WOOTTON Bassett were left pointing to a controversial refereeing decision as they were beaten by a single point 12-11 at home by Redingensians in Southern Counties South.

The game was an ill-tempered affair and, at one point, Bassett were down to 13 players on the pitch while two had spells in the sin-bin. They also had Gary Darragh sent off late on.

Bassett took the lead when excellent pressure from the home pack caught Redingensians offside and full-back Lee Davies kicked the penalty after eight minutes.

Five minutes later the visitors strung together a fine series of moves to allow their winger to cross in the corner, to edge 5-3 ahead.

That was how it stayed until the final moments of the half when Bassett regained their advantage.

The pack secured a lineout five metres out and drove for the line with captain Taff Lock emerging from the bottom of the ruck to claim the try.

The second half started with Redingensians having most of the play but it was Bassett who added to their points tally through a Davies penalty.

With 20 minutes of the game remaining and the hosts leading 11-5 it looked as though Bassett had secured victory.

But it all started to go wrong when No 8 Flo Vialan was sin-binned for a ruck offence. Five minutes later, flanker Darragh joined him after alleged foul play.

The remaining six Bassett forwards soaked up the pressure until Vialan was allowed to rejoin the play.

Darragh then returned, but his stay was shortlived as another offence brought a red card.

Then Bassett were angered further as the referee signalled advantage to them on their own line, only to then award a scrum to the visitors, who promptly scored a converted try to snatch victory.