PAUL Braithwaite says he had no doubt his Wootton Bassett side were capable of overturning a half-time deficit on the way to a 3-1 win at Brimscombe & Thrupp.

Bassett were out of the blocks quickly but failed to take advantage on the scoreboard and fell behind just after the half-hour mark when Ollie Pitt found the net.

Boss Braithwaite kept his cool at the break and a change in formation paid dividends as Bassett struck three times without reply to turn the game on its head.

“We started well but then had a poor patch for about half an hour,” said Braithwaite.

“We couldn’t get a grip on the game and lost our way. They made us pay by getting themselves in front.

“We had 15 minutes of dominance but without really creating anything. That plays on your mind and the players start looking around and questioning if it’s going to happen.

“In the second half we changed our shape and that had a real impact on the game.

“I didn’t really say anything at half-time, I think I spoke for about two minutes and the rest was the players talking because they knew what they needed to do.

“The group we’ve got don’t give up – they play until the final whistle. We still believed we could do on and win the game in the second half.

“We just spoke about upping the quality of how we looked after the ball. The passing became a lot sharper and we started to win the first and second balls.”

Bassett did not have it all their own way in the second half and did not draw level until the hour mark when Dale Richards headed in a Tyler Sheppard cross.

And they had to wait until the 82nd minute before finally getting themselves in front for the first time, with Steve Robertson tapping in after a mistake by the Brimscombe keeper.

Robertson then made the points safe in stoppage time when he converted Nathan Gambling’s delivery from close range.

Braithwaite added: “Steve got two goals but I wouldn’t like to single anyone out for special praise.

“When you are losing at half-time you need everyone to chip in if you’re going to come back and that’s what happened. It was just a case of us trying to keep battling away.”