WOOTTON Bassett made a mockery of West Wilts B’s unbeaten start in Davis Wood Hockey League East Central 1 by thumping their second-placed guests 11-1 on Saturday.

The battle of the top two was as one-sided as they come, as Kyle Barnes struck four times and Lawrence Winter fired a hat-trick of his own in a memorable victory.

Winter got the rout under way in the first minute as he dispatched a penalty corner before Mark Skivington doubled the score with a bobbling reverse strike.

Matt Daniell then converted to put the home side three up after 15 minutes and Bassett refused to take their foot off the gas.

Winter played in Mark Turner for the fourth and Skivington then found an unmarked Barnes to make it 5-0 at the break.

Barnes and Turner linked up at the start of the second half, playing a one-two which gave Barnes the time and space he needed to add his team's sixth from the restart.

The home side had to reorganise when wing back Tom Ponting was sin-binned for a high stick but, even with the team temporarily reduced to 10 men, Bassett continued to dominate.

Barnes added his side’s seventh, completing his hat-trick in the process, before Winter scored an eighth.

With the game well and truly won, Bassett eased up a little, and goalkeeper Joe Sodden produced several superb saves in an effort to maintain his clean sheet.

There was nothing Sodden could do to stop West Wilts grabbing scant consolation in the 50th minute, but the goal motivated Bassett to go back on the attack and man of the match Winter completed his treble.

Barnes took Bassett’s tally into double figures before Daniell hit the 11th late on to send Bassett three points clear at the top of the table with six wins from six games.

Elsewhere in the division, Bassett’s A side lost 4-1 to City of Bath C.

In East Central 2, the club’s B team were beaten 1-0 by Bath Buccs G despite a man of the match performance from Wootton Bassett goalkeeper Mike Hayward, who kept the home side in the game.

Bassett Ladies had a rest from league action, but the A side enjoyed a 6-3 friendly victory over Avonmouth, with goals from Kelly Lusted, Rebekah Taylor, Tracy Fieldsend and Abi Isles.

  • SWINDON suffered late heartbreak as they were beaten 4-3 at home by ECV Hornets in the Davis Wood Hockey League Championship on Saturday.

Having been forced to field a weakened side for the clash at Isambard, Swindon looked as though they would sneak a point from the fixture, with Rich Edwards among their scorers.

But Hornets snatched all three with the winning goal with two minutes remaining of the contest.
Swindon will be looking to make amends when they travel to Gloucester City this weekend.