SWINDON SUPERMARINE 2 v 1 PAULTON ROVERS

On a cold, wet afternoon in Swindon, Manager John Rendell made one change from Tuesday's impressive victory at Yate with Joe Hillard areplacing Dale Evans. Hillard slotted into the right back position whilst James Byrne was pushed forward into midfield.

Chances were few and far between in the first 20 minutes with both sides working hard to close down the opposition. Supermarine took the lead on the 23rd minute after firstly, Marine's Joe Selman was put through one on one against Rovers keeper Alexis Andre only for the loanee keeper to make a great save. The resulting phase of play ended with Selman laying the ball off to Josh Parsons who struck a low right footed shot into the bottom corner. Andre got a good hand to the shot but just not enough to keep the ball out of the net.

2 minutes later, Marine were awarded, what looked a dubious penalty as Thompson appeared to be fouled outside the box only for the referee to point to the spot. Paulton will feel justice was served as Andre dived low down to his left to superbly save the penalty taken by Brad Hooper.

5 minutes before half-time Paulton were in search of their own penalty as a right footed shot from Charlie Ten-Grotenhuis struck the hand of the Marine defender in the box. On this occasion the referee adjudged it not to be deliberate handball and waved away the appeals. Rovers pushed on and just two minutes later a lovely bit of skill by CTG in midfield saw him beat 2 players and then play a defence splitting pass which Sims raced on to. As Sims bared down on goal some last ditch defending by Marine pushed Sims wide and the chance fizzled out.

The action continued early in the second half when firstly Marine's Connor Thompson fired a shot straight at Andre after a clever dummy from Parsons and then at the other end a free header by Rovers Joe Chandler just went over the bar.

On the 52nd minute, finally Paulton got the equaliser they deserved when Hillard whipped in a cross from the right and with both Jack Ball and the Marine keeper challenging for the aerial ball, the Paulton striker came off best and bundled the ball home for Rovers.

With both sides now looking to take the initiative, Rovers found themselves behind 7 minutes later as Marine's Joe Selman cut in from the left touchline, hit a powerful right foot shot which ricocheted into the path of Josh Parsons who managed to force the ball over the line despite the best efforts of Paulton's Andre. They were claims of handball against Parsons from the Paulton defenders but once again the referee was not interested.

Rovers pushed hard for a second equaliser in the last quarter of the game and almost got it when the marauding Kyle Knott whipped in a lovely cross from deep on to the outstretched leg of Jack Ball but the striker just couldn't get enough on it to trouble the keeper. Then deep into injury time substitute Josh Morgan-Williams appeared to be pulled to the ground in the penalty area and the referee continued with his reluctance to give Rovers a key decision.

Paulton will look to return to winning ways on Tuesday night as they welcome North Leigh to Winterfield Road. Kick-off 7.30pm.

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