SHEPTON MALLET RESERVES 6 PAULTON ROVERS RESERVES 3

What a pity there was no crowd to witness this friendly behind closed doors. A hat-trick for either side was served up.

Shepton took the lead in the thirteenth minute after perseverance from Liam Davies saw the striker score. Four minutes later the visitors levelled with a fierce low shot from Callum Carter.

Rovers went ahead in the 26th minute with a low drive by Carter from 25 yards which beat the keeper.

On the stroke of half-time Davies got his second, running on to hit a low shot past visiting keeper, Simon Chivers. Chivers pulled off a number of saves as the hosts went ahead again on 53 minutes through Jack Withers. Carter grabbed his hat-trick in the seventieth minute putting Rovers level.

However, Shepton took the initiative as five minutes later, Withers made it 4–3. In the 84th minute Davies beat the offside trap, racing on to fire past Chivers to achieve his hat-trick. In the dying minutes an own goal from the unlucky Josh Johnson, who had been outstanding at the heart of the Paulton defence, gave Mallet a final winning score of 6–3.

Tony Walsh