Faringdon Town 2-3 Bourton Rovers

Bourton Rovers held off a late Faringdon Town fightback to go top of Hellenic Division Two West.

Rovers were missing key players, Chris Mills, Connor Teague and Sam Mattock but welcomed back leading scorer Steve Nurse.

Bourton had plenty of possession in the opening 25 minutes and created two one on one chances which were wasted by Fielding and Nurse. It was Faringdon who should have opened the scoring but an excellent save by Simon Flower kept the scores level.

Rovers then got the breakthrough via the impressive Harry Larner after tidy footwork in the box resulted in a sharp finish.

Bourton went 2-0 up soon after when Larner scored his second with a powerful strike into the bottom corner from 15 yards and went in at half time with a two goal cushion.

In the second half, Larner eventually completed his hat-trick with a diving header after an in-swinging ball from Danny Way.

In the last twenty minutes when Faringdon pulled one back after Rovers failed to clear their lines. The goal brought Faringdon to life and they scored a second not long after when Callum Trott got caught under a high ball.

Faringdon then dominated the remaining 15 minutes but failed to find an equaliser.

The three away points send Bourton top of the table for one week as Rovers are away in The Gloucestershire Northern Senior Cup this coming Saturday against Brimscombe and Thrupp Development.

Bourton Manager Scott Powles had mixed emotions after the game. He said: "We're delighted to get all three points as it’s always a hard place to come. "However, we were wasteful in front of goal and at times defensive decisions let us down. I thought Faringdon were excellent in the final 20 minutes and showed a real desire to get something out of the game but Larner and Way were excellent for us today and drove us on to pick up all three points. We now face a tricky game away against Brimscombe next Saturday.