Two late goals earned Willand Rovers a deserved 2-1 win over Gillingham Town on Wednesday night.

Despite dominating possession all match, Willand were unable to create many clear cut chances against their stubborn visitors, with Kai Fisher heading over and player-manager Scott Rogers seeing a shot saved.

When Elliot Bevis’ shot eight minutes from time squirmed under Willand goalkeeper Kurtis Parkin, it looked like Town would take a shock win, but two goals inside two minutes from Rogers and Lee Smythe gave Rovers victory, pleasing Rogers.

The Silver Street boss said: “The boys did really well, we bounced back from losing on Saturday and put in a really good performance. We thoroughly deserved to win although, with 10 minutes to go, we looked like we were going to lose it; it went from one extreme to the other at the end. I’m chuffed we got the win.

“I think we thought that we’d go onto win once we scored but unfortunately, we didn’t get it, which is the story of our season as we’ve always looked like we might concede one. We did it again tonight but, fortunately, we bounced back and got the two goals. We needed to win to take us into the weekend and we need another win to take us into third or fourth, so it’s everything to play for.

“Luke Durham played on Saturday and didn’t have one of his best games, so he was on the bench tonight and came on and recorded two assists, which shows what a strong squad we’ve got. I’ve been going on about my squad all season, as they’re a great bunch of lads that have given everything. No one’s left, they’ve all stayed and hopefully they’ve all enjoyed it.”

Rogers’ side now host league leaders Melksham Town on Saturday before closing out their league season against Slimbridge on Bank Holiday Monday.

Melksham go into the game knowing that a win will secure them the Western League Premier Division title, yet Rogers says his side will be focusing on their own game, rather than trying to play the role of party-poopers.

He revealed: “Melksham will bring a few down here but my priority is to make sure we finish as high as we can. We’ve got to make sure of that with the two games over the weekend.

“All the boys won’t be able to play in both of them, so I’ll have to rotate it a little but we’ll be looking to get a result. It’ll be two tough games, Melksham and Slimbridge.

“We want to go into the Les Phillips Cup final with a bit of momentum and we’ve always bounced back from bad performances, which is why we are where we are. However, I want to go into the game with two good performances, as it will mean all the boys are playing well and it will be a hard decision as to who’s going to play in the final.”