Sustain Stadium, Gerard Buxton Sports Ground, 12 August 2023

The late start to Royal Wootton Bassett Town's Hellenic League Premier Division campaign was worth the wait. Eventually.

Sam Collier's side came from behind to record a rare victory against Slimbridge, with goals from Tommy Ouldridge and Matt Jones ensuring a 2-1 win after George Neill had given the visitors a half time lead.

In the end it was a deserved victory for Bassett, with an inspired second half display helping overcome not only strong, impressive opponents, but also a first half performance that, while strong at the back, lacked any real conviction in the final third.

At half time, Collier and his team would have been forgiven for thinking that it wasn't going to be their day.

After Harry Pickering had saved well to deny Rudi McKinnon, Bassett passed up a golden opportunity to strike the decisive first blow when Jones' struck the post with his first penalty of the day after a foul on Dave Bampton following a corner.

To make matters worse, ten minutes later Slimbridge were ahead. A decisive counter saw the visitors break forward in numbers, and a move involving McKinnon, Marley Thomas and Sam Blackie eventually ended with the latter teeing up Neill who fired into the top corner with a fine first time finish.

Bassett's response was rather timid and they were spared their blushes eight minutes before the break when Neill headed over after being picked out by Myron Turner's cross with Pickering in no man's land.

The home side did force a save from Ellis Parker in the Slimbridge goal shortly before the interval, but it came from Tom Moore's rather hopeful long range effort, with the visiting 'keeper tipping over.

Bassett thus went into the interval a goal down, but they came out fighting with Jones firing narrowly over shortly after the interval.

Jack Smith then shot wide at the other end. But Bassett were the side on top and they were soon on terms.

On 55 minutes Chris Taylor picked out Bailey Gallagher on the right wing and he stood up a fine cross which Ouldridge guided home with a perfectly placed header at the far post.

Bassett were then almost in front with a quickfire second but full back Louis Spalding saw an effort deflected just wide.

They remained on top though and their persistence paid off with quarter of an hour to go when Gallagher won a rather soft penalty. Despite having missed earlier, Jones stepped up to do the honours again, and this time he blasted past Parker, sending the 'keeper the wrong way.

Slimbridge, already temporarily down to ten men due to a sin bin, felt aggrieved by the decision and were soon permanently a man down when Ben Prictor earned a second yellow card.

That helped limit the chances of Slimbridge getting back on level terms, though Pickering did have to be alert to keep out Tyler Jaggers in injury time.

Bassett thus start the second season in a row with a league win. Now's the time to turn that into a winning streak, beginning with Tuesday's visit to Wantage Town.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 13th August 2023 at 13:34