PROMOTION could come too soon for Royal Wootton Bassett should they poach a South West One (East) play-off spot at the end of the season, according to coach Alan Low.

Bassett defeated ninth-placed Wimborne 17-10 at home on Saturday to stay in touch with Old Centralians, who occupy the division’s only play-off spot on 73 points.

Four defeats from 19 games have left Low’s side in with a chance of promotion this season, though they will have to go through the play-off system due to Newbury Blues’ unprecedented league form – which has seen them win all 19 fixtures to date.

Currently two points shy of the play-off frame, Bassett have an opportunity to move back up to second with a win at Banbury this weekend. But they will have to rely on Old Centralians slipping up away at Chippenham.

Low said: “We want to build a strong foundation, one that is sustainable for promotion in the future.

“If we’re pushing towards the top three or four at the end of the year, fantastic. If we’re in a play-off place, great.

“It’s not essential to us at the moment though. It (promotion) could come a little bit soon.

“The plan is in place to be promoted in the next year or two – that doesn’t meant we will turn our noses up this season.

“We’ll keep pushing as hard as we can.”

While the win pleased Low, the Bassett boss admitted his side failed to build on their positive start to the game and consequently gifted points to their Dorset rivals.

Two early sin bins for Saturday’s visitors saw Bassett establish a 10-point lead at the end of the first-half.

A second Bassett try followed after half-time before a converted try and a penalty to Wimborne resulted in the game ending 17-10.

Low added: “We had one of the best starts we’ve had all season, we put Wimborne under huge amounts of pressure.

“The penalty count was huge, and they had already lost two players to the sinbin.

“We slowed down after though, the momentum of the game was killed and we ended up with a result that shouldn’t have happened based on the game’s first 20 minutes.

“It was great to get the win, but we certainly left the pitch a bit disappointed with Banbury in mind.”

Elsewhere in South West One (East), Swindon’s fight to avoid relegation took another hit as they lost away to Stratford-upon-Avon.

Mike Thompson’s side lost 26-10 and now sit bottom of the division, 14 points short of 12th placed Witney – who they play this weekend.