DAN MILLER was the Sholing hero as they celebrated their first Southern One South & West victory in just over a month at the Silverlake Arena this afternoon.

Defender Miller stuck in the 59th minute to secure a 1-0 victory over Cinderford Town – the Boatmen’s first league triumph since beating AFC Totton on December 27.

The Boatmen’s injury jinx struck again in the pre-match warm-up with Jack Smith pulling up with a hamstring problem.

Jeff Walklin was up-graded from the subs’ bench to play alongside Alex Sawyer in central midfield in the absence of injured skipper Byron Mason.

Sholing made a lively start but good football was going to be nigh-on impossible playing into a brisk and bitterly cold wind.

At times the flight and the bounce of the ball was difficult to judge and young Walklin was booked in eight minutes for fouling Ethan Moore as he threatened to burst through Sholing’s last line of defence.

Good hold-up play by Moore set up Cinderford’s first chance of the match on 12-minutes, but Boatmen’s keeper Rory Anderson kept out Joe Turley’s goal-bound blast with his feet. Anderson saved again as George Lloyd followed-up but Town’s no.10 was off-side in any case.

Sholing responded with a Barry Mason strike that was blocked out for a corner and then, on 19-minutes, Sawyer delivered a far-post cross from the right, but Tobi Adekunle headed straight at keeper Alex Harris.

Although there was plenty of endeavour from both teams, they were largely cancelling one another out and, when there were signs of attacking promise, the final ball was lacking as the wind continued to play havoc.

On 36-minutes Barry Mason decided to dispense with the build-up and let fly from 35 yards, but his effort flew well wide of Harris’s left upright.

On 42 minutes there was a chink of light for Sholing when Sawyer nicked the ball off defender Spencer Hamilton and made headway from the left, but Cinderford crowded him out and the ball ended-up in the side netting.

On the stroke of half-time Marvin McLean’s attempted clearance rebounded to the feet of Moore wide left and the no. 9’s curling shot bent just wide of the far post.

Apart from a booking for Cinderford’s Kieran Thomas for a crunching challenge on Walklin, there was little doing at the start of the second-half.

But all that changed in the 59th minute when Sholing finally took the lead at their favourite clubhouse end of the ground.

TJ Cuthbertson delivered a deep cross from the right and Dan Miller found himself in acres of space on the far side of the area.

The big, blond defender let the ball bounce and accurately guided a half-volley into the far top corner of the net.

That sparked some urgency from Cinderford and, following neat approach play by Joe Turley, the Boatmen did well to block out Lloyd’s fierce strike.

The visitors threatened again when Moore and Lloyd exchanged passes inside the box, but young Liam Golding intercepted well to snuff out the danger.

On 76-minutes Sholing had goalkeeper Anderson to thank for preserving their lead with a quite miraculous stop.

He spread himself superbly to keep out Lloyd’s goal-bound strike and turn the ball onto the bar.

There was a scramble of players as the ball dropped down with Cuthbertson getting in just ahead of Town sub Jack Camm before Sholing scrambled the ball to safety.

Anderson was then booked for handball outside the box, but Turley rammed the Cinderford free-kick straight into the defensive wall.

Having already introduced Nick Watts for a Adekunle, the Boatmen made another change on 84-minutes, bringing on defender Mike Byrne and sticking him up-front in place of Dan Mason.

On 88 minutes Watts burst through but couldn’t get enough height on the ball to lob towering keeper Harris.

Cinderford then broke down the other end and it required a top-drawer tackle by Miller – just named man of the match – to stop Lloyd burning away on a free run at goal.