BASEMENT club Wootton Bassett grabbed a vital point in a 1-1 draw with Fairford in their battle against relegation from the Hellenic Premier Division.

Dave Tyler gave the home side the lead, scoring against his former team, inside the first quarter of an hour.

Tyler was there to direct the ball into the back of the net from eight yards out, connecting with a Matt Bennett cross helped on by the head of Rich Willis.

Fairford failed to finish numerous chances in the first half, many opportunities coming from poor officiating which resulted in free kicks close to the Bassett goal as 'keeper Ian Gill did superbly throughout.

Fairford were on level terms five minutes after the restart though as John Slattery scored a soft goal, tapping in at the far post from a deep free kick as Bassett failed to clear the danger.

Things turned nasty inside the last half hour as referee Simon Wales handed out four bookings and one sending off substitute Ashley Edinburgh received his marching orders for the visitors for spitting at Lee Morse four minutes after being cautioned.

Steve Yeardley had a chance to score for Bassett but his shot was blocked and eventually cleared away before Matt Bennett came close for the home side but his lob went just wide of an open goal.

The two sides deservedly shared the spoils although it was Bassett game to win against Fairford's 10 men.

Highworth Town, meanwhile, retained top spot in the Premier Division with a 2-1 home success over Pewsey Vale.

First-half goals from Paul Cooper and Justin Miller gave them a comfortable lead at the break.

But they appeared to take their foot of the pedal in the second half and paid the penalty literally in the last minute as the visitors pulled back a late consolation.

Highworth made the running in the opening 45 minutes and throughily deserved their lead.

The league leaders went ahead after 27 minutes when Miller poked home a Sean Terry cross from close range.

Ten minutes later Cooper extended the lead when he received the ball from Miller from a well-worked free-kick to net.

In the second half Highworth eased off and were caught out at the death.

Defender John Reeves received a straight red card for handling the ball on the line and Luke Sharps stepped up to net the last-minute penalty.

n SHRIVENHAM maintained their push for a top three spot in Division One West with a comfortable 3-0 home victory over Malmesbury Vics.

An 18th minute penalty from Steve Thomas after Steve Avenall had been brought down in the box separated the the sides at the break.

Shrivvy went two up 20 minutes into the second half from a fine solo effort from Liam Thompson.

And Alex Green sealed the win and three points with a third in the 75th minute.

But manager Alan Dyton was far from happy with his team's performance despite the win.

He said: " We didn't play well enough although the condiotions were difficult with a sticky pitch.

"We allowed Malmesbury to make it a physical contest, particularly in the first half.

"The second half was certainly better but we looked stale after not playing for nearly two weeks. But it is still three good points."

Purton made the perfect start to the new year with maximum points.

Goals from Richards (35), Brown (40) and Buckingham (71) securing a 3-1 away win at Winterbourne United.

Cirencester United were involved in a high scoring game but managed to snatch a late 3-3 draw at Ross Town.

Goals from McSherry and Messenger gave them a 2-1 draw at half-time. But it took an 87th minute strike from Ricketts to give them a share of the spoils.