A FIRST-HALF brace from Craig Kent aided a depleted Purton side to a 3-1 win over Clanfield 85’ on Saturday.

With manager Justin Miller and his assistant Steve Davies both named on the bench, Purton looked set for a tough afternoon at Red House but the hosts dominated the first half.

Joe Hiscock saw an early effort cleared off the line before Kent was on hand to turn home a deflected shot from Ollie Hunt in the 10th minute.

It was Hunt’s deflected cross just shy of the half-hour mark that led to Kent netting his second of the game, with a looping effort into the far corner.

Purton looked flat in the second half and despite the visitors being reduced to 10 men, they made for a tense finish when the scored with less than 10 minutes left on the clock as they capitalised on Kent being off injured.

Max Scholefield pulled off a spectacular save to keep Purton’s advantage late on before Shannon Pocock secured the three points with a fine solo effort at the death.

“We scored at the right time really,” said Miller.

“We pretty much controlled the first half so I was happy to go in 2-0 up. It would have been nice to get the third goal but that never materialised.

“At half-time, we said that they would have a go second half because they weren’t at their best in the first half.

“We kind of weathered the storm in some respects.

“They obviously had a player sent off and then we went down to 10 men and they scored and Max made a great save at the end but we did enough to win the game.”

Such was the extent of Purton’s injury woes, with Joe Herbert (dislocated shoulder) and Kent both being forced off Miller and Davies both had to fill in and the Purton boss thought he had found the net late on but pushed his shot just wide of the post.

“It was quite funny really because I nearly scored and if it had gone it, it would have been one of my first touches,” added Miller.

“I said to the boys, if it had gone in, the celebrations would have been pretty good.

“I’ve been on the bench 12 times and the boys have been trying to get me on all season but I said it had to be a really bad situation, which it was today with the injuries and unavailability.”

Elsewhere, Fairford Town’s title hopes were dealt a blow as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to local rivals Shrivenham.

The hosts took a first-half lead through Lee Smith but when Ryan Stanners saw red for a high challenge, Michael McNally’s Shrivenham side were able to level through Jamie Prictor before finishing the game with 10 men themselves.

Meanwhile, New College Swindon fell to a 3-1 home defeat against fellow strugglers Cheltenham Saracens, Max Slinn on target for College.