Late goals from Ryan Ford and Mike Vaughan helped Nailsea United beat Uphill Castle 3-1 after an entertaining Uhlsport Somerset County League Premier match on the 4G at The Optima Stadium this afternoon (Saturday).

Toby Yeates had given Uphill the lead in the eighth minute when he latched onto captain Jack Askins’ clever pass to steer the ball into the bottom corner, in a game which was dictated by the blustery conditions.

Charlie Parsons levelled the scores when he was able to tuck the rebound following Elliot Moore’s shot in the 51st minute.

But with the score at 1-1 the game’s two main talking points took place.

First Nailsea’s Matt Day’s miss-timed back pass appeared to have crossed the line but nothing was given before captain Mike Rowcliffe’s challenge on Askins was adjudged to be a fair one.

This allowed Ford to find the top corner with an excellent shot that left Ryan Scott rooted to the spot in the 87th minute.

And in stoppage time, with the Castle up field in search of an equaliser, Vaughan hit an unstoppable shot past Scott to make it six unbeaten for the North Someset outfit.

Uphill were left licking their wounds and fell to their fifth straight defeat and were left what might have been after an encouraging performance.

It was the hosts who found themselves ahead after scoring their first goal in three games with a lovely finish.

A long ball forward found Ethan Reed, he in turn laid the ball to Askins on the edge of the box. He showed great composure to free Yeates and the midfielder slotted in a an inch perfect first-time effort into the bottom corner.

Nailsea pushed forward and had their first shot on target in the 13th minute. Rowcliffe played the ball Moore, who was able to get away a shot first-time on the edge of the box but his curling effort was comfortably saved by Scott.

A couple of minutes later Scott again denied Moore with a shot from close-range as Uphill’s goalkeeper stood firm to keep out his effort with his feet. 

At the other end Askins fired the ball wide after good work by Dan Thomas.

But Nailsea, to their credit, kept up the pressure and nearly levelled the scores in the 34th minute when Luis Parnham met Moore’s first-time low cross across goal but his low effort was pushed agonising behind by Scott.

From the following corner Tom Kemple could only direct his header just wide. 

Scott saved well from Marsden’s low powerful effort before Rob Brown was in the right place at the right time to deny Askins as Uphill Castle went into half-time 1-0 ahead.

The Castle nearly double their lead, in what would have been strange circumstances, two minutes after the break.

Day aimed to pass the ball back to Brown on the edge of his own area but he over hit it and looked to nestle into the back of the net but Nailsea’s goalkeeper was able to push it away.

And four minutes later United levelled the scores. Moore went for goal, his effort changed direction due to the wind, which sent it to the other corner, which Scott did well to parry but Parsons was in the right place at the right time to slot the ball home.

But Day once again was fortunate not to see his pass end in the back of the net in perhaps controversial circumstances. With Brown out of his goal the defender didn’t look up and saw his pass looked to go across the line but Brown got their first, much to frustration of the Uphill bench, who believe it crossed the line.

And in the 87th minute Nailsea took the lead after another decision in their favour. Rowcliffe looked to have won the ball following a tackle on Askins and substitute Ford unleashed a thunderous effort from all of 30-yards-out and flew into the top right-hand corner for a terrific strike.

And three minutes later it was game over when Sam Olsen flicked the ball over Dan Hartley and laid the ball to Mike Vaughan, the forward raced onto it and lobbed Scott and into the back of the net to end a remarkable game of football.