Paulton Rovers 1 Larkhall Athletic 5

The match between these local rivals got off to a dramatic start as a snap shot from Larkhall’s Lewis Powell in the first minute struck the hand of Paulton defender, Dan Dempsey.

The referee awarded a penalty, waving away the protests of the aggrieved defenders. Powell stepped up to put Larkhall into the lead.

Paulton’s dreams of Wembley were effectively dashed after only another four minutes when Harry Simons’ cross from the right evaded the Rovers defenders and allowed Sam Crumb, on the turn, to volley the ball into the net to put the Larks two goals in front.

Only now did Paulton begin to show some organised forward play. Leighton Thomas, with a fine run on the right, Ed Butcher on the left and Liban Ibrahim from midfield all got into promising situations without unduly troubling Shaun Semmens in the Larkhall goal.

However, Larkhall’s strong running forwards were constantly interchanging. As a result, Paulton’s defence was regularly stretched, although Neil Martin was a calming influence.

One terrific pass from him set up Butcher whose shot was saved. At the other end, a fierce shot from Matt Britton was comfortably fielded by Sainsbury in the Paulton goal.

Following a spell of Paulton pressure, a quick break from Athletic saw Alex Lambert outpace the Rovers defence and send over a cross which the unmarked Tom Fry calmly side footed home to make the score 0 – 3.

In the 41st minute, Rovers gained a foothold in the game as Leighton Thomas curled a delightful freekick from 22 yards into the top right hand corner.

In the second half, Rovers tried hard to reduce the deficit and the influential Ibrahim fired just over the bar, after great link-up play with James Byrne.

But in the 61st minute, the Paulton fightback was stopped in its tracks as, following a corner on the right, Larkhall defender, Mike Baker, bundled the ball home to restore the Larks’ three goal advantage.

As the shadows lengthened, substitute Thierry Swaby gave the home team’s forward play a new dimension. Paulton attacked for the first time with some intensity and the Bath team were forced to defend. Both Ed Butcher and Thomas had opportunities, but that final telling pass was never made.

As time ticked away, the Larkhall forwards won another header from a goal kick, and Lewis Powell fired a fine low shot into the far corner of the Paulton goal to make the score 1 – 5.

In this match, Rovers were unable to counter Larkhall’s more direct approach. The ability of their mobile forward line, led by the excellent Sam Crumb, to make the most of the space resulted in this defeat.

Paulton’s more measured approach was too often undone by a misplaced pass, which limited the number of opportunities for the normally productive Paulton forwards.

Halloween parties may have been cancelled for the Rovers faithful – they had probably witnessed enough horror for one day.

Paulton Man of the Match: Liban Ibrahim – worked tirelessly throughout the game. Noel Avis