Nailsea had the first opportunity of opening the score but a Matt Vickers header went over the bar. Paulton immediately retaliated when a home defender set out on a powerful run to unleash a shot that was well saved at full stretch by the United keeper Andy Fellows.

With five minutes to go before half time the visitors had the best chance of the half when in form striker Matt Vickers was set free only to see his strong shot beat the Paulton keeper to thunder against the bar and rebound to safety. No further chances were created by either side before the referee blew to signal the end of a strangely disjointed 45 minutes of football.

With the two sides being equally matched it seemed that only a single goal would be needed to find a winner and so it was proved when on 65 minutes Paulton scored with a header to the bottom corner of the Nailsea net.

The Nailsea management immediately brought on Tom Morris for Sam Long and pushed Ben Cook to a more forward position. Further substitutions took place after 80 minutes with the young pairing of Mike Rowcliffe and Chris Gayle replacing Stuart Lee and Mike Wallington in an effort to find the equaliser.

The last few minutes of the game were played in the Paulton half but Nailsea were unable to find that elusive goal to gain at least a point.

Following a good run this was a slightly below par performance against a battling Paulton side. United entertain Frome Town Res on Saturday at The Grove when they hope to return to their winning ways.