Bridgwater Town's long unbeaten run ended abruptly last night when they were beaten 2-1 by a robust Bishops Cleeve in front of a meagre crowd of just 48 at Cleeve.
Town's recent run, in which they had won seven consecutive games,had stretched back to November,their last defeat being at home, when Bedfont Green stole the points, winning 1-0.This was also Town's first away defeat of the season.
Town had the bonus of an early penalty put away by Pepperell but the Bishops equalised before half time through Gascoigne, despite having a man sent off, and sealed all three points with a goal by Lewis four minutes from time.
Town lost Mat Pitcher at half time through injury and Ben Kirk also had to leave the field during the second half,also through injury, and both will face a fitness battle to be fit to face Yate this coming Saturday.
Sources at the game said Town turned in their worst performance in weeks and failed to come to terms with the Bishops uncompromising style of play, which knocked Town out of their stride,and never allowed them to settle into their normal passing game.
The defeat sees Town remain in third place in the table but fall further behind the leaders but joint manager Craig Laird remains upbeat.
He said, "The championship is still very much in our thoughts.To reach the end of January having lost just three games this season is a heck of an achievement.If we had been offered that at the start of the season we would have grabbed it with both hands.We were not at our best last night but things did transpire against us.The pitch wasn't the best,in fact it was poor and this stifled our style of play.
"Also we didn't get the rub of the green with some of the referees decisions and had to play the last ten minutes with ten men when we lost Ben Kirk as we had used our substitute options but it's one of those things that happens in football.
"We need to re-group and re-focus and start to put another run together begining this Saturday."
He added "We will have to wait until tomorrow before naming the squad to face Yate.One or two picked up knocks against Bishops Cleeve and we need to wait and see how they are before naming the squad."