WARMINSTER skipper Tom Davie conceded that Jack Haines’ century for Goatacre was the difference between the two sides on Saturday as their slow start to the season continued.

Haines hit 108 to help the Goats post 286-8 and set up a 67-run victory to leave Warminster with just one win from five matches so far this summer.

Things had looked rosy for Davie’s side when the Goats were in trouble at 20-3 but new man Haines came to the crease and swiftly changed the landscape of the game.

Rob Murphy also added an unbeaten 46, with Rory Cullinan the pick of the Warminster attack as he claimed 3-36.

“We got off to a really good start and put a lot of pressure on them but it was a fantastic innings from (Haines) and he put them in a very commanding position,” said Davie.

“Even though they had runs on the board, it is a small-ish ground, so we still thought we were in with a shot but, unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out that way for us.

“You’d probably have to say that his knock was a match-winning innings for them.”

The Warminster reply started promisingly, with the efforts of Pete Hickerton (66) and Jamaine Bullen (45) seeing them to 179-2 at one stage but a costly collapse ensued from there, with the final eight wickets falling for just 40 runs as Davie’s men were bowled out for 219.

Matthew House was the destroyer-in-chief for Goatacre, taking 4-33.

Davie added: “We started really well and we were certainly in with a chance.

“In those key situations in a match, when the pressure is on, the players who were in at the time needed to be the ones to go and win the game for us.

“The conditions had started to turn and it’s very hard for new men coming in to settle quickly and take the game on, whereas those guys were already set and playing nicely.

“Unfortunately, we lost wickets in clusters and the game just got away from us towards the end.”

Having won just once so far in 2016, Warminster are second-from-bottom in the table. Davie is therefore desperate for a positive result when they host basement boys Thornbury on Saturday.

He said: “It’s been a little bit disappointing. We are not where we want to be.

“We are at the wrong end of the table and we now have a very important game this weekend against Thornbury, who are the only team below us at the moment.

“We have got to pick ourselves up and get back in the winners’ enclosure.”