Ref. 28782-60HELLENIC LEAGUE: POOR finishing was Pewsey's undoing as they went down in this all-Wiltshire clash. Highworth were the more clinical in front of goal and they went into a 2-0 half-time lead that Vale never recovered from.

Pewsey manager Steve Wootton said: "In all honesty not at races in first half. They were all over us could have been out of sight by half-time but for some good saves by Lee Wilson. We changed things around a bit at half-time and pushed a couple of the midfielders further on and Barry had two really good chances straight away.

"If he'd scored them both we could have been all square but then they scored again midway through the half to make it three. Barry got a tremendous goal back straight and after we had three or four more chances and maybe could have pinched something. The second half was a lot better from our point of view and we created far more chances."

Highworth missed a couple of early opportunities before Richard Knox put the home side in the lead on the 11th minute. He made a great run towards goal and added the finishing touch by beating Pewsey goalkeeper Lee Wilson.

With the pressure on the Pewsey defence Matty Jack put Highworth further into the lead in the 26th minute. Wilson could only parry a shot by Ian McSherry and Jack put the loose ball into the net.

Pewsey had slightly the better of the second half but their poor finishing ultimately let them down. Barry Flippance received a great pass from Craig Wall but was denied by Elliott Jackson in the Highworth goal.

On 67 minutes Pete Macklin put Highworth three up after a cross from the right side had split the Pewsey defence wide open.

Pewsey kept pushing forward but poor finishing continued to let them down. But in the 71st minute they did finally get some reward for their efforts when another great ball by Wall set up Flippance who this time beat the goalkeeper to get one back for Vale.

Pewsey are next in action on Saturday when they travel to Carterton Town. Wootton said: "It will be a hard game. They are just over halfway in the table but they came second last season and beat us at our ground earlier this season.

"Having said that I think we can get something out of it. If we play like we did in the second half against Highworth we can but if we play like we did in the first half we won't have a chance.

"Hopefully we can get a good result because February is going to be a massive month for us.

"We've got four teams out of the bottom six and we really need to be taking points against them."

Neil Riley is out until March with army commitments but Darren Walters will be back this weekend after being unavailable for the Highworth game. Justin Messenger has now resumed training and is set to make his long awaited return from a leg injury this weekend.