Bashley, from the south coast, arrived at Winterfield with three more points than Rovers. (Paulton beat Bashley 2-1 in last season’s final fixture)
As the game began, the rain became torrential for a time, and playing controlled football was difficult. But Bashley seemed to cope with the conditions better and put Paulton under severe pressure. Maxwell Wilcock, Conor Whiteley and Lewis Ross all had opportunities for the visitors with shots that went wide or were saved by Sam Jepson in the Rovers’ goal.

But Paulton captain Neil Martin, well supported by Nick Hewlett, Jack Dancey and Dan Slade managed to stem the tide and, after Martin Lenihan was brought down, good play by Kyle Tooze resulted in Hewlett firing over the bar. A scramble in the Bashley goalmouth saw two shots saved on the line and then Paulton winger Wayne Nderemani broke beautifully in from the left and fired a shot which flew just wide of Ross Casey’s lefthand post.

However, the Hampshire side continued to threaten, and Paulton forward Kye Simpson made a great challenge to dispossess Bradley Morris. Then, following a corner, Rovers were relieved to see a fierce shot from Bashley’s Sam Davidson skim the crossbar. Then Jepson had to scramble across his goal to stop a deflected shot from Wilcock from trickling into the net.

Gradually, Paulton began to assert themselves as Braedon Symes, David O’Hare and Nderemani saw more of the ball. Bashley keeper, Ross Casey, first punched away a fierce Symes free kick and then had to save at point blank range as Nderemani’s trickery and Tooze’s strong running started to create chances. Tooze, through on goal, was flagged offside, then Casey saved at the feet of Simpson as Rovers finished the first half on top.

At half time, referee Walker assessed the conditions and decided to try to finish the game. But rain continued to fall as the second half began. The sodden pitch meant that it became more difficult to play football. Again, Bashley seemed to adjust to the soaking pitch better and, in the 52nd minute, Whiteley was brought down in the penalty area and Williams smartly converted the penalty to put Bashley one up.

With players slipping and sliding, challenges became more and more unpredictable. When Nderemani was subject to one bad tackle too many, and considering that conditions were becoming increasingly dangerous for the players, the referee decided to call a halt to proceedings. Much to the annoyance of the Bashley team, the match was abandoned after 65 minutes.

This was an entertaining contest, played in a good spirit. In hindsight, the referee perhaps should have called the match off at half time with the score at 0-0. But then hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Paulton man of the abandoned match: Neil Martin – superb tackling and blocking throughout.