THERE was little to sniff at for Gareth Davies as his Fairford Town side came from behind, put daylight between themselves and Abingdon United and cut the gap on leaders Hook Norton on Saturday.

Fairford fell behind to Abingdon but Josh Morse’s spot-kick and Dan Drewett’s first-half brace put them in control at Cinder Lane, and although the hosts made it 3-2 early in the second period, a second from Morse and a late goal from Levi Cox handed them a 5-2 triumph.

The visitors had a man sent off for a challenge on Aaron Dainton while Jason Milhench also saw red after picking up two quickfire bookings but little could rain on Davies’ parade as his team moved seven points clear of their opponents and cut the gap on table-toppers Norton to three points.

“Dan Drewett got two in the first half, which is great for him because he’s been out injured for so long,” said the Fairford manager.

“He was out for about eight weeks with a hamstring problem. He started last week at Purton and we’ve tried to ease him in gradually.

“On Saturday, he was superb, but I thought they all did really well.

“I think the first goal was a bit of a kick up the backside for them and made them think about what they were doing, and then they kicked into another gear.

“I thought we were worthy winners.

“Abingdon have been quietly sneaking up the league and if we would have lost, they would have been a point behind us, so it’s given us a bit of a buffer from the teams behind.

“It’s three points behind Hook Norton with a game in hand, so I think, overall, it’s a good win and a good result.

“Going in to it, we knew it was going to be a big game and that we needed to get something from it, so I just thought that when it really mattered, we took our chances and it was a good performance.”

Elsewhere, Purton suffered a 2-1 defeat at Easington Sports, Shrivenham lost 2-0 at Clanfield and New College were also beaten on the road, going down 3-1 at Milton United.

Both College and Shrivenham have a swift return to action as they lock horns tonight at Supermarine