Castle Cary 2

Glastonbury Town 0

Glastonbury's mini revival came to an abrupt end on Saturday as they surrendered tamely to be beaten 2-0 by Castle Cary.

Since the turn of the year, Cary have been in a rich vein of form and on Saturday they would have expected a much tougher workout.

Glastonbury manager Pete Cook was left fuming by his side's display and it was not surprising as his players are capable of much better.

The opening exchanges were fairly low-key as chances created were kept to a minimum and it took 25 minutes for either side to get a good sight of goal.

A long goal kick from Jamie Stewart caught out the Glastonbury defence and Gavin Seaward's headed clearance fell to the feet of Rhys Hayhoe, who found Andy Mitchell in a goal-scoring position. Mitchell sent a fine dipping effort inches over the crossbar.

Ollie Feltham and Mark Hambleton then combined to thwart Dan Scriven, who had created a chance out of nothing with a surging run from inside his own half, only to be denied a goal-scoring chance by a last-ditch tackle by the pair of central defenders.

Mitchell and Hayhoe also went close as Cary ended the half in almost total control, although the Dollies could have nicked a surprise lead on the stroke of half-time.

A deep Karl Wills corner to the back post was headed wide by Feltham, although the central defender should have at least hit the target.

Cary eventually broke the deadlock on 55 minutes when a fierce free-kick from Tony Pike was only parried by Tom Bulmer and the in-form Hayhoe slid home the rebound from close range.

Andy Mitchell then had a second Cary goal ruled out for an infringement, before the home side deservedly doubled their advantage midway through the second period.

Substitute Gus Scott did well to rob Seaward on the touchline before finding Scriven, who crossed into the box where Marcus Price sent a fine header into the roof of the net.

Matt Sparkes then saw a fierce drive from 30 yards bounce back off the crossbar before Glastonbury created their one and only worthwhile chance of the second half.

A Wills free-kick was executed superbly towards the far corner of the net, but Stewart, at full stretch, turned the ball to safety. Glastonbury never threatened again and it was Cary who maintained sixth spot in the Somerset County League table with a comfortable victory.

Castle Cary manager Tony Pike said: "It took us 20 minutes to get our shape but, with several new faces, that was always likely to happen.

"I thought we were comfortable after that and I was surprised we had little pressure come our way."

Glastonbury manager Pete Cook said: "We appeared to be far too complacent and we didn't compete like we have in recent games, it was very disappointing.

"We have put ourselves in trouble again after playing so well and unfortunately we are now back to square one and in the bottom three."

Merv's merit marks: Castle Cary – J Stewart 7, J Taylor 6, C Chaney 8, T Pike 7, M Robinson 7, P Case 8, M Price 8, M Sparkes 7, A Mitchell 7, D Scriven 7, R Hayhoe 8.

Glastonbury Town – T Bulmer 6, J Linter 6, M Constanza 7, O Feltham 7, M Hambleton 8, S Mullins 7, R Perry 6, J Loxton 7, H Lewis 6, G Seaward 6, K Wills 6. Referee: Megan Farrant 7. Entertainment value: 6.

Glastonbury Town FC weekly draw: (£10) – Tilly Malone, Andrew Willis, Brian Culmer, Terry Hann, Jo Pain. Week four – Roger Goodwin, Derek Hardy, Carla Stockman, Jean Watts.