Alresford Town 3, Bishop's Waltham Tn 0

IT'S been a hectic week for Alresford Town, who parted company with manager Keith Curtis in midweek and promptly strung together back to back wins in their league matches against East Cowes and Waltham.

With Alresford hovering precariously just above the bottom of the table and struggling for results, the club announced Curtis's resignation early in the week. In their match programme the club publicly thanked him for his dedication and effort over the last four years - particularly this season, with problems of player availability and injuries increasing his workload.

For the remainder of the season, Alan Binfield, Dave Stanbrook and Paddy Roadnight will be in charge, and in the close season the club will be looking to put a new management team together. If you are interested, the club would like to hear from you!

The game against Bishop's Waltham, which enabled Alresford to leapfrog their neighbours and move out of the bottom two, was completed with almost embarrassing ease.

From the first whistle the hosts held the upper hand, while Waltham were rarely able to test keeper Scott Tarran.

Alresford took the lead on 25 minutes with a bizarre and controversial goal. Ben Bendall fired in a speculative shot with a team-mate in an offside position. Many in the ground - including Bishops keeper Robbie Paice - were convinced they heard the referee's whistle, and as the ball bounced over Paice's half-hearted dive the visitors were expecting a free-kick in their favour. But to their consternation, ref Andy Roberts, after consultation with his assistant, awarded a goal.

Waltham have not been in good form themselves, and could really have done without that slice of bad luck. They did their best, Tarran tipping over Hose Edin's free-kick. But at half-time there was a definite feeling that it would be Alresford's day.

That feeling was intensified five minutes after the break. Dan Layton's inswinging corner was flicked on at the near post, and Paul Roberts buried his header in the back of the net to make it 2-0.

After that Waltham disintegrated completely. Darren Bartlett came close to a headed own goal, but Paice got him off the hook.

Then, Hose Edin brought down Gary Bennett in the box after a goalmouth scramble, but Glen Pritchard blasted the penalty high, wide and not very handsomely into the next field.

Pritchard had the last word, though. He latched onto the rebound after Paice had parried Joel Matthews' point-blank header to score his side's third goal.

More chances came and went, but Alresford won't mind. Suddenly they have breathing space again, and with a match against rock-bottom Whitchurch still to come must feel that safety from relegation is now well within their grasp.