Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development went in search of their first win of the season after two excellent draws away at Shrewton United and Kintbury Rangers. The visitors to the Sustain Stadium were Stratton Juniors who had Swindon Speedway manager Alun Rossiter in the dugout with manager Neil Lee serving a suspension that ended with their visit to Bassett.
Club coach Mark Simpkins, who had overseen those two draws, was in the opposite dugout, recently installed as the new permanent Development team managsr, replacing Craig Jones who had stepped down. Simpkins was hopeful of a first win of the season against an opponent his side had beaten 12-0 on their last visit.
There was to be no repeat of that score line m, but it was the home side who dominated proceedings in the opening 45 minutes. They thought they had gone ahead as early as the fifth minute through Alfie Presley, but the goal was struck off for an offside in the build-up. Presley was not to be denied for long though, a ball over the top on 21 minutes saw him clear of the Stratton defence and he got to the ball just before the advancing Stratton 'keeper Sam Lowrie, chipping the ball into the net before then being flattened by Lawrie.
Bassett continued to have the better of things with Harry Walters causing his former club all kinds of problems with his runs down the right. It was from one such run that his side doubled their lead. Manuel Mesas found the overlapping full back and his cross from the near the corner flag to the far post found the head of youngster Kevin Lartey who headed into the net for 2-0.
Stratton, with the wind behind them in the second half, sought to get a foothold in the game with Moses Naisarani looking dangerous when he ran at the defence. But the home side's defence was organised throughout and denied the visitors any clear-cut chances to claim their first win of the season and climb out of the bottom three.
Newly installed manager Simpkins was no doubt pleased with both the win and a second consecutive clean sheet given the tough start to the season.
Credit: Mark Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 25th September 2022 at 23:10
