THIS game was as good as the scoreline suggests, as Calne came close to halting the Bitton bandwagon.

In the end the Bristol side showed their intense determination, which will surely take them to one of the promotion slots.

Calne started in magnificent fashion and were ahead after seven minutes when young Kris Beesley won a ball on the right and teed up Ryan Pratley who crossed for Glenn Armstrong to neatly flick James Lye clear and he finished with a flourish from 12 yards.

Five minutes later and Calne were two up, when Lye played an innocuous through pass, which keeper Simon Crawford spilled and Armstrong struck home from a tight angle.

Both sides were equally stunned at the scoreline and Calne were soon on the back foot as Bitton applied extreme pressure and on 20 mins James Lye headed in a Matt Huxley centre past his own keeper Julian Crouch, to rejuvenate Bitton, who were not going to relinquish their unbeaten record without a fight.

As Bitton continued to force the play they grabbed an equaliser on 32 mins, when Adam Cole won and scored from the penalty spot.

Calne responded well and on 36 mins, pressure from the enterprising Armstrong won a corner kick, which he also took and was flicked on by Robbie Lardner to Matt Pratley, who somehow blasted over from two yards out.

Calne again started well in the second half and regained the lead on 62 minutes when a James Lye corner kick was flicked on by Danny Jones and this time Pratley made no mistake with his head.

Bitton then began another fight back as they attacked relentlessly, they showed no sign of deflation at this latest reverse, and on 75 minutes, were level again, when Ben Pope sent in a long free kick and James Raynes powered in a long looping header from 15 yards.

Calne's Robbie Lardner, then belied his veteran status to power through three midfield challenges down Calne's right and crossed to Pratley who just failed to connect with the bouncing ball.

Then on 82 mins, as Bitton kept coming a chipped pass into Calne's box from Ben Pope fell to Adam Cole and he set up James Baynes to drive the ball home and leave Calne, with no reward for their excellent effort.

Calne assistant manager Simon Hillier, who has temporarily taken the reins while manager Kelvin Highmore recovers from surgery to crucicate ligaments in his knee, said he could not understand how his team left with nothing after taking the lead twice.

"A draw would have been a fair result at the end of the day and it's very hard to come to terms with losing the way we did," he said.

"They rolled their sleeves up and just kept coming at us and were determined not to get beat, which is why they are where they are. They haven't been beaten all season and they showed all their winning attributes on Saturday.

"If ever they were going to lose it was on Saturday. We threw everything we had at them and put in so much effort, which is why it was so disappointing not to get anything."

On Saturday Calne are away to third-placed Bristol Manor Farm, who defeated them 2-0 at home earlier in the season. Hillier will be picking from an almost full strength side apart from goalkeeper Darryl Simms, who is struggling with work commitments.