PAULTON Rovers continued their good form in the Premier Division of the Jewson Western League with a 3-1 home victory over Saltash United - with goals from Josh Ford, Will Hailston and Callum English-Brown.

There was a frantic opening to the game with Milo Murgatroyd forcing a corner within the first minute. The cross from Hailston was only cleared behind again for a second corner from which their was an almighty scramble in the box with Kye Simpson swivelling and shooting only to see the ball somehow deflected up onto the crossbar and back out to Ford whose snap shot was similarly deflected up onto the bar.

Rovers struggled to keep the ball after this with passes going astray. So it was somewhat against the run of play that Kye Simpson was put through only to see his shot from a tight angle deflected away for a corner. Hailston again stepped up, launching the ball in for Ford to slam in with his head.

The confidence returned to Rovers and they began to regain the upper hand. Murgatroyd continued to use his quick feet on the right while Callum English-Brown used his pace on the left well supported by Billy Padfield who made good runs up from the back.

But Saltash also continued to look dangerous and Dan Jackson had to make a great save in the 28th minute from a header by Ben Goutly.

A controversial moment occurred moments later as Murgatroyd chased down a back-pass to the Saltash keeper, Tyler Coombes. The attacker blocked Coombes' clearance who appeared to be held back preventing him getting to the ball. The referee waived away the protests.

Rovers doubled their lead in the 33rd minute when a cleared ball found Hailston who steered the ball home.

The rest of the half and the opening minutes of the second half, played out with Rovers mainly in control. The killer blow came in the 60th minute when Murgatroyd and English-Brown combined well on the right. The pair foxed the Saltash defence before Murgatoyd fed Hailston on the edge of the box who neatly lobbed the ball over the defence to English-Brown himself lobbing the ball over the keeper from a tight angle.

With the game essentially won, a raft of substitutions followed. In the final minutes, Saltash were awarded a penalty with both teams seemingly unaware of why! The spot-kick was neatly tucked past Jackson by Ben Goulty.

Jon Green