A FEROCIOUS wind defeated Devizes as much as a spirited Barnstable at Nursteed Road on Saturday.

The visitors leapfrogged Devizes in the Screwfix league to occupy seventh spot when they scored a goal either side of half time to put the game out of reach.

The home side grabbed a goal back towards the end through defender Nick Mooney, but they couldn't find another to earn a point.

Manager Mark Godley thought that the visitors adapted to the conditions better. He said: "The ball flew around in the wind which made it difficult for both team to create chances.

"Like previous games we started slowly and went two behind. We gave a good account of ourselves at the end but it was not good enough.

" We will be addressing our starts again in training."

There were few real goal scoring opportunities as both sides battled for possession in the midfield. Godley said: "The ball bounced around between the teams, there were few shots on goal, it was unpleasant to watch."

The visitors made the break through on 20 minutes when they capitalised on a defensive error.

There was a lack of communication between goalkeeper Andy King and defender Brain Kayll, and they collided as King was collecting the ball.

It spilt out of his hands and bounced in front of the Barnstable striker who had no problems in tapping the ball into an empty net.

Devizes held on until half time and, even though Barnstable had the majority of possession, the visitors could not create another shot on goal.

Barnstable went two up on 60 minutes when they caught Devizes on the counter attack.

The striker ran past the defenders and hit the ball from distance past the advancing goalkeeper.

Devizes then switched on and tried to rescue the game, just as they have done in their past three games.

They equalised on 75 minutes from a corner.

The ball came in and fell to right back Mooney who poked the ball past the keeper at the back post.

The home team did have one chance on 85 minutes to steal a point but the visiting keeper pulled off a terrific diving save to deny Mooney's header.

Godely insisted that his team have to stop being spurred into action by going behind. He said: "We will reinforce the message at training and try to rectify this before the Melksham game. If we do not get out of the starting blocks sooner then we will carry on losing games."