PAUL Braithwaite was chuffed to get some minutes into his fringe players as Wootton Bassett Town progressed into the third round of the Hellenic League Challenge Cup on Saturday.

Braithwaite’s men saw off the dogged challenge of Division One East outfit Henley Town, claiming a 3-2 victory in Oxfordshire thanks to first half goals from Lewis Chatwin, Joe Hiscock and Steve Yeardley, who fired home from the penalty spot not long before the break.The Bassett boss was delighted to see his team book their place in the next round of the Challenge Cup and says that victory in every competition carries the same weight in his book.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the Wiltshire Cup or the Challenge Cup – we go out to try and win every game that we play in,” said Braithwaite.

“We went there looking for a victory after having a good 4-1 win over Reading Town in midweek and I’m happy that we’ve gone and got it.

“I’d been to Henley before with Fairford and I knew that it’s not the easiest place to go and play. The grass is a bit longer than normal and it can be really muddy, which it was in the conditions.

“But we dealt with that well and the pleasing thing for me is that we were able to get a few of the guys that haven’t been playing that much minutes and rest a few of the other ones.

“Joe Hiscock hasn’t had as much game-time as he would have liked but he got 90 minutes and got his goal and so did Lewis Chatwin, who’s been in and out because of injury.

“Then a few lads, like Dan Bailey and Tyler Sheppard, only played 45 minutes and got the chance to get some rest in, which is important.”

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