SOUTHERN LEAGUE: Supermarine grab vital win (From Swindon Advertiser)

SOUTHERN LEAGUE: Supermarine grab vital win

9:42pm Sunday 29th January 2012 in Football

JOINT manager Gary Horgan has urged his Swindon Supermarine players not to get carried away despite securing a potentially vital 4-3 victory away at Evesham United.

The victory was Marine’s first in seven league games, and came courtesy of braces from Bradley Gray and Rob Dean before half time.

The visitors were made to sweat as Evesham pulled three goals back after the break, but they held out to secure all three points.

Horgan was pleased with how his players acquitted themselves, but warned them they needed to perform as well for the rest of the season if they wanted to avoid relegation.

“We were excellent in the first half, and it was probably the best we have played all season,” Horgan told the Advertiser.

“A win has been a long time coming, and I think on this occasion it was fully deserved. We have played well in some games and scored some good goals, but it has just not happened for us.

“We did all the hard work in the first half, but in the second it was a bit nervy and it was the same old problem of trying to see the game out. When one goes in, usually another follows, but we were never really at the stage of having to hang on or anything.

“To win was a great feeling but it has to be a reminder to everyone that it is only one game in a long run of matches we have to win if we are going to stay up. The real battle starts now.”

Despite the victory Supermarine remain bottom of the table and still face a fight to stay up, and Horgan admitted his side might have struggled to bounce back if Evesham had forced a dramatic equaliser.

“Evesham are around the bottom end of the table too, and if they had got a draw it would have given them real momentum. For us it would have been hard to take and to come back from it would have been very difficult. Fortunately we held out, and we can start to focus on the rest of the season.”

Gray’s two goals were his first since returning from a broken ankle, and Horgan is pleased to have the striker back.

“Bradley managed 75 minutes which was very pleasing, and I think he did well because we have missed him. Some of our attacking play, especially in the first half, was superb, and that is something we just need to keep up now.”

Elsewhere in the division, Chippenham had to settle for a 0-0 draw away at fellow play-off chasers Leamington.

There was very little to separate the sides in the opening 45 minutes, with David Kolodynski having the only real shot on goal which was easily saved by visiting keeper Tommy Smith.

Ian Herring threatened early in the second period for the Bluebirds, before Smith was forced to deny Kolodynski again as the clock ticked down.

Chippenham’s Toby Osman was sent off late on after a series of rash challenges from both sides, and frustrations boiled over at the final whistle.

Cirencester put in a good performance at home to high flying AFC Totton, but eventually were defeated 2-1.

The home side took the lead through a thunderous volley from James Mortimer-Jones, but Totton answered back with two goals to take the lead. Ciren sensed a lifeline when the visitors were reduced to ten men when Jonathan Davies was sent off for dissent, but the equaliser never came.