Rylands Way, 1st November 2008

A shot from Shaun Terry from 6 yards following good link up play was all that separated the two sides in this SBJ Insurance Cup tie. In Friday's Swindon Advertiser manager Dave Turner had predicted there would probably just be one goal in it and his prediction came true.

Despite just the one goal this was an excellent game of football played in difficult conditions with a cold biting wind blowing across the pitch. However, one suspects that after phoning in the result to the Hellenic League, Secretary Rod Carter's next task was to go and complain to the Rylands Way neighbours about the noise emanating from the visitors' dugout courtesy of Hardwicke's manager. At times it resembled an Under 9 manager screaming at his players, not the manager of a side at Step 6 in the Pyramid, and it was a blessed relief to the crowd's ear drums when the referee blew the final whistle and passage into the next round secured. The win also removed any danger of having to enter yet another cup, the dreaded Supplementary Cup.

Bassett survived a couple of close scares early on when they were forced to clear off the line. At the other end, with Scott Ward linking up well with Shaun Terry, Bassett themselves created problems for a Hardwicke defence that had only conceded 3 goals in 11 league games. However, the best chance of the first half fell to the visitors and it took a stunning save from Stewart Thompson in the Bassett goal to keep the scores level. The two defences remained on top for the rest of the half, with Chris Oram in particular looking solid for Bassett, and the two sides turned round at the break with the game goalless.

The deadlock was finally broken on 72 minutes when a fine flowing move involving Tom Richie, Ryan Banks and Scott Ward saw a lay off set Shaun Terry up from six yards out and he finished in style. Despite the visitors throwing caution to the wind in search of the equaliser, Bassett never looked like conceding to extend their unbeaten run (the Floodlit Cup has been written out of history given that we fielded a Reserve Team).

Man of the Match: Chris Oram – solid as a rock from start to finish.

Rating (using the famous Scoop scale): 8/10 – another great team effort.

Last modified on Monday 22nd June 2015 at 23:38