Crunch clash sees Bassett clinch crucial Corsham victory
Goals from Lauren Bulley and Laura Jefferies earned Royal Wootton Bassett Town a vital 2-0 derby victory away against Wiltshire rivals in the latest dramatic twist in the race for the South West Regional Women's Football League Division One North title.
Corsham had claimed a 2-0 victory against Bassett last month to break James Lally's side's unbeaten league record. And the Reds had then moved six points ahead of Bassett after winning last weekend when Lally and his team were on cup duty.
Although not do or die for Bassett, the return fixture was a game they could ill afford to lose. But with the pressure on - and fighting against atrocious conditions on a horrendously cut up pitch - Bassett delivered the goods.
What could have been a nine point deficit to leaders Corsham had they lost is now just a three point gap with two games in hand for Bassett to play.
There's still plenty of distance left to travel as the season enters its closing stages, with none of the five teams duking it out at the top yet to create any form of breathing room over their rivals.
But this result proved Bassett could get the job done in a high stakes setting.
They had led early on when Briony Hurd launched a long throw into the box and Bulley punished some slack defending from Alice Blackman, stealing possession from the Corsham centre half in the hosts' penalty area before crashing an emphatic drive into the back of the net via the underside of the crossbar.
Bulley almost grabbed a second midway through the half when seizing on an underhit back pass before dragging wide.
Sloppy defending at the other end then afforded the hosts a golden opportunity to equalise as Darcy Cox put too much on a pass back to Millie Powell, whose heavy touch fell to Ruby Hopkins but she steered over from the edge of the box.
The difficult conditions only got worse in the second half as the driving rain got harder. But neither defensive flinched as they battled on, with no real clear cut chances
Eventually the outcome was settled late on - and captain Jefferies delivered the decisive blow. Stepping up to take a free kick on the right touchline a good forty yards from goal, she sent in a trademark towering delivery that flew into the net over the head of despairing Corsham 'keeper Lily Lewis.
Corsham sought desperately to use what time remained to get back into the game. And they almost did as Anna Lyons guided a Charlie Cooper free kick onto the bar. The ball then bounced back off Jefferies, with Powell springing acrobatically to her right to claw away what appeared a certain goal with an outstanding one-handed save. The danger wasn't clear though and the ball ricocheted back off Hurd before Powell, reacting quickly again, parried and smothered.
That secured a twelfth clean sheet of the season for Bassett - providing the cherry on the top of a crucial victory.