MINEHEAD went down 2-1 at home to Keynsham Town Reserves in their last match of the season in the first division of the Uhlsport Somerset County Football League.

This was the second time the sides had played each other at Minehead, the original unfinished game in March needing to be re-staged after an abandonment due to serious injury in the second half to goalkeeper Michael Palmer, who was on loan at the time from parent club Bridgwater United. The player was unable to be moved at the time, leaving the referee with no option but to call off the match with Minehead leading 1-0.

The return started with Minehead having two glorious six-yard box chances to open the scoring inside the first thirty seconds of play, when the ball fell kindly to firstly Andy Hall and then Toby Waghorn. But, with only the visiting custodian Keir Doherty to prod the ball past, the keeper expertly managed to block both attempts.

Neither side managed to get much of a hold on the game during the first half, but in the fourth minute of injury time, Keynsham centre forward Alex Hodges ran through the defence and side footed home passed Minehead’s exposed keeper Jack Harding, to give his side a 1-0 lead.

Generally, Minehead enjoyed more of the possession and edged play in the second half, and Burge saw his header from a perfect Ollie Hall corner come back off the crossbar. With fifteen minutes left to play, a slightly under-hit back pass was characteristically chased down by Waghorn and reaching the ball just before the advancing Doherty, prodded the ball home to put his side level.

Seven minutes into an alarmingly long amount of injury time, Hodges ran through the defence again, and in desperation Burge tugged at his shirt, causing Hodges to go down theatrically. The referee correctly pointed to the spot, and after dusting himself off the centre forward scored the winner and doubled his own tally, leaving Keynsham celebrating ecstatically, as three points saved them from relegation, whereas one point would not have been enough.

Keynsham thereby leap-frog Minehead in the table, meaning The Blues finish the season just one place above a relegation position, having won only two games in 2025.

At the start of the season Minehead experienced good cohesion and form, winning seven of their opening eight league games. Up until mid-February, Minehead had lost just two league games, both by the odd goal.

Injuries, and player availability since then has seriously denied manager Craig Carr any opportunity to play a consistent side. The slide down the table has been alarming, yet looking back, an almost inevitable one having been forced to use so many different players and most noticeably ten different goalkeepers in their final ten games since mid-February.

Minehead: Jack Harding, Harvey Henderson, Charlie Disney, Louis Burge, Stephan Phillips, Dan Vickers, Sam Jackson, Will Singleton-Voss, Stefan Phillips, Toby Waghorn, Andy Hall, Ollie Hall. Subs: Harvey Lovell, Jack Campbell-Farmer, Scott Kivell (all used), Man of the Match: Louis Burge.

Minehead finished with a league record of played 30, won 10, drawn seven and lost 13, with a goals deficit of four, and a total of 30 points.

Congresbury were convincing winners of the division, finishing 15 points clear of second-placed Stockwood Green will be promoted along with Ashton & Backwell United.