CHARD Town have been knocked out of the Somerset Premier Cup after losing 4-2 at home against Welton Rovers Reserves.

It was a tough game with Chard on the back foot early but some strange refereeing decisions dictated the match.

The home side kicked off the match and started strongly playing down the slope however in the tenth minute they were behind after Welton scored against the run of play.

With their first chance of the game, on the counter attack, a ball was played in over the top of the defence and the striker timed his run well and finished the ball into the corner.

Welton gained confidence from there and in the 18th minute they doubled the lead; after the Chard keeper made a fine save the fullback cleared the ball straight into a Welton player and it bounced into an empty net.

Chard stuck at it though and through their talismanic winger Liam Cleal they got one back; he finished off a well worked move into the corner in the 26th minute.

The rest of the half was dominated by the referee; at one point Welton were through on goal and play was stopped so the referee could discipline Harry Bodington from Chard.

He was sent to the sin bin for dissent however Welton made it clear they would have preferred the play to be allowed to finish before the ref disciplined anyone.

However from the resulting free kick Welton scored their third from a header and the half time whistle went shortly after.

Into the second half and Chard were fired up, they started the half well.

Yet once again Welton scored from a fierce counter attack and the score was 4-1 just minutes into the half.

Chard pushed on and created chance after chance in an effort to get back into the cup tie.

The referee was also in on the action, issuing four yellow cards to players from either side.

Welton also had a player sent to the sin bin in the half for dissent, this happened as both sets of players shared their thoughts on the referees performance.

Chard won a penalty late in the half but Dan Collins hit the shot well over the bar.

The constant attacks from Chard made it an entertaining half but the home side failed to convert any of their chances.

That was until they won a second penalty and striker Nathan Finn belted the ball past the goalkeeper late in the game.

In fairness to Chard they fought until the final whistle but the game may have been lost in the first half after they failed to stop Welton on the counter.

The final score was 4-2 to the travelling Welton Rovers reserves.