Bourton Rovers 0, Slimbridge 3

A HANDLING error with 20 minutes to go by the otherwise exce-ptional Andrew Herbert decided the out- come of Saturday's Northern Senior Lea-gue first division clash against runaway leaders Slimbridge.

With a resolute home defence holding firm from heavy pressure, the ball seemed to slip from the goalkeeper's hands to present the easiest of finishes.

This was cruel fate for Herbert who had been outstanding in the home goal pulling off a string of fine saves and showing excellent handling in difficult conditions aga-inst a lively attack.

Bourton were restricted to a few half-chances and Mark Payne was inches away from a James Hurrell cross midway through the second half while the scores were still level.

With 20 minutes rem-aining, the nearest Sli-mbridge had come to scoring was then they missed a penalty after Oliveria had bought down the onrushing striker.

Playing with a sweeper system, the home team looked solid and restr-icted the leaders to long-range efforts.

After the deadlock was broken, though, Slimbridge scored twice late on as Bourton pushed in search of the equaliser, once with a penalty after Gilson had tripped a forward and then a last minute att-ack.

Bourton's manager Paul Heming was left to rue his sides misfortune. "The lads played very well and kept to the system we had devised to cope with the leaders.

"Unfortunately, an individual error from my man of the match gave them the break they were looking for but hopefully we can pick ourselves up for the huge game on Saturday."

Second from bottom Rovers travel to the only team beneath them, Newton Heath, in a must win game for both sides.