Rovers blow as chance of three points missed
Paulton Rovers 2
Malvern Town 2
Paulton manager Richard Fey was disappointed his side lost a two goal advantage to yield only one point from a draw against Worcestershire visitors Malvern Town on Tuesday night.
Rovers opened brightly with a neat move involving Leighton Thomas and Dan McBeam and then in the fifth minute went ahead as Ed Butcher put through Thomas who raced on to lob over Town keeper Josh Bishop to give Paulton the lead.
Paulton keeper Frankie Phillips easily dealt with a shot from the lively Levi Francis and then Rovers centre half Aaron Parsons blocked a shot from Jack Watts.
On 14 minutes the hosts went 2-0 up as Thomas raced from his own half and his initial shot was deflected into the path of Jarmani Langlais to make no mistake from 10 yards out.
Malvern playing some smooth passing pulled a goal back on 20 minutes as Watts played in Sam Hewlett belted the ball past Phillips.
Rovers had a great chance on 34 minutes as McBeam’s cross was chipped over the bar by Thomas.
Malvern levelled on 54 minutes as a long ball found Watts who drove home from close range.
Rovers had a great chance to restore their lead as Thomas’s run was met by Langlais who headed narrowly over the bar.
The man in the middle then started waving yellow cards to the discontent of the crowd on both sides.
In added time Langlais was rugby tackled as he threatened and after a slow response he reacted.
Having been already booked he was dismissed after being shown a shown a second yellow instead of being given a stiff talking to.
The result left Rovers rooted to the bottom of the league, six points behind Westbury United.
Last Saturday Paulton suffered a 1-0 defeat at home to playoff hopefuls Larkhall Athletic.
Matt Bowman headed home from a Max Williams free-kick midway through the first half to secure victory for the Larks.
Leo Eglin had spurned an early chance for Paulton, whose cause was hampered by the 61st-minute sending-off of Joe Hall.
For a Paulton it’s a Exmouth on Saturday.
■ Paulton Rovers bar manager and committee members and her team of helpers raised nearly a £1,000 for Dorothy House Hospice with a quiz and raffle event.
The club was packed with over 100 people whose generosity was fantastic.
They were joined by 21 members from the Midsomer Norton Walking Football club who had a football quiz hosted by Bob Richards. trip to
Frome Town edged out Bishops Cleeve in a tightly contested affair at a packed-out Badgers Hill.
A first-half strike from Sam Meakes was enough to give the Somerset side all three points, in front of a huge crowd of 690, further boosting their title hopes.
Boss Danny Greaves made a couple of changes to the side that drew 0-0 with Exmouth last Saturday. With injuries and fitness levels in mind, Thomas Duffin started in place of the injured Sam Heal, whilst Kane Simpson returned to the eleven and Reece Rusher made a welcome return to the bench.
It was a cagey start to the game from a Frome perspective, with no really clear-cut chances falling the way of either side.
The first real chance came nine minutes in when, after the Mitres carved through the Robins’ midfield, the ball fell to Toby Holland who would have been disappointed to see his effort go well over the bar.
Despite being up against it for parts of the opening 20, Meakes managed to break the deadlock 21 minutes in, when a cross from the right-hand side, just evaded the inform Simpson, but it fell in to the path of Meakes who picked the pieces up, drilling past Lewis Clayton