Mitchell is Fairford's penalty hero (From Swindon Advertiser)

Mitchell is Fairford's penalty hero

6:00am Monday 19th November 2012 in Sport By Ned Payne

BEN Mitchell was the hero of the hour as he saved a 92nd-minute penalty in Fairford’s 1-0 victory over Lydney in Division One West.

The only goal of the match came shortly after the break when Jack Williams and Dan Drewett were involved in build-up that resulted in Henry Traff playing in Callum Parsons, and he slotted home from 10 yards.

All Fairford’s hard work was nearly undone when the referee pointed to the spot after Parsons was adjudged to have brought down his man, but Mitchell superbly saved the spot kick.

Cinder Lane boss Paul Braithwaite could not watch the penalty being taken, but he was naturally delighted when he realised it had not gone in.

“Our keeper only made one save and that was the penalty, so he takes a lot of credit,” said Braithwaite.

“It would have been very disappointing to draw because our two wide players had torn them to bits and their keeper had made so many good saves. But we got the win and we're aiming to be in the top six at Christmas now.”

Purton also picked up a victory with the Red House outfit, winning 3-0 at Clanfield, as Marcus Hall celebrated his long-awaited return to the side following injury.

Chris Pethick's men went in at half-time 1-0 ahead courtesy of Steve Avenell after he followed up a Johnny Coole effort.

Coole got on the scoresheet himself at the start of the second half and that was quickly followed by a third from Richie Crocker after good work from Dave Gee.

Clanfield pulled one back minutes from the end but victory was already assured.

Pethick said afterwards: “We played a lot better than last week when we were awful, we were up for it this time.

“We had a few players back like Marcus Hall and Leigh Brown who we haven't seen for a while, so things are starting to look a bit better. Hopefully we can start climbing the table now.”

Malmesbury's search for a first victory of the season goes on after they were edged out 1-0 by Brimscombe & Thrupp.

The Vics put up a stubborn performance against the league leaders but could not find a way past the visiting keeper.

Jack Ellis hit the crossbar in the first half before Brimscombe took the lead around the hour mark.

Malmesbury might have had a penalty but the referee gave nothing after Joe Dorey appeared to be tripped in the area.

Despite the result, Vics boss Simon Winstone was positive about his players' performance.

“To be honest, we should at least have taken a point and we could have had all three of them,” he said.

“We hit the crossbar and we should have had a penalty, but we played really well so full credit to the players.

“Brimscombe came off and said they didn't know how we were bottom of the league, they thought they were lucky to get three points.

“It's a brilliant confidence boost for the lads and it should push them on. If we can play like that more often then we will go on and get wins.”

Elsewhere in the division, New College's struggles continued as they were defeated 2-0 by visiting Hook Norton.

In the Hellenic Premier, Les Gill's difficult start to his tenure as Shrivenham manager showed no sign of letting up following a 2-0 home loss to Abingdon.