Welton’s interest in this year’s FA Cup competition ended on a lovely sunny summer afternoon at West Clewes, when they were taken out by two clinical second half finishes from their Toolstation Premier League opponents.

The cup tie got underway in front of a large crowd and Welton were first out of the blocks, with a cracking 25 yard shot from Aaron Seviour that saw Bitton keeper, Joe Pople, save at the second attempt. The visitors’ response saw good play from Connor Davies, which caused the Welton defence to be on their toes. A deep free kick from ex-Welton player, Luke Palmer, saw his effort met by Steve Jones, but his glancing header went wide of the Welton post.

Welton were then awarded a free kick, central in the Bitton area, Tom Smith’s delivery wasn’t dealt with by the hesitant Bitton defence and the ball fell to Chris Pile, whose quality chip saw the ball glide over the Bitton defence, only to strike the visitors’ far post to deny Welton an opening goal. Welton continued to press, and the visitors were on the back foot. Just before the half-time whistle, Welton really should have opened their account when good play by Darren Green on the right saw him beat his marker and then deliver a pin point cross that found Seviour in space in front of goal, but his first-time effort went inches wide of the target.

The second half saw Welton concede a soft goal within a minute of the restart, a long through ball bypassed the Welton defence and fell to Davies in space, Welton keeper, Owen Knight, made the decision to race off his line in an attempt to close him down, but Davies neatly waltzed around the keeper and calmly slotted the ball into the Welton net to give the visitors the lead.

Welton struggled to get back into the game. In the 65th minute, they were dealt another blow when a quality through ball from midfield found Paddy Royal completely clear of the static Welton defence and he made no mistake in drilling his shot into the Welton net. The home side were shell shocked and despite their efforts were unable to cause the visitors too many problems and Bitton were rewarded with a lucrative next round tie against Sailsbury.

Bob Allard