CREWKERNE Town held on to their two-point lead at the top of the premier division by winning 3-0 at Lyme Regis Reserves.

Jamie Spurdle netted twice in the victory to move his total scored for the season on to 35. Adam Manley was the other marksman.

The winners have yet to be beaten in the league and appear to be on their way to retaining the title as they have three games in hand over both Shepton Beauchamp and South Petherton who are battling it out for the runners-up spot.

Crewkerne will be looking forward to appearances in the finals of the Challenge Cup and Somerset Junior Cup, but they cant afford to be complacent as they still have to play home games against both their rivals in the next few weeks.

Dan Peach’s first half strike put Shepton on their way to a 4-0 success against visitors Combe St Nicholas Reserves.

George Pugson increased the advantage soon after the interval before Kris Hastings bagged a third with a lofted ball over the keeper from 30 yards out. Dougie Whitfield completed the victory when he headed home an 82nd minute free-kick by Sam Hodgkinson.

A goal inside the opening minute by Richard Hebditch gave Petherton the perfect start in their home match against West & Middle Chinnock, but the hosts had to wait until ten minutes from time before a Dean Smith effort finally put an end to Chinnock’s resistance.

If it is decided at the league’s AGM that two teams will be relegated, then Misterton will be joining Ilminster Town Colts after they suffered a 13-0 loss at Beaminster.

Home striker Josh Hunter must enjoy playing against Missy after hitting five goals to add to the twelve he scored against the same opposition earlier in the season. Robin Jones contributed a hat-trick in the triumph that was completed by singles from Alf Ward, Josh Baker, Gary Corry, Adam Moss and Kieran Hawkins.

Division One A DISAPPOINTING first-half performance may have cost Netherbury the runners-up spot as they could only claim a point from a 2-2 draw at Lyme Bantams.

Shaun Stewart gave Bantams an interval lead with Cameron Fowler extending the advantage in the second half. Ryan Gay reduced the arrears before John-Paul Avery levelled the scores.

Mark Pike found the net twice for Millwey Rise as they beat Farway United by the odd goal in three.

Millwey's remaining match is against Netherbury and it could be all down on the result of that encounter to see which will claim the second promotion place, although it is believed that the Devon outfit may be withdrawing from the league at the end of the season to join the Devon & Exeter League.

In a match where the first half entertainment value came a close second to watching paint dry, Winsham United came from a goal down to win 2-1 at home to Luso-Chard.

Tiago Casimiro pounced on a mistake by home keeper Jake Hardiman to give Luso a 42nd minute lead. Sam Symes came near to grabbing an equaliser in the 76th minute, but his thunderous drive was tipped over the bar by visitors gloveman Rui Mestrinho.

However, from the resulting corner kick, the ball was cleared only as far as Ian Hilton whose 22-yard effort rocketed past Mestrinho into the top corner of the net.

Winsham came close to taking the lead three minutes later when a long throw-in by Pat Adams found the head of Tom Stead, but the striker directed the ball straight into the keepers hands.

The home side were now beginning to look more dangerous and a minute later Symes received a perfectly weighted cross-field ball from youngster Ben Smith, he lofted it into the area where Stead was waiting to drive it over the line from close-range. A Luso defender tried to make a last ditch clearance, but could only divert the ball into the roof of the net.

Division Two DRIMPTON got the points to give them promotion as champions by scoring fifteen goals without reply against bottom team Ilminster Town A.

Terry Farrell was on target five times in the rout, while Murray Legg and Nick Murphy both hit hat-tricks. Strikes by Craig Lodge, Paul Richards, Lee Banks and Paul McCormack completed the scoring.

No one wants to see teams lose by double figures each week and in recent years it has become a regular occurrence.

It may be time for clubs to try and change a few of the rules that force sides like Ilminster to move up when their higher placed teams wish to step into senior football.

Combe A completed their fixtures with a 3-0 loss at Crewkerne Town Reserves where Paul Gold gave the home side an early lead. Tom Broome made it 2-0 after the interval before Gold netted his second of the afternoon to keep the winners on course for a second place finish.

Division Three FIVE teams remain in contention for promotion. Although only two of these had fixtures at the weekend, with both gaining victories.

Third placed Barrington Reserves closed the gap on the teams above them by beating Millwey Rise Reserves 3-1. Ade Attenbury, Steve Park and Jonny Watkins were the winners marksmen.

John Fowler Cup holders Hawkchurch extended their unbeaten run to eight by defeating Merriott Dynamos 4-0.

Gavin Herrod hit a brace for the winners with Jamie Harris and Dan Richards also finding the net.

Division Four CREWKERNE Rangers Reserves first outing for a month ended in defeat as they went down 5-2 at Hinton St George.

The winners appear to have hit a purple patch having lost just once in their last ten games and that was against Division Two opponents Thorncombe in the Daisy Hutchings Cup.

