ROYAL Wootton Bassett Town manager Rich Hunter endured another frustrating afternoon despite seeing signs of improvement from his side.

Bassett fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Ardley United, despite the visitors being reduced to 10 men in the second half.

The visitors took the lead in the first half when Declan Benjamin’s free-kick crashed against the post, only for Jack Ross to sweep the ball into the net.

Joel Meade was then sent off in the 65th minute when he lashed out at Sam Packer after a 50-50 challenge.

However, that didn’t stop the visitors as they doubled their advantage through Matt Cruse, with just under 15 minutes left to play.

Late on, the hosts were awarded a penalty when Lewis Thompson was hauled down in the box, which allowed Steven Yeardly to halve the deficit.

But despite the defeat, the Bassett boss insists there are positives his side can take from the weekend’s game.

“It’s a bit of mixed emotions really. I’m very proud of the guys and I saw a massive improvement from the last two or three weeks,” said Hunter “The lads played well and I thought we were very unlucky not to get something out of the game because we were the better side in large patches.

“Two sloppy mistakes cost us two goals, then they had a player sent off and just sat back for the last 20 minutes.”

Hunter also reiterated that his team will have to start converting performances into results in order to move up the table.

“When a performance is good and you get nothing out of it, it is frustrating because the players are playing well but they aren’t getting the credit or the points,” added the Bassett manager. “The result is the main thing because we need to be winning points if we want to move up the table so there are lessons to be learned.”

Highworth Town were left with an unfamiliar taste in their mouth as they slipped to their eighth defeat of the season at home to Flackwell Heath.

Jeff Roberts’ troops were condemned to a 1-0 defeat when Adam Dickens converted from the penalty spot to move the visitors to the top of the Hellenic League Premier Division.