PEWSEY Vale moved to within striking distance of the Hellenic League Division One West promotion places with a comfortable away success at Chipping Norton on Saturday 1 December.

Darren Cummings and Craig Wall were on target for the visitors, while in-form Pewsey marksman Paul Day followed up last week's hat-trick in the thrashing of Letcombe by adding two more goals to his tally for the season.

A heavy playing surface and the loss of defender Adam Stephens through injury inside the first ten minutes seemed not to hamper Pewsey as they overwhelmed their hosts in the opening period.

Don Rogers' side missed a hatful of chances and found Norton goalkeeper Ewen Prentice in fine form before finally going in front on the stroke of half-time with a re-taken penalty.

Cummings' first spot kick was saved by Prentice, but the home goalkeeper was adjudged to have moved before the ball was struck and the Pewsey man made no mistake at the second attempt.

Pewsey paid for their slack finishing when the hosts levelled in the 62nd minute through a Robbie Wyatt header.

Day restored the visitors' lead three minutes later with their second penalty after a foul on Wall and fired his side further in front on 68 minutes.

The goal rush continued when the home side pulled one back two minutes through Mark Corbett, but Wall made sure of the points when he netted Pewsey's fourth on 71 minutes.

Norton were reduced to ten men late on when Wayne Beauchamp was red carded for his second caution.

Pewsey boss Rogers felt his side had been well worth their win.

He said: "These village teams make it hard for you. There is always a lot of spirit there and we matched that for the best part of the game.

"It really should have been all over by half-time. We missed some real dollies and it could have been 5-0. Once they equalised it was looking quite dodgy, but two goals in a minute settled us down.

"You have got to be pleased when you go away from home and score four goals. We looked dangerous up front all afternoon and their goalkeeper made some great saves."

Pewsey, who were sent crashing out of the RPM Records Supplementary Cup after a 5-1 defeat at Premier Division Bishops Cleeve on Wednesday night, face a tough trip to fourth placed Middle Barton on Saturday.

Said Rogers: "I won't need to fire the players up for that one at all. My players play better in these sort of games."