Lawrence Weston gain upper hand in title race

THE Premier Development Division saw a first against second clash between leaders Bristol Central and Lawrence Weston Athletic in which Weston retained their unbeaten record with a 4-1 victory which moved them to within three points of Central with games in hand.

On the scoresheet for Weston were Sam Archer (2), Jack JamesNattress and Ramel Jarret.

Cribbs beat Olveston 5-3 to move up two places in the table.

In a top-of-the-table Divison One game, Hengrove beat Bath City 1-0. The only goal was scored by Charlie Thornton midway through the first half with a great header from a Jude McCarthy free-kick. It brought to an end a seven-game winning run for the Romans and reduced the gap at the top to five points with three games in hand.

Thornbury Town staged a second-half comeback to register all three points against Rockleaze Rangers. Two goals down at the break, a Callum Curtis strike and George Baker double helped Thornbury make it back-to-back wins in Division One.

Harry Nicholson and Fabrizio Pullara scored for Rockleaze.

Stoke Lane suffered a 5-1 home defeat to Backwell.

Backwell took the lead after 15 minutes, with Stoke Lane equalising on the half-hour with a goal from Louis Downes.

Early in the second half, Backwell retook the lead and did not look back as they steadily scored goals throughout the remainder of the game. Henry Hughes scored a hat-trick, with Toby Phillips and Joe Wild getting one each.

In Division Two, both Coalpit Heath teams recorded victories. The Dons beat fellow mid-table side Cribs Colts 5-0 with a hat-trick from Oliver Cruse and other goals from Andrew Evans and Lewis Smith.

Heath Youth recorded a 3-0 victory over St Nicholas.

Westbury Park Foxes’ 5-1 win over Portishead moved them up to second in the table, but they are still 12 points behind leaders Whitchurch.

With the half-hour approaching, Harry Wales scored for the Foxes. However, within six minutes, Jack Colling had levelled up the scores.

Soon after, the Foxes shocked Portishead with three goals in the space of eight minutes. The goals were scored by Alex Coward and a couple from Joseph Mallender to give their team a 4-1 lead going into half-time.

Midway through the second half, Mallender scored his hat-trick goal to wrap up the win.

Port of Bristol increased their lead at the head of Division Three following a narrow victory over Clifton Eagles in a 15-goal bonanza.

At the half-time break, the Port had a 5-4 advantage, thanks to a goal from Lee Withers after nine minutes, followed by two from Treydon Merrett and one each for Andreas Papantoniou and Jack Booker.

On resumption of the game Merrett scored a further two goals and Booker completed their scoring bonanza 10 minutes from full-time, with Port finishing up 8-7 winners.

Fry Colts finally gained their first point of the season when they drew 1-1 with fellow strugglers