AMBITIOUS chairperson Paula Henley should be both applauded and commended for her long and short-term vision for Wimborne Town.

Henley, in a recent interview with the Daily Echo, said she hoped to bring Conference football to the Dorset club in the next three to five years.

And in the lead up to this clash, she had been keen to see both teams receive some festive cheer and had set her sights on pulling in a crowd of 1,000.

In an attempt to entice spectators through the Cuthbury turnstiles, the cost of entry had been slashed to just £5 for adults, while it was free for children.

Henley, who took over in September, had generously pledged to donate £500 to the Wimborne-based Leaf charity if 750 punters attended or £750 if her target of 1,000 had been met.

As it transpired, stark reminders – both on and off the pitch – highlighted the magnitude of the task facing Henley as she bids to rouse the townsfolk and raise the profile of the club.

While a crowd of 408 may have exceeded Wimborne’s average by some margin, it also fell well short of Henley’s not-unrealistic target, especially as the fixture had been switched from Boxing Day in order to try to maximise potential footfall.

Perhaps some non-league aficionados had been put off by the opposition, with Bashley’s 13-match winless run in Division One South & West suggesting they would be little more than lambs to the slaughter for the Magpies.

Nothing, however, could have been further from the truth and, while the Cuthbury faithful would have headed home disappointed, the visitors and neutrals would have departed contented following what proved to be an engrossing and end-to-end spectacle.

Small margins often determine the outcome of football matches and Wimborne certainly went close to ending a run of three straight league defeats and four including their FA Trophy exit.

But they could also count themselves fortunate not to have been on the receiving end of what would have been a rather ignominious defeat at the hands of the division’s whipping boys.

A draw, therefore, was probably the fairest result, even if it did little to help either team in their quest to achieve their respective aims for the season - namely a promotion challenge for Wimborne and avoiding back-to-back relegations for Bashley.

Wimborne may argue Mark Gamble’s missed penalty with the score at 1-1 proved decisive, while Lewis Aimson's intervention prevented the same player from sealing victory in the closing stages when he heroically scooped the ball off the line.

However, Bashley could justifiably lay claim to Billy Maybury’s goal-line clearance from Jack Hoey's effort in the first half or Jason Harvell’s top-drawer save at the death from Ashley Booker's thunderbolt depriving them of what would have been a famous, if totally unexpected, victory.

Bashley were unrecognisable from when the teams had met in August for the first league meeting between the clubs in 25 years on a day Gamble’s emphatic penalty had paved the way for Wimborne to run out convincing 3-1 victors.

And although Sam Griffin, who had also been on the scoresheet at Bashley Road, repeated the feat with a clinical side-footed finish after 13 minutes, there was never any likelihood of Wimborne having it all their own way on this occasion.

The visitors deserved their equaliser, as did the indefatigable Hoey whose scuffed effort seven minutes after the break, which wrong-footed Harvell before trickling into the back of the net, was reward for his altruistic display, even if it is unlikely to win any goal-of-the-season awards.

With Wimborne 22 points behind leaders Merthyr, their promotion hopes probably rest with the play-offs this season. And with Paula Henley steering the ship, who knows what could be achieved at Cuthbury in the coming years?

Magpies: Harvell, Arnold, Brimson (Kemble, 64), Maybury, Costello, Blake (Lupton, 26), Griffin, Davidson, Webb, Gamble, Stokoe. Unused subs: Roast, Biles, Field (g/k).

  • Due to an ongoing issue regarding Bashley Football Club's use of Daily Echo material on their club website, the Echo will not be providing Bashley coverage until the matter is resolved.