Wootton Bassett B beat the previously unbeaten Devizes 4-3

Devizes were previously unbeaten in the East Central 2 league with a healthy 10 points where as Bassett had a respectable 6.

With a newly formed team which featured some of Wootton Bassett’s most experienced members combined with up and coming stars from the junior section, there was no problem in bonding, the team looked like they had played together for seasons. They arrived at the game not worried about the opponents run of form, but eyes firmly set on taking home 3 points.

From the first whistle Bassett started strongly, looking for an opener. Bassett kept possession for the first few minutes looking for areas to exploit, with both Pete Sammon and Nick Thomson looking for balls from the midfield. 10 minutes into the game, Bassett's possession and accurate passing paid off when James Wright sweetly struck the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. After the restart Devizes looked to get back to their winning ways by launching attacks down the middle of the park. They found it hard to thread any balls through the middle as a strong Miles, Cook, Sighe, Holmes and Cooper were quick to smother any forward threats and passed the ball out of dangerous situations. All this pressure paid off for the home side though, as they won a short corner in the 15th minute of the game, in which the ball ended up in the back of the goal. With the umpire giving the goal to Devizes, Bassett looked like they would be back in battle, but after umpires compared notes on the decision, it was overturned and Bassett were given a 16 to restart the break in play with the score at 0-1. Relieved, Bassett pressed on with some good passing between Holmes and Hares, and using Will Fieldsend ability to keep the ball in close situations and offload to the runs of James Wright or Rob Appleby. Wright found himself in space and worked brilliantly, to cross the ball to Captain Miles who rewarded Wrights fine work with a finish of equal brilliance, bamboozling the keeper with a shot that span and looped its
way into the goal. 0-2 up at 20 minutes, Bassett looked comfortable and there were no signs of them showing much weakness, as Keeper Mike Hayward watched the defence deal with Devizes attacks, and when they did advance into shooting opportunities he made some fine saves to keep it 2-0. 25 minutes in however Devizes showed why they were previously unbeaten as their striker managed to receive the ball in the D and showed his ability by striking the ball hard past the Keeper, making the score 1-2. Shortly after the restart however, Bassett were looking confident again, with Rob Appleby making runs down the wing that Devizes couldn’t keep up with. Nodding the ball on into space and running around the midfield and defence, Appleby struck the ball in the D looking for Nick Thomson advancing to the back post, only for a Devizes defender to deflect the ball past the advancing goal keeper into their own goal. 1-3 to Bassett. Finally with half time approaching Appleby made another run down the wing, with defenders knowing he was capable of outpacing them, 2 dangerous tackles outside the D on him awarded Bassett a short corner. Bassett then showed their attacking ability and confidence with their short routines, as Sammon injected to Miles, who slalomed his way past two defenders before offloading the ball to the post runner Will Fieldsend who did not hesitate in brilliant crossing in the ball with his first touch which he lifted with precision over the defenders sticks but found Pete Sammon at the back post, who had used his flying Scotsman ability to run through a tightly packed goal line for a neat finish to put Bassett 1-4 up at the break.

But the home team who had not tasted defeat in this seasons campaign came out strong, and pinned Bassett into their half, much to the delight of the their supporters on the side-lines. However man of the match Andy Cooper knew what Captain Miles required and gave it his all
at the back, sticking to his man like glue, cutting out any threats down the right wing. The whole team had to play defensively and Keeper Hayward was kept on his toes. Devizes soon learnt that running past the teams experienced players was proving difficult, but when a gap in the defence was exploited it resulted in a brilliant Devizes goal which was flicked in at the back post from a deadly through ball. Devizes knew they were able to try and get a result from this game and adopted very attacking plays and formations, leaving Nick Thomson finding acres of space, which Bassett could unfortunately not use to their advantage due to Devizes possession and speed into covering up the attempted through balls. With 15 minutes to go Devizes launched another attack which resulted in another Devizes goal, making the score line a very nervous 3-4 to Bassett. With Devizes on the up and confidence on a high they kept attacking, which resulted in an injury to Martyn Holmes who had to be subbed off. Thankfully the team united at the back and managed to defend for the rest of the game, finishing 3-4.

It was a very enjoyable game of hockey to watch and participate in, with many positives taken away from it to build on what could be a team to threaten the top 4 spots in the league. The team voted Andy for man of the match for his stone wall defending, but youngsters Ben Hares, Oliver Sighe and Will Fieldsend all produced excellent performances. A great team performance and a great result. Martyn Holmes had to sacrifice some of his own pub time to get his injury checked out, but with any luck he should be playing next week too.

(Match report by Rob Appleby)