Thornbury Baptists squandered a two goal lead as they slipped to defeat at Clevedon on Saturday.

The Baptists led in the fourth minute when Aidan Maddox latched on to a through ball, held play up well, and then squared the ball to Jimmy Cooke who fired left-footed into the far corner.

Thornbury had the full force of storm Eric behind them in the first half and they were dominant in possession. They doubled their lead and did exactly that when Cooke headed on a long throw-in from Phil Mansfield and John Cordle latched onto the flick to smash the ball past the keeper.

Sam Williams had a decent effort just wide and Rich Ocone headed over from a corner the Baptist's pushed.

But Thornbury gave the hosts a critical sniff of hope just before half time when they failed to deal with a ball over the top and the striker turned his man before finishing nicely past Davis Newcombe in the Thornbury goal.

It was a pivotal moment when the sides turned around at the break and the wind was still ferocious, but Thornbury still had the first chance of the second half when a driving run from Cordle was followed by a neat pass into Maddox and his snap-shot was well saved by the Clevedon keeper.

The miss was costly but the equaliser came in unfortunate circumstances for Ocone who climbed high to clear a wind-assisted long-throw but could only flick the header inadvertently behind him and over Newcombe for an own goal.

Clevedon followed up with the winner on 76 minutes when a neat break down the left enabled the Clevedon striker to find some room on the edge of the box and his left-foot volley flew into the top corner for the pick of the goals.

Thornbury should have levelled the game late on but Ben Ingram's inviting cross was headed wide by Jimmy Cooke.