WELTON ROVERS U18s 1 PAULTON ROVERS U18s 3

For Paulton, a win in this fixture guaranteed them finishing at least second place in the League, and above the opposition.

With this in mind, the visitors started full of energy, desire and determination, and soon took control of the game. The first clear opportunity fell to the League’s leading goalscorer, Blaine Lawrence, whose effort hit the bar and bounced back out.

However, continuing his run, Blaine followed up with a headed effort from close range to give Paulton the lead.

The next goal of the game came through Jake Curtis, who finished well from a tight angle after the Welton keeper got caught out outside of his area. Paulton remained dominant for the rest of the first half, and managed to find another breakthrough – this time, Ali Sen combined well with Mason Harrison, who slotted the ball past the oncoming keeper to make it 3-0.

Having been 3-1 up at half-time in the previous fixture against Welton and losing the game 5-3, Paulton knew the game was far from over. The second half started and a change of shape for Welton helped them start to get back into game and dominate the centre of the pitch.

For the majority of the second half, Welton were in control of possession. However, they found it hard to break down the Rovers side, who defended well to hold onto the lead. Clear chances for both sides were few and far between until the last ten minutes. Finally, with ten minutes to go, Welton managed to get a goal back through Connor Ford, giving the home side some belief, and minutes later, another effort was cleared off the line by Christian Gregory.

Despite a convincing second half from the home side, Paulton had already done the damage in the first 45 minutes of the game, and through some excellent defending, held onto their lead to take all three points on the night. An excellent performance from the young Paulton side.

Josh Hurst