Langford Rovers crashed out of the Somerset Cup and the quarter-final stage at the hands of Wincanton.

Langford Rovers 2

Wincanton 3

ROVERS exited the Somerset Cup at the quarter-final stage after an eventful clash against their Dorset Premier League rivals.

Rovers came out of the blocks quickly and took the game to Wincanton. The first real chance fell to Ross Neads from Adi Marshman’s through ball, though Neads fired over from 15 yards.

With Grant Giles impressive and Rich Park dictating play, Rovers pressed and the opener came on the half-hour when Leigh White robbed the visiting defender and sent an inch perfect cross for Giles to tap in at the far post.

The visitors caused Langford problems out wide and it was from this channel the equaliser came five minutes before the break, a cross being converted by Wincanton’s striker.

The second period saw a nip and tuck encounter. Giles went close with a header and the impressive Neads again went close from a Joe Ellis pass. At the other end, Rovers defended stoutly with Joe Popperwell and James Marshall imperious, and Jamie Crandon only having to make the one smart save.

Wincanton took the lead when a tame shot from the edge of the area evaded everyone and trickled past an unsighted Crandon. The third goal followed, again with a stroke of luck, when a shot going wide deflected off Marshall.

Rovers threw everything they had in the closing 10 minutes, and when Ryan Havard won a penalty, Marshall netted, but it was too late for Rovers to snatch an equaliser.

Avenue Dry Cleaners man of the match was Grant Giles.

Rovers entertain Weston St Johns in a local Divisonal Cup quarter-final on Saturday.

Shepton Mallet Res 1

Weston St Johns Res 0

SAINTS crashed to a disappointing defeat against lowly Shepton Mallet.

Playing down the slope, the hosts were the better side in the first half, but did not create many chances, while Saints were restricted to a powerful header from Dave Wilcox and a couple of long-range efforts from Danny Sprague that went well wide.

The only goal came when a high ball beat the Saints’ defence and slight hesitation from keeper Joe Malik allowed a striker to roll the ball into an empty net.

The second half was a bit better from Saints, with Mike Carpenter’s header forcing a good save from the keeper. Moments later, Nick Jones’ corner beat the keeper, but was cleared off the line.

Saints never really created a clear chance and although Mitchum Smit and Dave Wilcox played well, the Mike Whittaker Building player of the match was Jack Clark.

Wrington Redhill 1

Banwell 2

WITH both teams pushing for promotion, this was always going to be a tightly-contested game.

The visitors started the brighter side with Mark McKeever and Adam Abrams causing problems for the Wrington defence.

McKeever was brought down 25 yards out and his resulting free kick was met with a fierce header from Chris Bradley giving the keeper no chance.

The battle of the day was between in-form Wrington striker Graham Cheeseman who had scored 10 goals in his last 10 games and Banwell’s new signing Craig Rand.

Pete Land was back in goal for the visitors and he marshalled his back line of Triffit, Potter, Rand and Mitchell superbly, thwarting any likely attack from the home side.

The visitors doubled their lead on 30 minutes when Ash Triffit smashed one into the top corner from 30 yards out. The hosts were rewarded minutes before the break when Cheeseman found some space and headed past Land from close range.

The second half saw both sides have equal possession and chances with the best chance falling to ex-Banwell player Dan Tenpan.

Banwell tightened the midfield up bringing on Shaun Potter. This settled the visitors and Matt Bebber, Ben Ferris and McKeever seeing lots of the ball.

A superb team performance by the visitors saw Banwell back into the automatic promotion places. McKeever, Triffit and Potter were all excellent, but Autosmart Joint man of the match was Craig Rand and Pete Land.