Stadium Barnstoneworth saw Athletic return to the winning form after the aberration of the last round. It was again a sell-out crowd that witnessed the victory in sunshine that was in stark contrast to the bleak week preceding.

Barnstoneworth overcame the erratic performers of CYMS Green 3-2 in a match that never really rose to great heights but was won methodically.

The first goal came early as CYMS were still settling and Damian Priest managed to beat their defence. The rest of the first half gave a few opportunities but little of substance as Barnies were looking forward to turning downwind in the second half.

CYMS found it a difficult to get close to the Barnies goal throughout the match mostly shooting from distance. The times they did get close it was desperate but not pretty defending that kept them out. Barnies went up 2-0 to another Priest strike and it was apparent the CYMS defence was tiring against the long downwind balls and the speed of the Barnies front line.

Going up by two, Barnies thought the job was done and a defensive lapse meant that the deficit was now back to one. Barnies rallied to get another fine strike to Johnny Chen, back after a long break. Reports had the strike being taken from the 18 yard box. Even if the veracity of this statement will not tolerate close scrutiny the goal is in the record.

Dan Kennedy has been light on for goals of late and saw his opportunity late in the match to register another. It was a fine shot that the diving keeper was unable to pull in. It is also a sign of his sportsmanship that Dan scored the goal for CYMS to keep the match exciting for the last 2 minutes.

The final 3-2 score line was a fitting result and manager Ewan Powell was pleased but not ecstatic about the win. "We got the job done but I wouldn't say it was our best effort. Good to see 'Priesty' up front firing and Johnny added some speed but I'm not going to get carried away."

The win leaves Barnstoneworth ruing a few missed opportunities earlier in the season as they are not finals contenders but could have gone close with another win or two.