PURTON manager Justin Miller has challenged his side to maintain their unbeaten run through to the New Year.

The Red House side notched up their third win in four games on Saturday with a 1-0 home victory over Shortwood United Reserves, with Purton up to fourth in the Hellenic League Division One West table, three points behind second-placed Lydney Town.

Joe Dorey’s volley, his second goal in as many games, was enough to clinch all three points for Miller’s men and with just four games remaining before the turn of the year, the Purton boss would love to see his team claim a foothold in the mix at the top end of the division.

“We’re unbeaten in four and the next four games are all against sides lower than us – they’re games that we should be trying to get three points from,” said Miller.

“It would be great if we could go unbeaten past Christmas. I think if we can do that, we’ll be on the heels of the teams near the top so it’s a really crucial period for us.

“I think we’ve been doing well just because I’ve been able to select pretty much the same side in the last few games, rather than making three or four changes.

“We knew that Saturday was going to be a hard one because they were the in-form side. They beat Fairford last weekend and they’d been unbeaten since the start of October.

“But it was nice to get a 1-0 win for a change. We defended really well and our keeper, Jonny Cowley, pulled off a few good saves to help get us a clean sheet.”

Elsewhere, there was disappointment for Fairford Town as they were hammered 5-0 at fellow strugglers Wantage Town Reserves, who closed the gap on Gareth Davies’ side to three points.

New College were without a fixture.