Crusaders good away form continues

These are exciting times for the Southern Premier Division, not only did we record our third successive away win to stay on the edge of the play-off battle, but Poole lost for the first time(a 1-0 defeat at Corby) which allowed Redditch(2-0 winners over Arlesey) to go to the top of the league, the three top clubs being level on 47 points and separated only by goal difference.
The win at Paulton was never easy, for the Rovers are renowned battlers(witness the way they scored three times in the last 10 minutes to win 4-3 at Dorchester recently) and although we had the edge for most of the game, the result was never certain until the final whistle, and Bobby and the players can be proud of this result We almost had a sensational start when James Pilling hit the bar within the first 30 seconds, but the home defenders managed to get the ball away. We continued to threaten and James Clark opened the scoring after only 10 minutes with a shot which went in off the far post. Both sides went close to scoring in the remainder of the half, the nearest effort came when Charlie Mpi got a rebound off a defender, but the home side survived the ensuing scramble, and the interval came with no further goals.
The second half soon brought a flurry of excitement, Brandon Barnes equalizing after 53 minutes, but James Rusby (pictured) headed home from a corner after 57 minutes, a cross-shot from Scott Wilson skimmed the outside of the far post as the home side looked like leveling again, before a high shot from Lee Smith squirmed through the goalkeepers hands after 59 minutes to give us a 3-1 lead.
Paulton were still not beaten and Brandon Barnes burst through with a great solo run to make it 3-2 with the best goal of the game after 78 minutes but, even with 5 minutes of added time there were no further goals and we held on to the points.
Team; Strudley, Horgan, John,Rusby, Day,Pilling(Rees),Clark,Collins, Mpi(Goodger), Draycott, Smith. Subs; Stow , O’Brien, Munday.