Two goals in the final five minutes steered Town to a 2-1 Calor League victory over Mangotsfield United at the Viridor Stadium this afternoon (12 April). The result makes it four consecutive wins for Taunton who battled back from going a goal down to turn the game on its head at the death. Mangotsfield’s Kevin Sawyer was the busier of the two keepers in a goalless first half, touching Josh Wadham’s fierce angled shot wide and tipping over a thunderous drive from Steve Kingdon, but it was United who had the clearest chance to break the ice when Darren Edwards seized upon a misplaced pass but fired into the side netting. Sawyer again thwarted Town in the early exchanges of the second half, foiling Ross MacNab who had latched onto Shane Kingston’s long pass, whilst Chris Young shot just wide before Lewis Sommers spurned a golden opportunity for Mangotsfield, placing his effort past the far post with a clear sight of the net. The visitors had improved luck when they took the lead on 71 minutes with a well-worked strike, Ashley Williams finding Josh Egan who set up Aron Robbins to volley past Joe Perry. With time running out, sub Steve Murray made a superb run from the left side over to the right and delivered a cross onto the head of MacNab who grabbed the equaliser on 87 minutes. It got even better two minutes into stoppage time when more good work from Murray led to Rodney Marsh crossing from the left, Ben Carter heading down and Jamie Short cutting in to beat Sawyer at his near post with a left-footed shot. The match ended on an unpleasant note when Mangotsfield’s Clayton Fortune was shown a straight red card after an altercation in the Taunton box and further unsavoury scenes followed after the final whistle. Match report now online.
Manager Leigh Robinson said:” It was great to get a win in those circumstances and all credit to the players for keeping going. They could have sat back after making it 1-1 with three minutes to go but kept going forward and Jamie showed great composure in the box to take his chance. We’re on a nice little run, confidence is high and we’re really looking forward to welcoming Merthyr on Tuesday night.”