Tower won 5-2 at La Hague Manor in the second round of the Somerset Cup against Worle while St Peter and St Paul’s conceded last-minute goals to lose by the odd goal – St Peter 2-1 at home to Hartley Wintney in the second round of the Hampshire Cup and St Paul’s 3-2 in Wimbourne against Allendale in the second round of the Dorset Cup.Chris Conning (two), John Rutter and juniors Ben Ahier and Bradley Russell scored Tower’s goals.
Lee Turner fired St Peter ahead in their match while Steve Cumming hit both goals for St Paul’s who pulled back to 2-2 after trailing 2-0 at the interval.Tower manager Dave Philpott said: ‘It was a great team effort, our forward play was very good for a change while we were not as tight at the back as I would have liked.
Although Worle didn’t create a lot centre-forward Ian Leadbetter took both his goals well.’Substitute Bradley Russell had a good game for us when he came on.
Bradley’s still a junior but he showed great vision and awareness and he capped his performance by deservedly netting our fifth goal.’St Peter manager Keith Le Cornu, whose team included just one first-team player from last season, said: ‘It was a cruel finish for us, we had defended so well and deserved to go into extra time.
It was a backs-to-the-wall performance but I’ve nothing but credit for the players because they have a great spirit.’When you’re down and struggling you get dealt blows like this and I felt for the players because all of them worked tremendously hard as a unit.’Lee Turner shot St Peter ahead inside ten minutes when he was left unmarked after a free kick was not dealt with by the visiting defence.
Hartley Wintney equalised from Scott Holman’s header on the half hour before substitute Pete Lewis nodded home the visitors’ winner, into a top corner, with just 35 seconds of stoppage time remaining.St Paul’s joint-manager Bill Begbie said: ‘It was a game we really should have won.
Allendale’s goals were both down to goalkeeping errors but we recovered well in the second half to get level again.’Our second-half performance was the best we’ve played this season.
Daniel Evans made two good saves in the period and had we capitalised on our chances we would have won.
When they scored their third there was no way back as there was little time left.’Steve Cumming scored both St Paul’s goals, the first well taken after a fine run from Jon Carter and the second from close in.
Defender Shaun Irving was replaced at half time as a result of a broken nose.
