Larks and Bitton turn up the heat on leaders

TOOLSTATION PREMIER A season-high crowd of 175 watched LarkhallAthletic produce a professional performance and beat Corsham Town 2-0 in Saturday's top-of-the-table showdown.

With manager Neil Kirkpatrick away celebrating his 25th weddinganniversary in the Maldives, it was coaches Barry Crease, GeoffBeazer and Mark Jeffries who took charge of the Larks' biggest gameof the campaign.

The home side flew out of the traps and were rewarded for theirpositive start when Andy Gilbert skipped a rash dive-in from theexperienced Wayne Thorne and delivered a perfect cross to the backpost for Jamie Lyons to nod home against his former club.

Lyons had another shot cleared off the line shortly after asLarkhall bossed the first half but Corsham started the second periodbrighter and had a goal disallowed for offside.

The hosts had to make a change when Lyons was taken ill and hadto be replaced by young Tyler Sibbick, who produced an impressivecameo display and was only denied a goal by the bar.

However it didn't take long for him to redress that miss as agreat move down the right saw Ben Horan drill the ball low acrossthe face of goal for Sibbick to finish from close range.

Corsham remain top but are now just a point clear of Larkhall andare also under pressure from Bitton, who are third on goaldifference following Tuesday's 2-0 win at Street. Richard Fey's mensurvived a first-half battering at The Tannery Ground but improvedin the second period.

They broke the deadlock with 17 minutes to go when substitute SamDuggan found a big gap between defenders Mike Taylor and LeighBailey to guide the ball through the legs of keeper Nathan Whatley.

And they quickly killed the game off when Brandon Barnes got thebetter of a tussle with Jack Malone before turning the defender onthe edge of the box and delivering a superb left-foot shot into theroof of the net.

Larkhall will be hoping for a similar result when they visitStreet on Saturday, while Bitton are away to Willand Rovers. Corshamtake a break from league football to face Pewsey Vale in theWiltshire Senior Cup.