CORSHAM Town crashed out of the Les Phillips Cup at the first attempt as they were comprehensively beaten by Cheddar on Wednesday night.

The Somerset outfit, who are also flying high in the Toolstation League First Division – a point and a place below Corsham in third – converted an early spot-kick before going on to run out 3-0 winners at the Southbank, sealing smooth passage through the preliminary round.

Wednesday’s defeat was a second successive slice of disappointment for Jeff Roberts’ men, who were also beaten 2-1 at home by local rivals Calne Town last Friday.

In front of a bumper crowd of 295, the visitors forced three early corners and the pressure paid off as Stuart Windsor headed Calne into the lead.

Dan Lardner’s 25-yard strike forced Lilywhites keeper Steve Allison into a save whilst a Mark Dolman corner curled all the way onto the Corsham crossbar at the other end of the pitch.

With 54 minutes on the clock, the away side grabbed their second of the match as the ball found its way to Glenn Armstrong following a corner and he passed to Kris Beasley, who slipped in a shot under Billingsley.

Corsham’s Matt Jenkins and Calne’s Tom Boakes both went close to adding their names to the scoresheet whilst the visitors’ Lee Himsworth had an attempt hooked off the line.

With five minutes to go, Roberts’ troops did reduce the arrears as goalie Allison missed a clearance and Lardner fired home.