POINT A PIECE IN IN BATTLE FOR THIRD SPOT

Fc st George 1 -1 paulton rovers Sunday side Fc St George were finally knocked off third spot eight days ago when they were beat 4-1 in the Warminster Derby game against Lowly placed Sureset Rangers. Paul ton Rovers who have been heading up the table mauled Sureset Rangers 6-1 three days later to leapfrog the saints two points clear with a game in hand. Player Managers J Glasson”s side have been sitting in third place since November and at one time were nine points clear of the remaining pack, but had played four games more than most. This Months results from all Division Two games have not gone Fc St Georges way and Glasson had to face Sureset Rangers at a nervous time and with a depleted Squad ,as a number of his players were duty bound to Play in the Deverills v Prestbury sports bar Hospital fixture on the same Thursday night. Sureset Rangers took this chance and pulled themselves out of the bottom three , it was the second time Fc have lost at home this season.. Mark Wallis grabbed a consolation goal for a poor home side showing. Paulton Rovers run -in towards the end of the season has been easy going and they visited St Georges field last Thursday looking to make in a hat-trick of wins against Wiltshire sides. The Radstock side had beat Bottom side Dilton Rovers 4-1 and then beat Sureset Rangers 6-1 last week and a trip to Stuttering Fc St George would have opened a wider gap between third and fourth spot. This was the first of two back to back games against Paulton ,with Glasson having home advantage for the first leg, Manager Glasson also .for the first time this side of December having a full 16 man squad available for this important match. Manager Glasson made a lot of changes to the side that has lost its last two games . Skipper Matt Crucifix returned to the starting line out after a month out with a broken nose, Polish man Daurise Snedzic made A RARE START and RORY KELLY returned to the centre of the park . It was a bright start for both sides. And You can see why Paulton are winning games, they play football on the ground and like Fc St George attack in numbers. And enjoy taking the game to their opponenets and look for the early Goal, But they very poor up front and should have been three up in the first twenty minutes. Portuguese Keeper DA Silva spread himself wide as their striker blasted wide, two minutes later the same striker scuffed his shot , just before the half Glasson managed to get a foot on the ball to thwart another attempt. At the other end Fc to were finding it hard to finish, with both strikers laboring well but not getting any space or time. It seemed to be up tp Midfielder Chris Ayres cracking some long range efforts from outside the box which the Paulton Keeper easily saved. The second half Glasson made two changes the Spent Rory Kelly was replaced by Mark Davies and Snidzek was replaced by Martin Read. The Match opened up with both sides pushing for the opening goal Paulton were first with a couple of corners and two shots which Da Silva palmed away. Fc’s Mikey Payne, Chris Ayres and Skipper Matt Crucifix were all judged to be offside by a overzealous linesman before Paulton Rovers took the lead Courtesy of a howler by Keeper Da Silva who After receiving a back pass from Kennedy hesitated too long and his pass out went straight to a Paulton Striker who had the easiest of taps ins 0-1 . With twenty five minutes go the tempo built up and there were chances both ends. Mikey Payne was tripped in the box and controversially the referee played on. Chris Ayres then saw his six yard scooped effort hit the crossbar. Da Silva then redeemed himself with two more comfortable saves. Glasson pushed for the equalizer, a 3-5-2 gamble with Ayres sitting back and Sean Holton upfield from defence. And it paid off with five minutes to go Mark Davies latched on to Man of the Match Nigel Chantlys clearance. Mark then found sean Holton who was pushed out wide as he jinxed forward , Sean then lost his marker on the byline and his pass in front of goal was met by Mikey Payne who blasted in his 31st of the season, just deserve for a game that should have been a home win. The 1-1 draw will make the second leg even more tasteful with Fc St George looking to retake third spot again.