CALNE Town blew their big chance to move out of the Screwfix Direct League First Division relegation zone for the first time in six months as a late Craig Carr penalty sent them crashing to a home defeat against nearest rivals Minehead on Saturday 23 March.

The result leaves Calne five points adrift of the Somerset side with only seven matches remaining, and is likely to leave their fate in the hands of the league's management committee for the second season in succession.

Calne looked down-and-out two weeks ago, but victory at Minehead and a 5-2 thrashing of Wellington gave the Wiltshire side renewed hope going into their most important game of the campaign on Saturday.

The club were given a further boost last week with the news that Yeovil Town Reserves are to resign from the league at the end of the season.

That alone should prove enough to stave off the threat of Wiltshire League football next season, and assistant manager Mark Jefferies felt his side had shown an air of complacency on Saturday as a result.

He said: "We've done well recently and I think a lot of the players thought all they had to do was turn up and win against another side at the bottom.

"The reason we had done well was that we had worked hard and closed down in twos, but it didn't happen on Saturday. We're really disappointed.

"Minehead were our immediate target, but I don't think the players really thought about that before the game. There were three or four players who worked hard and it was an otherwise poor performance.

"Perhaps they've heard all these rumours that no-one is going to be relegated, but you still have to keep going until you know for certain."

Minehead travelled to Wiltshire looking to avenge a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Calne two weeks ago and looked the brighter of the two sides in a scrappy start to the relegation six-pointer, with Dan Magee's drive testing goalkeeper Darryl Sims after five minutes.

Calne failed to find any true cohesion throughout the clash, but enjoyed one of their best spells just after the 20-minute mark, with powerful striker Andy Towers twice going close to opening the scoring.

Visiting goalkeeper Ross Ward first tipped Towers' flicked header over the bar from a Stuart Skinner free kick, before the same player glanced an effort inches wide of the target following a long ball forward by Nick Taylor.

The performance of defender Darren Smart was one of the few positives on an otherwise forgettable day for the home side, and he produced a timely block to foil burly Minehead forward Gary Bennett as the visitors threatened in the closing minutes of the half.

Goalscoring opportunities remained at a premium after the interval, but it was Calne who enjoyed most of the possession until Carr's winner from the penalty spot 15 minutes from time.

Skinner lobbed wide of Ward's goal 11 minutes after the break following a break by Mark Strickland, while Strickland himself saw a goalbound effort deflected for a corner by Andy Hodgson.

Towers continued to look the hosts' most likely source of a goal and almost grabbed it on 71 minutes after storming past Hodgson on the right. The big striker's fierce angled drive was beaten out by Ward, before Strickland's follow up effort was cleared off the line by Adrian Gibblet.

It looked increasingly as though one goal would settle the dismal spectacle and disaster struck for Calne four minutes later. Minehead midfielder Will Gibb looked to be heading nowhere when Taylor bundled him over inside the area, and Carr confidently planted the resulting spot kick past the wrong-footed Sims.

Minehead came close to adding to their lead in the final minutes as Calne pushed forward in search of a leveller, with Sims pulling off saves to deny Lee Todd and Bennett.

Calne play host to Clyst on Saturday and make the short trip to local rivals Corsham Town on Monday, kick-off 3pm.

Assistant boss Jefferies believes Calne need maximum points from the Easter matches if they are to have any chance of escaping the bottom two come the end of April.

He said: "Clyst are a good side and we will have to match them, and then it's the big one against Corsham. It is going to be tough, but we have got to get the six points if we are going to catch Minehead."