FAIRFORD Town boss Jody Bevan praised his side’s ruthless streak in the wake of their 6-1 victory over Shortwood United in the FA Vase.

Ben Lodge plundered a long-range strike into the top corner from 25 yards to kick things off before ex Swindon Supermarine man Connor Thompson made it two.

Lodge nabbed his second of the game shortly after while Nathan Hawkins added a fourth from a free-kick before the clock had hit 25 minutes.

Harvey Scholes bagged the fifth before Dan Bailey capped the scoring for the home side.

Shortwood got on the scoresheet too late on, but Bevan was pleased to see his side heed his pre-match words and progress to the next round.

He said: “We played very, very well in the first half.

“Admittedly, Shortwood were a bit light – they had a few injuries and players not available today, but we took full advantage.

“They were in great form and we were expecting a really tough game, but we flew out of the traps and were 4-0 up inside 25 minutes.

“I’ve been a bit critical of our forwards in recent weeks, saying that we haven’t been shooting enough, but today we were right at it.

“We wanted to play at a high tempo from the off, which we did, and I wanted our forwards to have more efforts at goal, which they did, and it paid dividends.”

Fairford were denied a first clean sheet of the season in the dying moments of the game when the linesman failed to raise his flag during an offside move, according to Bevan.

Nevertheless, the Fairford manager was pleased with his side’s defensive efforts against an underwhelming Shortwood side.

Bevan said: “Yes, we would have liked a clean sheet and we should have got one.

“The goal they did score should have been given offside – we could see it was three or four yards offside from where we were, but the linesman didn’t put his flag up.

“The assessor said to us afterwards that he felt it should have been given offside, but while it was disappointing, there’s not much you can do when the linesman should put his flag up and he doesn’t.”

Elsewhere, Shrivenham will have to go again on Tuesday after their Vase tie with Clanfield 85 ended in a 2-2 draw while Royal Wootton Bassett Town are out following their 1-0 defeat away at Tadley Calleva.

Malmesbury Victoria are through to the next round of the FA Vase though after their 2-1 victory at home to Camberley Town.