Sustain Stadium, Gerard Buxton Sports Ground, 10 January 2023

Royal Wootton Bassett Town edged out Shrivenham by the odd goal in three to advance to the last sixteen of the Bluefin Sports Challenge Cup following a closely fought derby contest.

The two teams met at the same stage of the competition last season with Bassett securing a comfortable 3-0 victory.

While the outcome of the match was the same on this occasion, their second round meeting this year was a much tighter affair.

The horrible conditions that the teams played during the first half contributed towards that, with both teams struggling to produce much quality in a goalless opening period.

There were one or two openings for both sides. For Bassett, Jon Beeden narrowly missed the target from a Jack Hobson-McVeigh corner, while a defence splitting pass was put through for Steve Robertson but he was unable to latch onto the ball. At the other end, Callum Parson was able to work his way into a prominent position in the dying stages of the half, but Adam Corcoran was able to produce a good block to prevent that situation from becoming more dangerous.

The game finally picked up shortly after the restart. Bassett made an energetic start to the second half and were moving the ball around with purpose. A goal appeared to be on the cards and it came in the form of Matt Jones' fine 30-yard free kick that, with the help of the wind, he whipped into the top left corner.

However, Shrivenham responded almost immediately and, capitalising on a defensive lapse, Josh McGrory beat Matt Crowther with a precise, well-taken finish from the edge of the area.

Bassett made three quick substitutions, with Sam Collier introducing Matt Bennett, Scott Chilcott and Charlie McCrae, and these helped the hosts get back on the front foot.

And Bassett were able to convert the pressure they were able to exert into what proved to be the winning goal. Left back Louis Spalding had been Bassett's best player on the night - and it was fitting that the goal fell to him. He charged down the wing, played a neat one-two with Bennett to open up space and cut inside before slotting a right-foot finish into the bottom corner.

Even though there was still a good quarter of an hour of the game to play plus stoppage time, that proved to be the last real action of the match as Bassett safely saw the game out.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Wednesday 11th January 2023 at 11:17