CALNE Town chief Simon Gardner says his troops went from “boys to men” in their battling 2-1 victory at Cheddar.

Town travelled to Bowdens Park in the midst of a torrid spell, having shipped 11 goals in their previous two defeats and finding the net just once themselves in that time.

And with Gardner only able to call upon a makeshift squad for the trip to Somerset, things looked bleak again for Calne.

However, Town produced one of their performances of the season to come away with all three points, taking the lead through a Darrin Moss free-kick before Tom Boakes snatched the visitors all three points after Cheddar had drawn level.

Gardner said: “After the previous few results it was a great turnaround and the lads went from boys to men.

“Our backs were to the wall for some quite long periods but we showed some real Dunkirk spirit to get through it. The lads were fantastic.

“We had a few people missing and the squad that went down there was pretty threadbare. We only had two substitutes, including myself.

“We did really, really well and went 1-0 up after about 25 minutes through Darrin's free-kick.

“They scored just before half-time which could have been a bit of a kick in the teeth but we responded really well and got back in front within the space of about two minutes.

“Other than myself we only had one guy on the bench so we couldn’t really make changes but we dug in really well and the defence was marshalled superbly.

“Our keeper, Steve Allison, kept us in it with a few fantastic saves and I actually felt a bit sorry for Cheddar by the end as they put us under a lot of pressure.”

Calne will be looking to make it back-to-back wins on Saturday when they welcome bottom side Portishead Town to Bremhill View.