WATCHET visited newly-promoted Shepton Mallet Reserves on Saturday and after a sticky first half ran out 4-1 winners in their second match of the Somerset County League Premier Division campaign.

Playing up the slope, they were penned in their own half for much of the opening period and were extremely fortunate to be ahead at the interval through a well-taken goal from Aaron Deeks.

On the best playing surface they are likely to experience all season, they were unable to keep possession long enough to get the ball down and make use of it as the eager home side pressed down the hill.

It was as well for the visitors that for all their energy and approach work, Shepton lacked a cutting edge and were unable to capitalise on errors.

Despite those in front of him struggling to cope with their opponents’ movement, keeper Adam Bishop was not seriously stretched and Watchet almost took the lead against the run of play when Brandon Walsh reached a deep cross from Charley Clausen but couldn’t keep his header on target.

Ben Robinson’s long-range drive was tipped over, but the warning signs were there for Shepton that Watchet had weathered the worst of the storm, and when a corner on the left was only half-cleared, Deeks latched onto Chris Sully’s header back into the box and cleverly used a defender as a shield to place his shot wide of the keeper and make it 1-0 with the break approaching.

Watchet’s dangerous front pair came into the game much more in the second half and began to exploit some large gaps in the home team’s rearguard.

Jamie Milton twice threatened with headers following corners and there were other near misses for the visitors as they now enjoyed a greater share of the play.

The cushion of a second goal arrived soon after the hour when Deeks seized on a mistake near the half-way line to burst clear and evade a crude challenge from the home skipper before teeing up his strike partner Tom Sparks for a simple tap-in.

Watchet’s defending in this half was far less suspect and they made the most of Shepton’s need to throw men forward by breaking out to notch a third goal when Aerron Clausen’s through ball found Deeks in space again to skip clear and wide of the advancing keeper before calmly finding the vacant net.

Further goals for the visitors might have followed before some sloppy defending allowed Shepton to pull one back from close range to briefly raise their hopes of a late comeback.

It was Watchet who had the last word however when Deeks robbed a defender and measured a pass into the area for Walsh to take in his stride and angle a clinical finish across the keeper into the bottom far corner of the net.

Watchet: A Bishop, B Robinson, M Heywood, J Milton, C Sully, C Clausen, J Worth, B Walsh, A Clausen, A Deeks, T Sparks, sub C Jeromson (used).