PAUL Braithwaite’s Royal Wootton Bassett Town braved the elements as they recorded a 2-1 victory at bottom-of-the-league Wokingham and Emmbrook.

The pitch was a leveller for both sides at the Triangle Ground in Henley but substitute Steve Olphert scored a late winner to move Bassett up to 10th in the Hellenic League Premier Division.

Bassett opened the scoring when the ball was worked across the back four after a clearance from Wokingham’s goalkeeper found Jamie Richards, who teed up Sam Packer to find top corner from 25 yards out.

The hosts were back level after the break when Elliott Rushforth fired home five minutes after the restart.

Then, with just two minutes left of normal time, Packer turned provider as he picked the ball up in his own half and lofted a pass over the top into the path of Olphert, who slotted past the keeper.

“It was a good result, considering the conditions,” said Braithwaite.

“On Saturday morning, I didn’t think we would be going anywhere. I was thinking about a training session, considering how much rain we had had.

“The first 30 minutes; we were really good and I was fearing for Wokingham because we hit the post, hit the bar, their keeper saved one or two.

“We scored a really good goal and had a good 10 minutes after the goal as well.

“They had a 10-minute period before half-time where they found a bit of confidence and had a shot that Curtis (Meare) saved well.

“At half-time, we felt we were in control of the game and it was just about getting the second and a bizarre moment in the second half saw them equalise.

“For me, the ball ran out of play but the ref said ‘play on’ and then it has hit their lad again for our throw-in.

“Our lad was about to take the throw and their player has thrown it on and they have gone on and scored, where as far as we were concerned, it was a Bassett ball.

“They had another five-minute spell after that where they were confident but after that, it was only a matter of time before we scored.”

Bassett have now won two of their last three games and performances have pleased Braithwaite as he prepares his side for a trip to fourth-placed Kidlington.

“It was another one that was chalked off and we haven’t got to worry about catching up, after last week as well (a 1-0 loss to Longlevens), which was disappointing because I felt we deserved something out of the game for what we put in,” he added.

“We have to make sure we take the positives out of (Saturday).”