ROYAL Wootton Bassett Town boss Rich Hunter wants to put Boxing Day’s derby defeat behind him as his side come up against Lydney Town tomorrow afternoon.

Following Monday’s 4-0 defeat to Highworth, the Bassett manager is more than keen to put a line through that result with a win at the weekend.

“It was very poor, unfortunately we had a lot of players drop out the day before so we were probably at 50 per cent in terms of the strength of the squad,” he said “We always knew it was going to be a tough task so we were well beaten by Highworth.

“It was one of those that you put behind you, I know we have a lot of the squad back for Saturday.”

The last time the two sides met was just over two weeks ago in the Hellenic Floodlit Cup where it ended 0-0 in the regular 90 minutes, before Bassett ran out as 2-0 winners thanks to Steve Robertson’s double.

“It’s always a tough game with them and it is always a very tight affair,” he added.

We were lucky to get our noses in front in extra time, but again it will be tough.

“This will be the third time we have played them this season, so we know how to play against them.

“It is just a matter of the players applying themselves and playing as they should play and I’m confident, as long as we can put a team together, we will get three points”

Before Christmas, Hunter’s troops enjoyed an elongated break prior to their game against Highworth, but the Bassett manager admits as helpful as it was for injuries, his side now need to regain their match sharpness.

He said:”It was nice to get players back from little injuries and niggles, but missing the match sharpness isn’t great, I want to get back playing.

“We need to get the team playing with confidence again and once we do that, I can see no reason why we can’t start winning matches and begin to move up the league table.

“Looking back at the month before Christmas, we’d put in some really good performances so we can take encouragement from that as we head into the second phase of the season.

“All in all we were playing well.”