PAULTON Rovers put the misery of the preview week's performance against Portishead behind them when they cruised to a 5-0 home win over lfracombe Town in the Premier Division of the Jewson Western Football League .

Rovers’ boss Ray Johnston mixed up the starting line-up for this game; looking for a response to the poor performance last week and from the off the signs were good. Rovers had the majority of the ball and early chances fell for Will Hailston, Dan McBeam and Milo Murgatroyd before the opener came in the 18th minute from George Fowler.

Will Hailston picked up the ball just over the halfway line and threaded a perfect ball through to Fowler who audaciously lobbed the keeper who was rushing out to stop him. It was his first goal since his return to the club and taken in spectacular style.

The second came six minutes later from a corner. As the ball was crossed an Ilfracombe defender headed the ball towards his own goal but it rebounded off the far post and was scrambled away, but only as far as the waiting Josh Ford who hammered the ball back through the crowd and into the net.

The hosts were now dominating the game and restricted Ilfracombe to a couple of long range shots that were comfortable stops for Dan Jackson in the Rovers goal. Further chances fell for Dan McBeam and George Fowler before the third came in the 37th minute.

Fowler was again involved as he pressed Ilfracombe into a mistake, the ball rebounding off him kindly into the path of Will Hailston who raced clear and slotted home.

The second half began as the first had finished as Milo Murgatroyd danced around two defenders and sat the keeper down but he blazed his shot over the bar. As time progressed however, and with a number of substitutions made, Ilfracombe began to come back into the game somewhat.

Certainly they had more possession of the ball but were failing to test Jackson in any real way.

As the game moved to the final minutes, the moment came that everyone involved with Paulton Rovers was looking forward to. After his horrific injury sustained at Clevedon, Kitan Jaiyeoba made his return to the team. He came on to huge cheers and it was just what Rovers needed as the hosts picked up the pace once more for the final moments.

Just moments later, Dan McBeam picked up a long ball and perfectly fed Kye Simpson who held off a defender to score continuing his excellent league goal scoring run. And just seconds later, Simpson was involved again when he was chopped down in the box by the Ilfracombe keeper.

The ball was immediately given to Kitan who made no mistake, blasting the ball into the net! It was an excellent performance all round and with the return of Kitan, should help set up the squad for a tricky run of away matches.

Victory enabled Paulton to remain eighth in the table, but they are only two points behind Shepton Mallet who have played two more matches.

Meanwhile, Clevedon Town maintained their two-point lead at the top of the table with a 3-0 away win over Brislington who are down in 16th spot, while second-placed Portishead won 2-0 at Street.

Jon Green