AIDEN Higgs bagged a brace as Ascot United defeated Southall 2-0 at the Racecourse Ground on Saturday to stay clear in the Combined Counties League title race.

An entertaining game saw both sides create many chances in the first half, with the best of them falling to United's Ben Hodges after five minutes when he squeezed his shot past keeper Laurencin Berkeley, only to see the ball bounce back off the post.

At the other end, Marcus Mealing shot weakly at Sam Gray before Berkeley palmed Higgs’s long-range effort to safety.

And the Ascot keeper produced another save when he got down quickly to block James Gurteen’s shot through a crowd of players.

The Yellamen broke the deadlock on 70 minutes when Higgs raced onto Aaron Berry’s through ball and squeezed the ball low past Berkeley.

They were celebrating again two minutes later with Higgs hitting a sweet volley into the top right-hand corner.

Midfielder Jonny Denton was making his 150th appearance for the club, while George Lock, a 62nd-minute substitute, was bringing up his century.

Ascot remain six points clear of second-placed Spelthorne Sports, who are the visitors to the Racecourse this Saturday.

Then next Tuesday (7.45pm), they have an attractive Premier Cup quarter-final tie against Jersey Bulls, who have won all of their 27 games in Division One.

Eversley & California moved up to third-from-bottom of the Division One table after their midweek 5-1 win away to Bedfont Sports thanks to goals from Paras Gill (2), Ross Drury, Josh Smith and George Marsh.

They were due to visit the same venue again last Saturday to face Bedfont & Feltham, but the game was postponed. This coming Saturday, they host Walton & Hersham at Fox Lane.

Sandhurst Town, who are sixth in the placings, won 3-2 at Bagshot with Sam Green (2) and Jamie Mitchell on target, the latter netting the winner five minutes from time.

This Saturday, they are home to Epsom & Ewell and next Tuesday (7.45pm) they are away to Walton & Hersham in the semi-finals of the Division One Cup.