FAV AFC Stoneham 3 Royal Wootton Bassett Town 0

19 October 2024

Brock having been postponed, the Content Adviser and I decided to take in a random Vase tie, so with wistful thoughts of what might have been we found our way to Stoneham Lane for the visit of Royal Wootton Bassett Town, who sit mid-table in the Hellenic League.  No idea what to expect, but it was football in the sunshine so that wasn’t a bad start.

In the end, the Purps had an easier afternoon than had seemed likely in the early stages.  For most of the first half, the two teams were quite evenly matched; and indeed when Stoneham took the lead in the 9th minute, it was slightly against the run of play.  One long ball out to the left, picked up by Sampson who carried on into the box and shot across the keeper, in off the far post.  Bassett probably had more of the territory and more of the ball in the first half – someone will no doubt have the stats to prove me wrong – but they lacked any end-product.  A cross just too high which came off Gallagher’s head; a decent save from Lee from a Presley shot; a weak shot from Gallagher from a good position.  In between times, Bainbridge had headed a free kick away from near his own bar.  But in general, the visitors weren’t so much knocking on the door as walking down the front path and getting distracted by the roses.  They were quite a shot-shy bunch; and it cost them, because four minutes before the break Bainbridge made a great run forward, beat his man on the edge of the box and hammered home a second.  HT 2-0

You got the feeling that Bassett had a better performance in them than they brought this afternoon; Hill was classy at left-back, Pagliaroli didn’t stop running all afternoon, but somehow things weren’t really clicking and they were being held at bay reasonably comfortably by the Stoneham defence, with the Purps now largely playing on the break.  54 minutes, mistake by Case, Johnston through on goal but flicked his shot just wide of the near post.  But 63 minutes, game done: Sampson picked up a clearance just inside his own half and ran to the corner of the box before cutting inside and placing his shot neatly into the far corner. 

Finally, Bassett started to create chances: Coates had a shot saved, and Case put his free header from the resultant corner at the back post narrowly wide.  And then – was this going to be a decisive moment? – Pagliaroli into the box, his cross resulted in pinball and flying legs and bodies in which Lee was hurt.  Presley put the loose ball over the bar, but Lee had to come off and was replaced in goal by Tom Annetts.  Now I know nothing about the lad, but I don’t think he’s a goalkeeper, so surely the shots would come raining in?  He made one decent early save, pushing a deflected free kick away for a corner, but after that he didn’t really have much to do.  Credit to the defence, the only shots which came at him were from distance and were easily stopped.  Welch hit a final piledriver just wide for Stoneham, but the seven minutes of injury time were seen out comfortably, and the Purps were through.  FT 3-0

Deserved victory: the visitors left their shooting boots at home, and Stoneham did more than enough.  No idea what the attendance was but it felt quite disappointing – but we were both glad we went.  And Brock – well, we’ll see you next Saturday.