A rusty performance on Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development's return to action ended in a 2-1 home defeat against Calne Town Reserves.

Calne made the short journey along the A3102 looking to complete a league double having won 2-0 at Bremhill View back in August - and they deservedly completed it despite winning by the narrowest of margins and a somewhat fortunate late escape.

Calne started much the brighter of the two sides and were rewarded with a goal 18 minutes in when a free kick to the far post was headed back across goal and an unmarked Ben Wootten made no mistake with a free header to put his side ahead.

Calne continued to have more of the play as the home side looked like a side who had not played for a month, although that was an issue that both sides faced ahead of the game.

Bassett eventually started to get into the game and went close when Mani Mesas fired in a shot from distance which was spectacularly pushed round the post by Calne keeper Jordan Brooks.

The home side did finally get themselves back into the game when a handball in the box, flagged by the assistant referee, saw the award of a penalty. George Lance duly fired the spot kick past Brooks into the bottom corner of the net to make it 1-1.

Calne continued to create the better chances and went close when Eddie Summers outpaced a very static home back line but saw his shot well saved by keeper Jack Rae.

Rae was called into action again two minutes from half time, the young keeper saving a Stuart Windsor shot from point blank range to keep the scores level.

There was still time for another Calne chance though, Summers seeing a shot from the edge of the box come back off the crossbar as it remained all level at the break mainly thanks to Rae's performance in the home side's goal.

Bassett upped their game in the second half, and it remained tight with both sides pushing for the three points.

When a home side attack broke down on the edge of their opponents' box, a long ball out of defence once again was not dealt with by Bassett's static backline and it saw Summers completely in the clear and he made no mistake, firing past Rae to make it 2-1 to Calne.

With time running out the home side were given a golden chance to take a share of the points when a second handball incident in the box saw another penalty awarded. Having put one away earlier, Lance left this one to Mesas, but unfortunately his spot kick was fired high and wide.

It was therefore Calne who took all three points to complete a league double over their near neighbours. The result also puts Calne five points ahead of Bassett, having played two games more - a much more comfortable cushion than that with which they started the day.

Credit: Mark Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 15th January 2023 at 10:42