PAULTON Rovers are up to eighth in the Premier Division of the Jewson Football League after beating a stubborn Buckland Athletic 1-0 at home in a game played in tricky wet and windy conditions.

In the reverse fixture earlier in the season, Buckland had dominated the game and put seven past the Rovers’ defence so they would have backed themselves to do so again.

However, as in all sports, form fluctuates and both teams were meeting each other again with the form switched. Buckland are in a sticky patch while Rovers are on a good run and so the hosts will have been confident in taking the points.

The heavy pitch and windy conditions certainly played a part in the game and it took a while for things to settle into a pattern. Rovers had the first chance when Jack Farion hit a shot from the edge of the box but it was straight at Adam Seedhouse-Evans in the Buckland goal and he took it comfortably.

A pattern seemed to be emerging. Rovers were doing most of the probing and moving the ball around nicely with Buckland happy to use the pacey Ryan Richards on the left to hit the hosts on the break.

Despite Rovers doing more of the attacking they weren't creating many openings as the well drilled Buckland defence did well to shut out attacks. It wasn't until the 19th minute that Rovers second chance came, and it was another long range effort from Farion. This time he had the goalkeeper scramble to make the stop.

The visitors best chance of the first half came moments later when Ryan Bush was able to break into the Rovers area and feed the ball to Ryan Richards but he sliced his shot wide of the near post. Bush had a chance himself two minutes later but pushed it wide.

It began a small period of pressure from Buckland but Rovers also coped well to keep them out. Buckland had restricted Rovers to long range efforts so far and Kye Simpson got in on the act in the 34th minute but is effort also whistled just wide. The hosts went close twice as the half came to a close. Wayne Ndemerani and Billy Padfield combined on the right to get the latter a low cross which was intercepted just as Kye Simpson was about to connect in front of goal.

From the resulting corner, Josh Ford powered in a header through a crowd of players and it seemed inevitable it was going in, but Seedhouse-Evans was in the way again to make the save.

Patience was going to be the key going into the second half, as Rovers looked to have had the better of the chances so far. Both sides went close early on as Richards had a header cleared then moments later, Milo Murgatroyd fed Kye Simpson in the box and his shot beat the keeper but was cleared away by a defender about a foot from the line.

With the game starting to settle again, it was the host doing most of the probing again with Buckland looking to strike on the break. The breakthrough from Rovers came in the 70th minute when a cross from the right was only partially cleared and Milo Murgatroyd picked up the ball in the box and took a shot. It was blocked by a defender but the ball only lopped up and into the path of Will Hailston who was able to poke the ball into the net.

Jon Green