Paulton had a slice of good fortune to win a hard-fought match against last season Western League champions, Melksham, managed by Darren Perrin, who took Rovers into the Southern League twelve years ago.
Left winger, Kyle Tooze, nearly opened the visitors' account with a dipping header, tipped over the bar by Rob Brown.
Player Coach, Aaron Brown, planted a ball deep into the Melksham penalty area, headed on by Mitchell Page to Tooze, only for Ian Jeffrey to clear the danger. Tooze limped off with a nasty injury. Former Paulton player, Mike Perrot, brought a fine save from Ben John and the keeper was called upon as Ash Barnett tried a curling left foot inswinging shot which Rovers' new keeper held.
Ben Bament was proving a thorn in the home defence's side. With his run down the right, he was on hand to bring a good save from Brown. On the half-hour, Bament saw his drive go narrowly over the crossbar. Then Aaron Brown collected a long throw by Sam Teale to tee up Page, who laid off to Darren Mullings to bring another sound save from Rob Brown.
On the stroke of half-time, Melksham took the lead as Barnett collected the ball and chipped over a square Rovers back line, allowing Dan Kovacs to nip in and tuck the ball past John into the net.
Rovers came out for the second period starting brightly, with Aaron Brown threading passes across the pitch, with Jordan Walker and Bament both seeing shots saved by Rob Brown. Paulton made several substitutions, with Dave O'Hare and Cameron Brown linking up and a fierce drive by Bament brought yet another good save from Rob Brown.
On 73 minutes, Rovers levelled as Aaron Brown sent Dave O'Hare through, beating the offside trap and evading the close attention of a mistimed challenge by Melksham Skipper, Ryan Bennett, to slip the ball past Rob Brown. Perrot responded, finding Dan Griffiths, whose shot was held by John. Then Perrot sent Dan Sibley goalwards and as John came out to narrow the angle, the ball was deflected by a Rovers defender for a corner. With three minutes left, Paulton won a corner on the left, well driven in by Aaron Brown, causing confusion in the home defence and the ball fell to Mullings to tap in the simplest of chances to grab the winner.
Injuries to several players and other absences has led to the difficult decision to cancel forthcoming games with Shepton Mallet, at home on Tuesday this week, and Wimborne Town, away on Saturday. If the situation improves, Rovers hope to get one more game in before the league starts on 8th August (home to Hungerford Town, 3 p.m. kick-off).
The latest casualty is Kyle Tooze, who sustained a broken fibula in yesterday's 2–1, at Melksham Town. Kyle is likely to be in plaster for six weeks. Everyone at the club wishes him a speedy recovery.