WOOTTON Bassett boss Jeff Roberts is expecting a physical battle tonight as his side look for their first league win in six as they take on Bracknell Town at home.

Soon after Roberts took over the reigns at The Corinium back in August tonight’s visitors Bracknell out-muscled Bassett 4-1 in Berkshire.

With a number of players missing from Monday’s defeat against Cheltenham Saracens returning tomorrow, including top scorer Levi Cox, Roberts and his assistant Drew Youngsam are hoping to reverse both results.

Restoring confidence is crucial even more so ahead of Saturday’s cup match with the same Cheltenham side that beat Bassett 2-1 on Monday evening.

Roberts said he knows what to expect from a Bracknell side who are in a similar mid-table position to Bassett.

“We played them first game of the season, they played a lot of long ball and their long throws caused us problems but we were a new side then,” the Bassett bos told the Adver.

“They started well and dropped right off recently. We’ve got a bit more of a settled side now, hopefully we can turn the tables on the game at their place.

“We’ll have a stronger side out than Monday. Jordan Roberts, Lee Stevens, Callum Parsons and Levi Cox will all be back but we’ll also rest a couple because of Saturday as we’ll have played four games in a week.”

Bassett are relatively comfortable sitting in 14th place of the Hellenic Premier League. They have no relegation worries and the highest they can climb is 12th, the position that tonight’s oppenents Bracknell currently occupy.

A win for Roberts and his team would see them draw within a point of Bracknell but more importantly provide momentum for the Supplementary Challenge Cup game where Bassett’s remaining opportunity for silverware lies.

Though Bassett have not been picking up league wins that easily of late they are the Hellenic Premier’s draw masters with 12 stalemates. It is a statistic Roberts can see the positives in.

“We’re picking points even though we haven’t won a lot of games, we’re the league’s draw specialists which shows we’re a hard side to beat.”