Welton’s unbeaten run came to an end in North Bristol, when they were beaten by a lively Roman Glass side. A new signing from Odd Down, Kyle Norris, made his debut for Welton up front, as the game got underway on a bright, but very cold afternoon.

Early Welton pressure saw a couple of long-throws from Callum Elms land in the Glass area, and the home side’s defence struggled to clear the ball. After a few minutes, Glass forward, Lewis Wentland, ended up in Referee Whittington’s book after a tackle that brought down Chris Pile on a charge.

Another long-throw from Elms on the right was met by Tom Smith, who rose above the Glass defence, only to head over. At the other end, Welton keeper, Tom Drewitt, was penalised for handling outside the area and got himself booked. Welton had everyone back in the box, but the Glass free-kick was a poor effort.

Norris then broke through the Glass defence, raced towards goal and fired off a cracking shot that flew over the bar. The game was then dramatically halted for five minutes, as the Referee had to deal with an altercation between the two sets of benches which culminated in Welton’s Assistant Manager, Mark Brown, being sent off from the technical area.

After things calmed down, the home side went close when Ken Oni’s curling shot flew just wide of Welton’s far post. Just before the half-time whistle, the hosts took the lead, a free kick from the left was delivered into the area and was met by Oni and his glancing header saw the ball fly past Drewitt and into the net.

The second half saw Roman Glass step up a gear, as Welton were finding it difficult to get their act together. A poor back-pass from Elms fell to Ryan Radford, and his volley was well-blocked by Drewitt to deny Roman Glass a second goal.

Welton’s response was a long-ball over the top that fell to Pile, and he raced goalwards only for his final effort to fly over the bar. As Welton were looking out-of-sorts, Manager, Clive Scott, brought on all three substitutes in an attempt to liven things up.

However, despite Welton’s best efforts, the Glass got the all-important second goal with five minutes to go. A great run down the right by substitute, Jordan Yeo, saw him deliver the perfect cross, where it was met by Oni, and he made no mistake with his effort.

As the game went into injury time, the hosts got a third to rub salt into Welton’s wounds. Radford was found on the edge of the Welton area, completely unmarked, and he had time to turn and tee up his shot which flew into the Welton net.

Bob Allard