Comeback king Paul Sales made it three goals in three appearances for Bashley last night following his return from a three-month injury lay-off.

But, alas for Barry Blankley's men, it was not enough to ward off a 2-1 defeat at Premier Division outfit Chippenham Town in the Dr Martens League Cup second round.

Trailing after 28 minutes, Bash pulled themselves on terms early in the second half when Darren Robson's free-kick was cleared only as far as the predatory Sales, whose half-volley from 15 yards went in via a slight deflection.

But a rare error by 21-year-old midfielder Craig Davis led to Chippenham's 70th-minute winner and Blankley admitted: "It was uncharacteristic of Craig but, if you make a mistake against a team from a higher league, they are going to punish you and that's exactly what they did.

"But there was more good than bad to take from the performance.

"In the second half, we really took the game to them. Most importantly, we came through injury-free and it was a chance for one or two of the players to get their fitness back. Gary Connolly played the full 90 minutes and Mark Jones played his first game of the season after a knee injury."

RS Basingstoke were the unwitting 6-1 victims of a wounded Eastleigh side at Ten Acres last night.

Four days after having their unbeaten Jewson Wessex League record broken by Andover, Paul Doswell's men went on a Russell Cotes Cup goal spree through Robbie Matthews, Sam Carter, Jimmy Anderson, Kevin Reacord, Martin Beck and David Hughes - Smart replying for the North Hampshire side.

Doswell said: "It was a comfortable win and pleasing to have six different scorers, but RS Basingstoke tried their hearts out."