Sustain Stadium, Gerard Buxton Sports Ground, 20 August 2022

A stunning strike from Louis Spalding set Royal Wootton Bassett Town in their way to an eventual 3-1 Emirates FA Cup preliminary round victory against Reading City as Sam Collier's advanced in impressive fashion following an eventful, entertaining tie.<\strong>

With the win, Bassett have now reached the first qualifying round for the fifth time in club history - and the aim will now to be to try and again progress to the second qualifying round, something last achieved just two seasons ago.

Getting this far was an achievement in itself given the strong start to the season - including an upset win against Highworth Town in the extra preliminary round - that Reading have enjoyed.

And it was the visitors who almost struck first when a ball over the top picked out a wide open Sam Tanner on the right side. With just Matt Crowther to beat, he skipped by the 'keeper but a strong saving tackle from Dave Bampton ultimately snuffed out the danger.

But it was Bassett who were soon ahead on the quarter hour mark - and in such style. Receiving a square pass from Chris Taylor, full back Spalding advanced unopposed and unleashed a thunderbolt of a drive from 30 yards that swerved into the top right corner, leaving a helpless Henry Woodcock rooted to the spot.

Bassett then doubled their lead ten minutes before half time. Breaking incisively from a Reading corner that came to nothing, Jack Hobson-McVeigh fed a pass to Alfie Presley in the right channel. After advancing forward down the wing, he squared inside for Matt Bennett who arrowed a drive into the top left corner from just inside the box.

The hosts therefore had a commanding lead at the break and came close to extending it further when a flowing move opened up the Reading defence and ended in Bailey Gallagher's tight angled shot being palmed away.

But, just as with anything involving Bassett, life was never going to be easy.

Just after the hour Crowther handled outside his area - albeit accidentally - an escaped with a yellow.

Then on 73 minutes Reading pulled one back as Joe Waight skipped past Jowan Partridge and squared for James Smith to sweep home from the edge of the area.

Bassett had the opportunity to restore their two goal lead though when Joe Pilling felled Hobson-McVeigh just inside the box after the midfielder had seen his free blocked by the wall. However, going for power, Taylor crashed the resulting penalty against the bar to ensure the game remained alive.

Where Taylor failed, Presley succeeded though. Minutes after finding the side net, he seized upon a mix up between Woodcock and his centre half to latch onto Crowther's heave up field before coolly slotting into the net.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Monday 22nd August 2022 at 10:46