WHITCHURCH United kept alive their hopes of avoiding relegation from the Wessex League Premier Division, after they beat high flying Sholing 1-0.

A delighted boss Carl Bennett said:" I was very chuffed with win and it was nice to see us perform as we can, as we failed to do this in our last two games and lost both.

"People will look at the Sholing side and say they made eight changes due to playing 120 minutes in a cup tie in midweek.

"However, you can only beat what is put in front of you and they still had their leading scorer Dan Mason playing for them and he scored 25 goals this season."

The Jam Boys had a great first 45 minutes and could have been 4-0 up at the break.

They may have ended up regretting the missed chances, but on 66 minutes Jamie Mansell scored his first goal for Whitchurch, since his return to the side.

The visitors hit back looking for an equaliser and Ellis Grant pulled off two great saves to make sure of his clean sheet and a victory for Whitchurch.

Next up for the Jam Boys is a trip to Bournemouth Poppies on Saturday, who are two places and four points above them in the Premier Division table.

Looking ahead to the game, Bennett said : "We want another win which I think will suck a few teams into the relegation battle.

"Last Saturday I told he players to go out and enjoy their football and we played a lot better.

"Maybe I have been putting too much pressure on the team. So I will do the same on Saturday and hopefully we will get the same result."

On Wednesday night, Whitchurch have a big local derby clash with Andover.