Kenny Forbes moved on to 20 goals for the season by bagging a treble in the victory that was completed with singles from Shane Jewell and Ian Bambury. The losers replied through Martin Russell and Sam Rockett.

Richard Curwood hit a consolation goal for Combe B as their promotion hopes suffered a set-back with a narrow 2-1 defeat at home to Winsham United Reserves.

Toby Thorne netted with a left footed volley to put Winsham ahead inside the opening 3 minutes. And the visitors used the slope to the advantage by doubling the lead just before the interval when a long throw-in by Tom Smith was met by Paul Stuart who steered the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

Winsham had a number of other scoring chances as the game progressed but they failed turn them into goals.

Ashley Cooper struck his 36th goal of the campaign when his hat-trick helped the divisions pacesetters Merriott Rovers to a rather one-sides 9-1 win against Uplyme Reserves.

Danny Rudge and Kev Richardson added a brace apiece while Gavin Charles and Mike Brownsey contributed a goal each.

Josh Betts, Phil Denslow, Dan Legg and Jamie Manley were on target for Drimpton Reserves as they beat Farway United Reserves 4-1.

Tommy Tabberer Cup GOALS by Steve Bryant and Aaron Hole were enough to see Crewkerne Rangers reach the semi-final stage following a 2-1 defeat of Uplyme who replied through Sam Kapur.

Also going through to the penultimate stage were Thorncombe, but they required extra-time before winning 6-3 against Waytown Hounds.

Bryan Garrett and Aiden Gold hit two goals each for the Thorns whose scoring was completed by Josh Rolfe and John Allen. Jon Legg (2) and Nat Bowditch were the Hounds marksmen.

Somerset Intermediate Cup BARRINGTON extended their winning sequence to twenty-four while keeping a ninth clean sheet of the season by winning their semi-final at Locking Park 4-0.

After a slow start on a bumpy pitch, Barrington gradually took control of the game and went ahead when good work by Simon Cherry and Guy Dare set up Andy Whitefield to score.

The advantage was doubled in the 38th minute as Mike Whitefield weaved his way past three defenders only to be pushed in the back as he was teeing up his shot inside the area and brother Andy made no mistake from the spot.

It was 3-0 five minutes later when a poor back-pass led to the keeper making a hasty clearance and the ball hit Mike Towill and rebounded back over the gloveman into the net.

After the break, Whitefield completed his hat-trick with his 40th goal of the campaign as he gave the keeper little chance after receiving the ball from Tom Perry who had made a fine run down the right flank.

The winners will meet Bridgwater League side Westonzoyland in the final on a date yet to be decided.

Leading scorers — up to and including March 21: Premier Division: 35 Jamie Spurdle (Crewkerne Town); 29 Josh Hunter (Beaminster); 27 Dan Smith (Shepton Beauchamp); 23 Liam Riste (Crewkerne Town); 21 Richard Hebditch (South Petherton); 19 Mark Cawley (West & Middle Chinnock), Adam Dawe (Crewkerne Town); 16 Steve Every (Combe Reserves), Dan Peach (Shepton Beauchamp); 15 Stuart Bicknell & Craig Every (Combe Reserves).

Division One: 40 Andy Whitefield (Barrington); 27 Guy Dare (Barrington); 17 Tom Perry (Barrington), Tom Stead (Winsham United); 16 Sam Dibling (Millwey Rise), Andy Stevenson (Forton Rangers); 15 Shane Partridge (Winsham United); 14 Mark Pike (Millwey Rise); 13 Ryan Gall (Netherbury), Stuart Packer (Chard United).

Division Two: 31 Terry Farrell (Drimpton); 24 Bryan Garrett (Thorncombe); 19 Paul Gold (Crewkerne Town Reserves); 18 Warren Gabbidon (Thorncombe), Jon Legg (Waytown Hounds); 16 Simon Denslow (Drimpton, includes 13 for Crewkerne Rangers), Lee Fisher (Thorncombe).

Division Three: 29 Liam Male (Chard United Reserves); 18 Andy Dymond (Hawkchurch); 17 Jamie Brown (Chard United Reserves); 16 Jimmy Rees (South Petherton Reserves), Jake Russell (Kingsbury); 14 Luke Harding (Hawkchurch); 13 Barry Hayne (Merriott Dynamos).

Division Four: 36 Ashley Cooper (Merriott Rovers); 20 Kenny Forbes (Hinton St George); 18 Graham Cleal (Combe B); 17 Ross Jewell (Hinton St George); 14 Danny Rudge (Merriott Rovers), Paul Stuart (Winsham United Reserves); 13 Niall Waterhouse (Uplyme Reserves); 12 Kev Cavanagh (Chard Rangers Reserves), Aaron Hole (Crewkerne Rangers Reserves), Sam Rowswell (Merriott Rovers).