Southern Farm safe from automatic relegation

BRISTOL Manor Farm secured three huge points in their battle to secure Southern League Division One South safety with a 2-1 win against play-off hopefuls Hamworthy United at The Creek.

Lee Lasenko’s side remain third bottom, but they are safe from automatic relegation and have given themselves a decent chance of avoiding the two relegation playoff places.

Manor Farm’s afternoon got off to a poor start when Ed Hodge latched on to a long ball in the sixth minute to fire the visitors ahead.

However, Ben Bament scored from a Jayden Nielsen cross to the back post 10 minutes later, then Evander Grubb finished off a Bament through ball in the 21st minute to put Manor Farm ahead.

The home side’s cause was helped by a 43rd-minute red card to Hamworthy’s Drew Escott-Young for throwing the ball at Aron Robbins in frustration.

Josh Ford came close to adding a third for Manor Farm in the 75th minute with a header from Jake Gosling’s corner which hit the top of the crossbar.

Paulton Rovers might still need a point to secure their own safety from the relegation play-off places following a 2-0 derby defeat at Frome Town.

Sam Meakes and Sam Teale both scored with headers from setpieces in the first half for Frome.

In Premier South, Westonsuper-Mare edged closer to winning the title and promotion to National League South with a tense 1-0 win against Merthyr Town at the Optima Stadium, watched by a fantastic attendance of 1,265.

Dayle Grubb came close on several occasions for Weston, including two first-half efforts which hit the woodwork. First, he hit the post from a low-free-kick, then he saw a curling effort clip the crossbar.

Weston finally made the breakthrough in the 84th minute when Merthyr goalkeeper Jamie Cogman punched a Grubb corner skywards and Sam Avery back-headed the ball into the net.

With Bracknell continuing their hot pursuit of Weston with a 3-1 win against Gosport, the Seagulls may still need five points from their last two games to guarantee themselves the title.

In contrast, Yate Town’s brave late bid to avoid relegation ended with a 2-1 home defeat to Swindon Supermarine.

Yate, seeking a third successive win, went behind to Ryan Campbell’s strike in the 21st minute, but were given hope when Kyle Tooze slotted home in the 72nd minute after a free-kick had been headed back across goal.

Yate had a strong handball shout for a penalty rejected soon after, and Supermarine went on to win the game via an 89th-minute goal from Bradley Hooper.