Flynn Walters scored the only goal of the game as Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development claimed a vital 1-0 victory against Calne Town Reserves in the Wiltshire League Premier Division.

When Bassett had met Calne at Bremhill View back in September, Mark Simpkins' team fell to a heavy 5-0 defeat. In the meantime, Bassett had defeated Calne's first team in the Wiltshire Senior Cup in November and were thus looking to follow that up with victory over their reserve side in the return league fixture.

Having played more games than all but one of the other sides in the division, Simpkins' side know they have to start putting points on the board quickly if they are to avoid the drop come the end of the season. And they made good progress towards that aim here.

They dominated proceedings in the first half, striking the frame of the goal on several occasions. The first such near miss was when Sam Case headed onto the crossbar from an Ollie Smith cross. It was another Smith cross that saw the home side go close again, Mani Mesas seeing his header towards goal striking the top of the crossbar and going over.

Bassett continued to press and went close again when a header from Ben Spackman was turned over the bar by the Calne keeper with a fine save.

George Statton then went close to breaking the deadlock, his run down the left flank ending with a shot to the far post which skimmed the outside of the post.

Despite Bassett dominating proceedings, the two teams turned round at half time with the game still without a goal.

The deadlock was finally broken in the second half. Bassett's leading scorer Walters beat the Calne defence to a flick on in midfield and then ran with the ball to the edge of the Calne box before firing a low shot into the bottom far corner of the Calne for his 12th goal of the campaign.

In the end that was to prove to be the difference between the two sides on the day as Bassett picked up three vital points in their quest to avoid the drop.

The win saw Bassett climb above Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves and they are now also five points above the drop zone though have played more games than the sides around them.

Credit: Mark Smedley
Last modified on Wednesday 28th May 2025 at 15:34