ROYAL Wootton Bassett Town made it four wins in their last five games in Hellenic League Premier Division with a 4-2 success at home to Brimscombe & Thrupp on Saturday.
Sam Collier’s side have also beaten Flackwell Heath, Holmer Green and Reading City in recent weeks, with the only blemish on that record being a heavy 5-1 loss at Virginia Water on December 14.
Mark Francis fired Bassett ahead early on against Brimscombe but the visitors were back level before the break.
Dan Ware restored the home side’s lead early in the second period but Brimscombe promptly regained parity once again.
But Bassett put together a late surge and Steve Yeardley made it 3-2 from the penalty spot following a foul that also saw the visitors have a man sent off.
Yeardley was then shown a second yellow card quickly after the restart to level the numbers up at 10 men per side, but the home side finally put the result to bed in stoppage time when Francis got his second goal of the game.
Bassett boss Collier was thrilled to add another three points to his side’s tally, although felt it was only down to the performance of goalkeeper Matt Bulman.
“It was a massive win for us and we’re really pleased,” said Collier.
“We have been in good form recently and we had won the last three prior to the poor result against Virginia Water, so to bounce back so quickly against a very good side, I was massively impressed.
“Based on the work-rate, the desire and the performance going forward in attack, I felt we deserved to score four goals.
“It was probably a little bit harsh on Brimscombe. We dominated the first 30 minutes and rightfully went 1-0 up but then we let them back in the game, and at half-time it was 1-1 and pretty much even.
“In the second half, they dominated for large periods but we managed to stay in the game and scored a good goal to go 2-1 up.
“After that it was a case of trying to stop them scoring as they were coming at us quite a lot.
“If it wasn’t for Matt Bulman in goal, I don’t think we would have got the win. He was absolutely outstanding.”
Elsewhere, Fairford Town picked up a point following a 4-4 thriller at home to Bishops Cleeve.
Dan Bailey fired Fairford ahead but Bishops turned the game around before the break to lead 2-1.
The visitors then pulled further clear as the second half got under way but Ross Langworthy struck twice in quick succession to level the score at 3-3.
The comeback looked like being complete when Danny Gudger put Fairford in front but Cleeve responded late on with another equaliser to snatch a share of the spoils.
Shrivenham were unable to become the first side to inflict defeat on leaders Westfields this season as they went down 3-1 at home.
Zac Skinner was on target for Shrivvy.
It was another tough afternoon for Swindon New College in Division One West as they were thumped 8-0 away at Wellington.
Malmesbury Victoria saw their home game against Stonehouse Town postponed.
SWINDON Supermarine and Highworth Town were without fixtures in the Southern League over the weekend.
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