only really created two half chance in the opening period. The first saw left back Sam Howe drag wide after being invited to advance forward. Marcel Laptas then found the side netting after a quick counter.
Bassett grew into the game and an enforced early substitution helped spark the hosts into life as Joe Selman replaced Dave Bampton who pulled up with an injury sustained in an early challenge.
It was not a like-for-like swap by any means. Bampton was playing at centre half, while Selman operates as a winger. But it allowed Bassett to shuffle things around and introduced a player whose movement would prove difficult for the Downton defence to deal with.
And Selman would be involved in Bassett's opener, playing a return pass to Mills, who coolly picked out the bottom corner after Chris Taylor had initially won the ball deep in Downton territory.
It could even have been two before the break, but Selman snatched at a shot after Alan Griffin had redirected a Gio Wrona back across goal.
Leading 1-0 meant that there was still much work to be done after the restart. But from the resumption until the final whistle Bassett made sure they were in firm control of proceedings.
Mills initially squandered a one-on-one opportunity, shooting straight at Matty Fredericks, after Selman had stole possession from James Clark, while Will Davidson steered into the side netting from a dangerous Wrona corner.
But a second soon arrived as Bassett's pressure paid off. Davidson saw an attempted cross blocked, with the loose ball falling to Tommy Ouldridge. He squared inside to Mills, who needed just one touch to roll his marker before slotting home.
Mills' hat trick should have arrived two minutes later but he somehow contrived to skew over from close range after Ouldridge had cushioned a header from Khedive McIntosh's cross into the forward's path.
But from the way Bassett were playing, further goals seemed an inevitability.
Wrona eventually grabbed Bassett's third, the midfielder tapping in after Fredericks could only weakly parry a Taylor effort.
Taylor then fired over from close range, while Mills and McIntosh both saw shots saved.
The scoring would be completed in the final minute though. The impressive Davidson forced another turnover of play inside Downton's half and the ball broke for Mills who advanced towards goal unopposed before calmly picking out the bottom corner.
It was a goal Bassett deserved and the final margin of victory was a fair, rather than flattering, reflection of the game.
Tougher tests await Bassett - both in the next round of the Vase as well as in the league. But the result and the performance that earned it will hopefully inspire the necessary confidence to rise to these challenges.
Man of the match: John Mills - the experienced forward earns the award for a well-taken hat trick - a haul that on another day could have been four or five.
Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 24th October 2021 at 16:29
