ROYAL Wootton Bassett ladies moved top of the East Division with a 4-1 success at Bath Buccs 3rd.

After having their first league match of 2016 against previous leaders Bournemouth postponed last week due to a frozen pitch, Bassett were eager to get off to a good start.

However, they were nervy apprehensive in the opening 15 minutes, with Bath building some good attacks down the wings, resulting in strong crosses into the D but Meg Emms and her defence kept the hosts at bay.

Bassett broke the deadlock just before the interval when Emma Collison picked up the ball in midfield and dribbled past a couple of defenders before passing to Abi Iles, who took the initial shot on goal, but Sarah Hall got the rebound to put the visitors ahead.

The second half began much the same as the first, with Bath putting pressure on Bassett, but Tegan Buchanan, Helen Wright, Tracy Fieldsend and Becky Parkhurst all communicated well and held strong in defence.

But Bath pulled a goal back from a penalty before Suzanne Coles fired a great ball from midfield straight into the D, where Collison got a neat deflection to wrong-foot the keeper.

Shortly afterwards, the visitors were awarded a short corner, which Buchanan struck perfectly into the bottom corner.

Bath were still putting up a fight but were struggling to string together attacks, with the Bassett side intercepting and moving the ball around really well.

A short corner was given to Bassett just before the final whistle, allowed Bassett players to push up for a final chance on goal.

The chance was not wasted as Fieldsend scored Bassett’s fourth when she latched onto Iles’ cross with a lofted shot.