MINEHEAD travelled to Westbury on Saturday in confident mood having broken their losing run by beating Brislington in their first home game of the season on the previous Tuesday, but although playing one of last season's weaker teams, they went down 4-1.

Throughout the early part of the first half neither side looked capable of opening the scoring, but after 19 minutes Mark Pearce saw his right footed snapshot come back off the Minehead post with keeper Adrian Cheek looking beaten.

On the half hour, with Westbury starting to put pressure on the visitors, Sean Kenny broke through from the half way line but his cross was too deep for Gareth Morgan.

Nick Wyborn collected the ball on the right flank and saw his cross turned away for a corner. That was cleared and it was the home side's turn to break, Tripp's cross finding Ranger whose shot was blocked by Cheek's outstretched leg and cleared by Adrian Giblett.

Minutes later, defender Matt Heywood left too much space at the back and was relieved when Cheek again saved the resulting attempt.

A clearance by Minehead saw Westbury's defence step forward playing the offside trap, catching four blue shirts running back from beyond the last defender, but with the referee deciding none were attempting to take part in the attack, captain Dave Burr seized the opportunity to break clear from just inside the Westbury half.

With the goalkeeper advancing, he slipped the ball square to Morgan who sidefooted home from 10 yards.

A few minutes later Morgan was booked following a challenge noticed by the referee's assistant.

On the stroke of half-time Westbury managed to force a deserved equaliser when Andy Goodenough prodded home after a goalmouth melee had seen two of his team-mates' shots blocked.

The second half, as in each of Minehead's away games this season, saw the Blues concede several sloppy goals.

After Giblett was booked for a relatively innocuous challenge, player manager Nigel Tripp headed his side ahead with a far post header.

Within two minutes the lead was doubled when Wayne Wheeler's excellent shot on the turn from the edge of the box found its way past Cheek and into the top corner of the net.

A strong challenge from Lee Nunn provided a rare opening for Kenny, who having shown a clean pair of heels to the home defence saw his fierce cross shot just clear the bar.

Will Giblett replaced Nunn and showed good composure on the ball, and he started a move which saw Wyborn beat three defenders but again the final shot was fractionally wide.

Ten minutes from time a strong run from Dean Ranger resulted in Steve Perkins — namesake of the Minehead player unavailable through work commitments — finishing the scoring from close range.

The final chance of the match fell to Morgan, who managed to ease his way past the defence, but again a Minehead striker failed to hit the target.

Minehead: A Cheek, N Wyborn, M Heywood, A Giblett, L Nunn, A Reader, D Burr, C Carr, S Kenny, G Morgan, S Porter, subs W Giblett (used), A Hodgson (not used).

l Tomorrow (Saturday) Minehead Town travel to Cirencester Town for a preliminary round FA Cup match.

A coach will leave the Minehead Town car park at 9 a.m. and supporters are welcome to travel with the team at a cost of £5.

The club are still looking for potential committee members and are in need of a physio/sponge man and a kit manager.

Anyone interested should contact manager Andy Hodgson on 01643 703471 or any club official.