Welton consolidated their third position in the league with a vital win over Cribbs in an entertaining game at West Clewes.

The game got underway in bright spring sunshine and Welton took the game to the visitors. A good run and left-foot shot from defender, Dan Scrivens, was saved at the second attempt by Cribbs keeper, Matt Turner. The visitors responded and a free kick was curled in and Dave Petitt headed wide.

Ex-Bath City man, Dave Gilroy, was looking lively upfront for Cribbs and a drive from him was well saved by Andy King in the Welton goal.

However, on nine minutes, Cribbs took the lead. A corner from the left was met by Petitt, who headed goalwards and Gilroy was on hand to score from close range. Gilroy then broke through the static Welton defence, one-on-one with the keeper and was only denied a second goal by a brilliant save from King.

Welton equalised on twenty minutes when a quality corner from Dan Cottle was met by Paul Banks in the mix and he somehow bundled the ball into the net through a crowd of players. Welton then had central defender, Carl Stone, to thank for a great last-ditch tackle to deny Simon Bone. Welton took the lead just before the half-hour, when good work by Ben Harris saw him find Banks in space on the right, he squared the ball to Anthony Keen, who drilled his effort just inside the post to give Welton the lead. Just before half-time, Welton nearly got a third when a dipping long-range shot from Cottle had goal written all over it, until Cribbs keeper, Turner, somehow blocked it with his knee.

The second half saw Keen going close with an effort just after the restart, then Banks broke through the static Cribbs defence, one-on-one with the keeper, only to see his shot blocked by Turner. The visitors responded and Jordan Yeo swept his pass across the Welton area and Ryan McKillop was only an inch away from scoring a certain goal. The lively Cottle was then brought down on the edge of the Cribbs area, his delivery was met over on the right by Keen and his first-time volley flew into the Cribbs net to score a very good goal.

Welton could not relax as the visitors were still in the game and they were rewarded in the 68th minute when they pulled a goal back. A corner from the right wasn't cleared and the ball fell to Gilroy, who made no mistake with his effort that hit the back of the Welton net.

Minutes later, Welton were awarded another free kick, this time on the left. Cottle's delivery was met at the far post by Keen and his bullet header flew goalwards, only to be denied by a brilliant instinctive save by Turner. Welton held firm and when the referee blew the final whistle, the Green Army erupted and gave the Welton players a great ovation for a very good, all-round solid team performance.

Chairman, Stuart Minall, assesses the rest of Welton's season

As of the end of March, we are sitting third in the Toolstation First Division and whatever happens for the rest of the season, this will have been a successful one for us, particularly considering where we were in the summer of 2013.

The fact is, however, that we are setting our standards much higher these days and we will look to two games at Westbury and Chard as games where we didn't capitalise on slip-ups from Shepton. We are now twelve points behind them and I think you would have to say it is very unlikely we will overturn that. The focus for the remainder of the season is to finish as high as possible, ideally in the top four, and we have a head-to-head with Shepton on Saturday, 12th April, where I would like to think we can show everyone what we can do and throw down a marker for next season.

As far as the Reserves are concerned, they are now in a great position to make this season a successful one, but they have a tough run-in with games against local rivals, Peasedown and Timsbury, as well as two games against fellow title contenders, Long Ashton.

Finally, I would like to share an update on the grant application for the new stand. We have had a site visit from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund and they have assessed the need for a new stand to replace our old one. The feedback is encouraging, but, of course, until we get the final decision, we won't be counting our chickens – we've been told to expect a decision at the end of April or beginning of May.