Gerard Buxton Sports Ground, 5 March 2022

The game may have ended up being far closer than it should have been, but Royal Wootton Bassett Town made it two wins in a row as they saw off Tuffley Rovers 3-2 in an exciting, albeit nerve-wracking Hellenic League Premier Division encounter.

Bassett ultimately prevailed thanks to a lightning fast start that yielded two goals in the game's opening three minutes. Sam Collier's side should then have been out of sight by half time. But with Bassett failing to kill the game off, Tuffley came mightily close to rescuing a point after a brave fight back in the second half.

Throughout this season, Bassett have habitually made life difficult for themselves - and this was another of those occasions. But at least it makes for decent entertainment.

This was a contest that certainly offered something for the neutral from the first minute through to the last.

Sam Packer was first to strike, steering in a delicate side foot volley from John Mills' weighted free kick delivery with just over sixty seconds on the clock.

Mills then quickly made it two. Bassett stole possession straight from the restart and as Mills charged towards goal he was bundled to the ground just outside the area by visiting 'keeper Jack Copland. Copland was lucky only to see yellow, but the visitors were duly punished as Mills dusted himself off before picking out the top right corner with a sublime free kick.

Stunned to find themselves in such a hole so early on, Tuffley were well and truly on the ropes. And they were fortunate not to find themselves even further behind at the interval. However, wasteful finishing and some fine glovework from the fortunate Copland meant Bassett were unable to extend their advantage despite time and again causing problems for the visitors' defence.

On the quarter hour mark Bailey Gallagher cut inside from the left before flashing a form drive just wide of the left post. Minutes later neat interplay between Gallagher and Bennett saw the latter shoot narrowly wide from the edge of the box.

Twenty minutes in, Mills saw a delicate free kick acrobatically tipped over by an outstretched Copland before the forward failed to locate the target, dragging wide from 15 yards after a Bennett cross had bounced off a defender and into his path.

A brief lull ensued as Tuffley finally established something of a foothold.

But the final five minutes of the half again saw Bassett threaten.

On 41 minutes the ball was worked from Bennet through Mills to an unmarked Gallagher, but the winger's curling effort from 15 yards crashed back off the bar. The rebound eventually dropped for Kai Robinson, who forced a diving stop from Copland.

Three minutes later, a Mills cross was cleared only as far as Gallagher on the edge of the area and his shot, squeezed between two defenders, was denied by another Copland save.

That profligacy in front of goal would then almost come back to bite Bassett.

Sensing they still had a shot at taking something from the match, Tuffley played with intent from the opening whistle of the second half.

And within ten minutes of the restart it was well and truly game on as Liam Smith made it 2-1 with a free kick from the left edge of the box that he struck into the opposite to corner.

Adam Corcoran did quickly restore Bassett's two goal lead, bundling home after Copland could only parry Macaulay Dodson's glancing header from Mills' set piece delivery.

However, Tuffley's goal had injected the visitors with added confidence. And, helped by having a forceful wind behind them, they made Bassett sweat for the remainder of the match.

Gifted time and space to bring the ball forward, defender Liam Wright chances his arm from range on the hour mark and only narrowly missed the target with a powerful 30-yarder. Meanwhile, a pair of Smith corners resulted in shots being blocked.

Eventually Rovers again reduced their deficit to a single goal. And they did so in style as substitute Yesh Lomotey fizzed a dipping 25 yard thunderbolt into the bottom corner.

That goal set up a grandstand final ten minutes.

The pressure the visitors sought to apply did leave them vulnerable at the back though and Bassett had chances to add a fourth. The best opening fell to Alan Griffin, but his shot on the turn was batted away after a well-worked build up involving Bennett and James Johnson - who impressed with his willingness to run at the Tuffley defence in the short cameo he enjoyed.

But Tuffley, committing men forward, were the ones on the front foot as full time neared. And the hosts were forced to hold their breath at least once as Jon Beeden nearly diverted the ball into his own net after a diagonal ball had been headed back into the danger area.

Thankfully though that was the closest Tuffley would come to snatching a late point.

Man of the Match: John Mills - the forward enjoyed a very productive, impressive afternoon as he scored an outstanding free kick and served as the provider for Bassett's other two goals. His contributions were decisive in delivering Bassett the win.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Tuesday 17th May 2022 at 18:16