Wimborne Are Back on Track

Play-off chasing Wimborne Town returned to winning ways in the Pitching In Southern League Division One South on Tuesday night.

The Magpies, beaten 4-0 at home by leaders AFC Totton last Saturday, won 3-1 at Plain Ham against Larkhall Athletic.

It was certainly not a dull encounter in Bath with tackles flying in right from the start.

Then, on the half-hour mark, Wimborne went in front through Lewis Beale following a corner.

Larks` keeper Josey Casa-Grande denied Beale a second in a one-on-one challenge to keep the scoreline 1-0 at the break.

But Casa-Grande’s next serious action ended with him being sent-off in the 63rd minute.

And he is followed by the Magpies` Scott Arnold 3 minutes later after he received a second yellow card.

Five minutes from time, a bizarre own goal from Tom Bradley, whose back pass wasn’t spotted in time by the Larks` replacement keeper and the ball trickled across the line.

A Jack Camm header reduced the deficit in the 88th minute but 2 minutes into stoppage time, Dan Bartlett went through to make it 3-1.

The win lifts fourth-placed Wimborne seven points clear of sixth-placed Bashley, who have a game in hand.

Melksham Town entered their home game with Bishops Cleeve at the Oakfield Stadium with top five hopes still just about alive.

But a 53rd minute Toby Holland goal eventually proved enough to give Cleeve all three points.

At the other end of the table, Bideford AFC picked up a useful point at Badgers Hill against Frome Town.

Both teams started the evening far from being secure from being embroiled in a relegation battle and a crowd of 259 saw Frome dominate much of the ball but came up against a determined Devon side who fought hard to earn a 0-0 draw.

The point sees Bideford five points above the drop zone, with Frome two points better off.

The evening’s other game saw mid-table Paulton Rovers and eighth-placed Westbury United share a 1-1 draw at the First 4 Pools Stadium.

It was the visitors who took the lead 3 minutes before half-time when Callum Demkiv profited from a defensive mix up.

Rovers` eventually equalised In the 72nd minute, after Ed Butcher had seen a shot well saved, three players combined to set up Will Hailston to side-foot the ball home.

Westbury finished the game with ten-men after Aaron Cockrill was shown a stoppage time second yellow card.