RADSTOCK Town faced Gillingham Town in their third consecutive home fixture and gained an impressive 5-1 victory.

With several key faces unavailable for this fixture, the Miners made five changes, including a debut for new signing Drew Thomas following the midfielder’s arrival from Hengrove Athletic.

Things did not look to be going Radstock’s way in the opening exchanges, with Gillingham creating a number of good chances and forcing Tom Crouch into action in the Miners goal early on.

Mason Harrison, returning to captain the side, was forced off with injury after just 10 minutes and replaced by last season’s Under-18s Player of the Season Barclay Lloyd-Foster.

The hosts steadily grew into the game, and with James Payton and Owen Robinson looking solid at the back the Gillingham threat all but vanished. Lloyd-Foster played a fantastic ball down the line for Tom Ellis-Ricketts to latch on to and race through on goal, duly firing past the Gillingham keeper after 28 minutes.

Ellis-Ricketts almost had a second moments later if not for a fingertip save to deny him. Despite Ellis-McDonald being sin-binned for dissent, the Miners doubled their advantage through Matt Curnock on the stroke of half-time.

Charlie Saunders’ powerful shot came back off the crossbar and Curnock, returning to the side for his first appearance of the season, was in the right place to lash the ball home for 2-0.

The second half started exactly how the first had ended, with Radstock pouring forwards once more and adding to their lead when Kai Williamson scored just 2 minutes after the restart. It was clear from their reaction to the goal that Gillingham were beginning to lose their discipline.

However it was 16-year-old Aelfric Bidder, making his first team debut, who looked the calmest man on the pitch after

breezing past Gillingham’s captain and expertly finishing past the goalkeeper for Radstock’s 4th goal.

The visitors pulled one back with 5 minutes left when a shot came back off the underside of the crossbar and was deemed to have crossed the line, much to the bemusement of Crouch in the Radstock goal.

As the clock ticked over into the 90th minute Bidder almost got himself a second goal on his debut, with a dipping shot

from range that was tipped over the bar.

The hosts’ 5th goal came from the resulting corner, with Gillingham’s Joe Jarvis turning the ball into his own net. Barclay Lloyd-Foster was named Man of the Match.

Robbie Newman