MINEHEAD, who parted company with manager Craig Carr only a few days earlier, went down to a 2-0 home defeat against Ashcott in the first division of the Uhlsport Somerset County Football League.

With Ashcott arriving at The Recreation Ground on level points with the league leaders and having already beaten The Blues in the league at the tail end of August, Minehead knew they were in for a difficult match.

Two first half goals in a five-minute period from the visitors compounded the situation further. Firstly, from a hotly disputed top line corner at the Queens Road end, Rufeo Taylor got his head to the perfectly executed flag kick to open their account, then a few minutes later his strike partner Ollie Luce tapped home a square ball across the six-yard box from the left-hand side for the second.

Top scorer Luce nearly made it three for the rampant visitors shortly afterwards, but Greg Turner made an excellent block with his foot, and shortly afterwards it took another important save from Turner to keep the deficit at two goals.

With Ashcott now looking in control of the game’s destiny, Minehead managed to rally for a period later in the half, and some good incisive attacks gave them encouragement. Toby Waghorn put Guy Burns through, but his right foot shot was dealt with by Ashcott keeper Will Pope.

Ollie Prescott further proved the hosts were not to be over-run, with two efforts; the first ended with a right footed shot being tipped around the post for a corner by Pope, then, another opportunity fell to Prescott’s less favoured right foot but his effort was kept out by Pope who made a miraculous recovery to pick himself off the floor. Minehead took the game to their hosts in the second half, when they enjoyed as much of the play as the visitors had enjoyed in the first half, and were unfortunate not to get a point from the game.

Tempers raised for a period midway through the half when rash challenges went in from both sides.

Minehead thought they were back in serious contention when a long-range Ronan effort came back off the foot of the post, and Fin Harran netted. However the club linesman flagged for a hotly debated offside decision against Harran, which the referee upheld. Man of the Match for Minehead: Toby Morris.

Minehead dropped to ninth in the table following this defeat, having won only three of their ten league matches, with one drawn and five lost.

Elsewhere in the division, Portishead Town Reserves maintained their unbeaten record with a thumping 6-1 away victory over Burnham United. Portishead have dropped only six points all season and are top of the table on goal difference from Ashcott who have lost only once.

Peasedown Miners Welfare are only one point behind the two leading sides after they gained a 2-0 away victory over Westfield. Peasedown have also lost only one game this season and have a game in hand on Ashcott.

At the other end of the table, Bishop Sutton and Keynsham Town Reserves have yet to win a match. Bishop Sutton were beaten 3-1 away by Sporting Weston while Keynsham, who have played only seven games, lost 2-1 away to Wrington Redhill who are now up to sixth in the table.