13/12/01: ON the whole it was a bad weekend for Screwfix Direct League sides left in the FA Vase.

Three sides played on Saturday but unfortunately all three fund themselves out come 5pm.

First Division Hallen were soundly beaten 3-0 at Lewes who, after defeating Mangotsfield in the FA Cup, were always going to be tough opposition.

The university side Team Bath crashed at home Ardesley Town 1-0. Also our near neighbours Melksham Town could not get into Monday's draw after losing 3-2 at home to St Neots, albeit in rather unfortunate circumstances.

By an all accounts, Melksham squandered a few chances and hit the woodwork a few times.

It was again left to the champions Taunton Town to fly the flag on Sunday against high flying Wessex League side Wimborne. This always looked a difficult tie on paper and so it proved, with Taunton scraping through in extra-time. Historically, Screwfix Direct League sides have done well against both Hellenic and Wessex League sides, but this season I have noticed the balance of power has shifted quite dramatically and a lot of our sides have been knocked out in both the FA Cup and FA Vase by teams of both these leagues who have always been thought of as weaker.

It will be interesting to see next season if this is just a temporary blip or have things changed.

With Taunton preoccupied in the Vase, their near rivals, Dawlish and Bideford, were hoping to take advantage and try and close the gap and put a bit of pressure on. Both had home fixtures and were expected to pick up three points. Dawlish blew it against bottom placed Bridgwater and drew 2-2.

Bideford were facing Bath side Odd Down, a team they had beaten 4-1 in the league cup. Again football showed what a funny game it is and Odd Down gained a very good 1-1 draw in North Devon.

In the First Division, Torrington went top with a 3-1 win over Cadbury Heath.

Corsham had an opportunity to get right in the pack with the three sides above them not playing, but they blew their chance with a 3-2 home defeat against Street.

Football is sometimes about taking your chances and it must be frustrating for Mark Godley knowing the three points would have put pressure on the sides above. Still they have proved they are capable of stringing a run of results together and have just got to knuckle down and work hard.

The relegation battle at Warminster saw Calne come through to win 4-2 and gain three vital points. It seems strange to be calling it a relegation battle after just 17 games but to be brutally honest that's what it was. Warminster look doomed unless Andy Crabtree can work miracles so both teams knew it was imperative to get maximum points. I doubt very much it would have been pretty to watch, but the three points is what it's all about.

We travelled down to Yeovil Town Reserves to play at the strange time of 7.30pm. I can honestly say it is something we won't be repeating as it's not enjoyable getting home at midnight on a Saturday (certainly not just for football anyway).

What made it worse was we put in quite a decent performance but squandered a lot of clear cut opportunities and go down 2-1. Yeovil's first team had played in the afternoon against Doncaster but the pitch held up very well.

Yeovil included three or four players who had played some part in the afternoon's Conference game which certainly didn't help our case, but that's no excuse because we should have come away with at least a point.

Swindon Town had a close run thing against Conference side Hereford on Saturday in the FA Cup. There were shades of Ronnie Radford's goal against Newcastle all those years ago. Hereford's equaliser against Swindon from the lad Williams was a great strike. With little or no back lift, he hit a brilliant strike past the Swindon goalkeeper. Luckily, the Wiltshire side got themselves in the next round by coming from behind to win 3-2.