PAULTON ROVERS 2 LARKHALL ATHLETIC 2

Two late goals gave Larkhall a share of the spoils. Early Larkhall pressure saw Paulton keeper, Aaron Sainsbury, save from Dale Evans and Lewis Powell.

Marcus Day gave Mason Harrison his pass to Ed Butcher, which saw Larkhall’s defence block the ball. Day then had a chance blocked, with the ball falling to Joe Hillard, bringing a save from visiting keeper, Sean Semmens.

Rovers went ahead on 32 minutes as Butcher broke down the left and his low cross was turned home by Dave Sims-Burgess.

Three minutes later, a great run from his own half from Butcher, who passed to Hillard, whose shot was parried by Semmens into the path of Ben Withey to slot home.

On the restart, Sainsbury saved from Hillman whilst Day responded, whipping a shot across Larkhall’s goal area.

Larkhall had several shots through Lambert, Hillman and Powell. Butcher brought a fine save from Semmens.

Paulton midfielder, Brad Abraham, was unlucky to be shown a second yellow for what appeared to be a fine tackle.

Larkhall’s Captain, Mike Baker, drove wide, followed by Withey blocking from Wayne Nderemani and Sainsbury easily saved from Jack Camm.

The drama started in the 89th minute as Evans’ free kick was headed home by Lambert.

The visitors levelled in the nineteenth minute as Camm’s block shot was met by Lambert, whose strike spun over Sainsbury and into the net.

Match sponsor was Eco Leisure Hot Tubs of Midsomer Norton. Man of the Match was Dan Dempsey (Paulton Rovers).

Paulton Rovers’ First Team were due to play Winchester City in the Quarter-Final of the Southern League Challenge Cup on Tuesday, as The Journal went to press.

This Saturday, 25th January sees an Away trip to Portsmouth at Moneyfields, kick-off at 3 p.m.

The coach leaves the club at 10.30 a.m., and supporters wishing to travel should add their name to the list in the clubhouse.

The Reserves’ Saturday game at Shepton was postponed last week and this Saturday, they travel to Evercreech Rovers Reserves in the Tony Baxter Shield. Kick-off is at 2 p.m.

The U18s are away on Wednesday, 29th January against Frome Town U18s. Kick-off is 7.45 p.m. Tony Walsh