Somerset County Division 1W
Somerton Town 2, Ilminster Town 3

ILMINSTER Town travelled to in-form Somerton Town, who were sitting one place below them in the table, and in a real full-blooded match played at a tremendous pace, club captain Jonny May’s last-minute winner gave them the win that their second-half performance deserved.

Somerton started at a furious pace and were cutting right through Ilminster’s defence, and it came as no surprise when they took the lead after some sloppy defending let in top scorer Jon Watts to score his 16th goal of the season in the fifth minute.

Somerton could have doubled their lead five minutes later when a fine counter-attack ended with keeper Casper Paine producing a fine save.

Somerton were well on top at this point, and Ilminster really only looked dangerous at set-plays, Joe Simmonds heading just wide from Aaron Sweet’s cross from the left.

The second half started with Ilminster in determined mood and substitute Chris Nezianya, who had been out injured for a couple of weeks, soon caused real problems for the home side with his direct running at the full-back.

Ilminster now had Somerton very much on the back foot and a desperate lunge in the crowded penalty area saw referee Mike Caines point to the spot. Taylor Jefferson smashed the kick into the top corner to make it 1-1.

This seemed to wake Somerton up and within five minutes they were ahead again when another counter-attack at pace led to Jacob Holland making it 2-1.

Ilminster boss Jason Manley then replaced Matt Brown and Aaron Sweet with Jack Male and Paul Nichols, and with Nezianya dictating play it was no surprise when he cut inside and played the ball into the path of Jefferson who produced an outstanding finish to once again bring the scores level, despite taking a knock.

With the game becoming stretched, a superb move led to a right-wing cross that found Watts unmarked, but his header was straight at Paine but Ilminster had the energy for one more attack and a goalmouth scramble saw May have his first shot blocked, before the skipper made no mistake with the rebound.

This was a great game played at a tremendous pace by two good teams, and all 14 players gave their all.

Jefferson, who now has 11 goals in 11 games, and Nezianya were the star men but the whole team can take credit for this excellent away win.