Dylan Griffin was the star of the show on his debut, netting all four goals as Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development recorded an impressive and vital 4-2 victory against fourth placed Park United in the Wiltshire League Premier Division.

Bassett dominated the opening half but, despite having most of the play, it took until five minutes before the break to get themselves in front to lead 1-0.

The first half had seen the visitors lose the influential Ben Spackman to a serious eye injury having been struck in the face by the ball. Thankfully following a scan at the hospital, and having been seen by a specialist, he is now able to see through the damaged eye and it has been confirmed that there is no serious damage, but he will be out for a few weeks.

The start of the second half then saw Park come out strongly pushing for an equaliser. After putting the Bassett goal under serious pressure for a 15-minute spell they brought the game back level thanks to a Ben Selman goal.

However, within 30 seconds of the restart the visitors were awarded a penalty that Griffin fired in for 2-1.

Park again responded well to going behind for a second time taking the game to the visitors and equalised for again with a well taken free kick from Corey Harbour-Burgess.

However, Park were once again to concede a penalty within a minute of scoring a goal of their own. This time the penalty also saw a Park player pick up a second yellow card and the home side reduced to ten men.

Griffin again took responsibility for the penalty and fired in for his hat-trick.

With the home side forced to go three at the back following the sending off, Bassett sought to take the game to Park and went close on several occasions, hitting the bar and seeing Park keeper Kierran Ramsey denying them on a couple of occasions.

Bassett eventually added a fourth to make sure of the points, Griffin getting on the end of Will Close cross to score with a one-touch finish for what was his best goal of the game.

Credit: Mark Smedley
Last modified on Wednesday 28th May 2025 at 15:40