SWINDON Spitfires blew the Division One title race wide open with a shock 5-3 success at favourites The Clifton.

Although Clifton headed into the weekend second in the table, seven points adrift of leaders KS Miltax, Alastair Drew’s men appeared in pole position to be crowned champions because of their four games in hand.

But one of those has now gone following their shock loss against Spits and Clifton now cannot afford to drop any more points if they are to overhaul Miltax at the summit.

Spitfires boss Barry Winslow was delighted with the win, which was just their second since the turn of the year, and has now set his sights on a top-three finish.

Winslow said: “It was nice to get the win, we’ve had a bit of an up and down season. With people working it’s been hard to get the same people together each weekend.

“We’ve had a few come in and it was good to see them gel on Saturday and it was a good team performance.

“I was speaking to Bartosz (Ludwicki), who runs Miltax, after the game and when I told him we’d won - he was obviously pleased.

“I think it’s still down to Clifton as if they win their three games in hand they’ll move top.”

Saturday’s contest was a pulsating affair with Spitfires racing into a two-goal lead early on.

However, Clifton rallied and three goals without reply either side of the break left Spits stunned.

There was still time for one further twist, though, as the visitors mounted a brave comeback to snatch an unlikely win.

Steve Hughes led Spits’ charge with a brace, Francis Cullen fired home a penalty and Carl Jerome and Joshua Archer also hit the back of the net.

Winslow added: “At 3-2 down you think the worst but everyone dug in and kept pressing and thankfully we were able to turn the game around again.

“Once we got that to go to 3-3 we made a few substitutions and that seemed to do the trick as the fresh legs were probably what won us the game.”

Elsewhere in the division, Ramsbury won 2-0 at North Swindon WMC thanks to Harrison Lowe’s double, while Chiseldon and Swindon Centurians shared a goalless draw.

Shane Hibbert and Arron Welland both netted hat-tricks as leaders Avtar Construction maintained their perfect run in the Premier Division. Daniel Hiscock completed the a 7-1 success at DJC Marlborough.

Strikes from Craig Kelly, Andrew Marriott and Arran Northcott saw Spectrum beat Lower Stratton 3-0, and Village Inn and Shield & Dagger shared a 1-1 draw.