Monday 3 October 2005 - Winterfield Road - kick off 7.30pm
Somerset Premier Cup 1st Round
half-time: 1-0 result: W3-1 attendance: 238
team: Bryant, Rollo (c) (S Jones 67), Power, Coupe, G Jones, York, Ford (Shackle 45), Holloway (Bird 67), Paul, Kamara-Taylor, Sandell. subs not used: none
man of the match: Andy Sandell
scorers: Paul (26,46,70)
bookings: Power (89)
officials: G Beale (Taunton), J Walker (Chard), D McEllin (Bristol)
league position: n/a form: WLWLWW next match: Weymouth (A)
Report taken from by Richard Gadsby

Paulton manager Andrew Jones blasted referee Guy Beale after his side's explosive exit from the Somerset Premier Cup. Jones accused Beale of ruining the game after bizarrely disallowing a Martin Paul goal for Bath City midway through the first-half because of a foul by Paulton's Greg Dando. Instead of giving City the advantage, Beale brought play back to the edge of the box and sent off Dando. Jones himself was sent to the stands in the second half after an 'exchange of words' with Jon Holloway. "It was unbelievable," said Jones. "All he's got to do is not blow his whistle for one second. Birdy's (Martin Paul) obviously got a great touch, scored the goal and the game's on. We're 1-0 down and it's 11 against 11. He doesn't need to blow his whistle. "I think the game was completely spoiled by the referee." The incident overshadowed an entertaining, if one-sided, game with City's fourth-choice striker Martin Paul grabbing his chance to shine with an excellent hat-trick.

City created several chances before the game's turning point on 24 minutes. A long ball over the defence found Paul who was slightly impeded by Dando as he broke into the box. Paul hardly flinched and chipped John Rendell for what should have been his first of the night. Instead Dando saw red and, to add insult to injury, the resulting free-kick led to another disallowed goal as Holloway headed home from an offside position. It was third time lucky seconds later though when an Andy Sandell cross from the left was flicked on by Matt Coupe for Paul to head in from six yards.

City's lead was doubled a minute after the restart when Sandell broke down the left and crossed an excellent ball to Paul for a simple finish. Adam Shackell, City's youth team skipper, came on at half-time and inadvertently started the chain of events which led to Jones being dismissed after 53 minutes. The referee played advantage when Holloway clipped the heels of Ben Cleverley but the Paulton skipper immediately lost the ball in a full-blooded, but fair, tackle by Shackell. Jones failed in his attempt to substitute Cleverley before his verbal protests earned a booking and moments later the manager was removed from the pitch. The game was already over as a contest when Paul grabbed his hat-trick after running on to a through ball from Tony Bird. Battling Paulton grabbed a deserved consolation goal when Mark Bryant flapped at a corner with quarter of an hour to go. The ball fell into the six yard box and hit a combination of Coupe and Nathan Brown before bobbling over the line. City boss John Relish said: "Paul looked very sharp and I thought Adam Shackell was a real bonus," he said. "He's not only a decent player, but he's got a great attitude."