Royal Wootton Bassett Town fell to defeat by the odd goal in seven against Hungerford Town Reserves in a high scoring Wiseman Lighting Floodlit Cup third round thriller.

With the fixture sandwiched between two big league games, Bassett manager Jonny Aitkenhead used the cup contest as a chance to shuffle his pack, with a number of changes, including granting debuts to Thomas Suter and Lewis Thorne.

And Bassett made a strong start with two regulars involved in the opening goal on the quarter hour mark when Ben Cleary snuck home the rebound after Marcel Lewis' free kick was tipped onto the post by Hungerford 'keeper Alex Braidwood.

But, after a lull in proceedings, the Crusaders drew level shortly before the interval when James Tomlinson latched onto a through ball and slotted past Adam House.

The hosts pulled ahead early in the second half when Dylan Griffin fired in a fine strike from distance.

That followed an early spell of dominance from Bassett as they were quick out of the blocks.

However, they let their guard slip shortly after taking the lead for the second time and Tomlinson equalised again on 51 minutes as he capitalised on Bassett's failure to clear.

A similar failure shortly after the hour mark led to Hungerford's third. Adam House did well to steer behind for a corner, but the resulting set piece was headed in by Hungerford's Fabio Lopes as the visitors took the lead for the first time on the night.

And Bassett had House to thank for keeping them in the game. He made two outstanding saves to deny Jacob Bancroft, first denying the forward in a one-on-one before guiding a second effort onto the post.

Those saves looked as though they would be key as Kian McNally scrambled home an equaliser after Braidwood failed to claim a Lewis corner.

Parity didn't last long though as Bancroft finally got the better of House to make it 4-3.

There was still time left for Bassett to try and fashion another equaliser but a crucial save from Braidwood kept Hungerford in front as they held on for victory.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Tuesday 18th November 2025 at 22:16