Welton surged into third place in the Toolstation Division One table with three more valuable points gained on the road against a lively Wincanton side, and the large numbers of the travelling Green Army left South Somerset well satisfied with the result.

Welton suffered an early blow after only a minute of the game had been played when fullback Alex Wych pulled up and was replaced by Tom Smith. A free kick for Wincanton saw the ball delivered into the area by Dan Wise, where it was met by Marcus Cook, who headed wide of the Welton goal.

Welton took the lead on twelve minutes with a well-worked free kick. Chris Pile was brought down on the left, his kick met over on the right of the area by Joe Battrick, heading it towards Joe Garland who in turn headed home from close range.

Minutes later, Welton were awarded another free kick, this time on the right. Callum Elms’ quality delivery was met by Battrick, who headed goalwards, only to see Wincanton keeper Kieran Davis palm the ball onto the post and clear it to deny Welton a second goal. The hosts responded, and a header from Connor Williams flashed past the Welton far post.

Welton started the second half in lively fashion, with Pile setting up Francois Allen, who raced through the Wincanton defence only to see his final effort go wide of the target. This was followed by a diving header from Alex Chapman that was wide of the mark.

The hosts responded with a great move down the right. Matt Morley raced through, delivering a quality cross that was met by Williams, whose power-driver of a header rocked the Welton bar, dropped down on the goal line and was cleared.

Welton brought on Dylan Hart for Chapman, and Hart’s first contribution was an attack with pace that saw him find Allen in space, only for the striker to fire wide. Welton got the all-important second goal in the 75th minute when a 25-yard strike from Battrick saw the ball keep low, and fly past the outstretched Davis and into the far corner of the Wincanton net.

Welton sealed the points with five minutes remaining, when the lively Pile wriggled his way through the static Wincanton defence and calmly slotted the ball into the net to score his fifth goal in the last five games, a great achievement.

Bob Allard