MINEHEAD suffered the expected heavy defeat at Wordsworth Drive on Saturday against the league leaders and champions Taunton Town, who extended their unbeaten run to 11 games.

During the first half-an-hour Minehead proved a match for their illustrious opponents and although under considerable pressure they could quite easily have taken the lead on several occasions.

After both Antony Lynch and Martin Parker had gone close for the home side, Shane Porter almost created a shock when his powerful, long range left foot shot was turned over by Ryan Draper.

In the 20th minute the speedy Sean Kenny was put clear of the Taunton defence but he missed a wonderful scoring chance when he shot wide of the post.

After Lee Nunn had twice cleared off the line from Lynch, the home side took the lead in the 29th minute when Lynch set up Martin Parker to score with a well-placed shot.

Seven minutes later they increased the lead when Ellis Laight headed home a corner from Ian Bastow.

Shortly after, Minehead went close to reducing the arrears when Draper turned a shot from Brian Hall onto an upright, but Taunton increased their lead when Laight slotted home his second goal after a fine run by Lynch to give the home side a flattering 3-0 scoreline at half-time.

Two minutes after the interval it became 4-0 when the league's leading goalscorer Lynch beat keeper Adrian Cheek in a race for the ball and lobbed into the net.

Having been unlucky not to score on at least a couple of occasions in the first half, Minehead were somewhat fortunate to open their account when a rather harsh hand-ball decision against Darren Cann presented them with a penalty in the 54th minute and young Craig Carr made no mistake from the spot.

Taunton then increased the pressure and after 61 minutes Mark Loram broke clear to lob the ball into the net over the keeper's head.

Six minutes later it was 6-1 when Lynch slid the ball home from close range.

In the 73rd minute Lynch completed his hat-trick following a clever run along the goal-line by Laight, and with four minutes remaining Lynch took his personal tally to four and the score to 8-1 when he netted his 22nd league goal of the season after his first attempt had rebounded off an upright.

Minehead: A Cheek, A Giblett, S Porter, M Heywood, L Nunn, D Burr, C Carr, S Perkins, S Kenny, B Hall, N Whyborn; subs, G Bennett (used), T Fielder, A Hodgson (not used).