POOLE TOWN 1 PAULTON ROVERS 0

Rovers may remain without a point on their travels but can take considerable comfort from a much improved defensive display against a strong Poole Town side who went to the top of the table with this win.

The visitors began the better of the two sides and felt they should have had a 6th minute penalty as Ben Lacey went down the box under a challenge from Town skipper, Michael Walker, but the referee waived play on. However the hosts soon settled and put the Rovers’ defence under some pressure as first Walker headed a Steve Devlin free kick wide of the post and Luke Burbidge saw his effort suffer a similar fate after good work by Steve Brown. The hosts were a constant threat in the air and Rover’s keeper, Kyle Phillips, was forced to punch a series of corners, free kicks and crosses but the visitors were quick to break and Lacey set up Kris Miller for a shot on the half hour that Nick Hutchings in the Town goal dealt with comfortably. Poole were very much on top in the closing stages of the first half but rarely threatened although Phillips did have to make a good save from Devlin as he collected a headed clearance from a Keith Emerson cross.

The second half began in much the same fashion as Town pushed hard to break the deadlock and Phillips was in action 4 minutes after the restart claiming a cross from Simon Baines and then minutes later saving a good shot from Emerson.

However the breakthrough came in the 53rd minute with a quick throw in on the right as Baines found Carl Preston whose whipped in, right foot cross was superbly volleyed home by Burbidge.

The hard working Emerson then did well on the left to set up a good shooting opportunity for Dave Sturgess but he sliced his shot wide of the far post. With 15 minutes remaining another good passing move set up a change for Brown to seal the points but he shot weakly at Phillips. It could have proved costly as 3 minutes later Miller did well to find his skipper, Dan Cleverley, whose shot was blocked for a corner and Miller’s in-swinging kick was headed just over by Marcus Mapstone. With the visitors now pushing men forward for the equaliser the game became open as Miller volleyed well wide after a header down by Cleverley and Brown again failed to hit the target for Town after more good work by Emerson.

The final action of the game came in the 3rd minute of added time as Rovers failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Devlin 25 yards out and he was desperately unlucky to see his shot come back off the inside of the post.

This defeat sees Rovers drop to third from bottom but there were plenty of signs in this game to suggest they have what it takes to make progress in the coming weeks.

Rovers: Kyle Phillips, Stuart Tovey, Jack Allward, Marcus Mapstone, Scott Brice, Josh Jeffries (Ben Osman 80 mins), Craig Loxton, Sean Seavill (Dave Stone 88 mins), Ben Lacey (Ryan Gay 54 mins), Dan Cleverley (C), Kris Miller.
Subs not used: James Vincent, Aaron Cornwall.

Referee: Maurice Taylor

Assts: Amy Hughes / Derek Pratt

Attendance: 262