Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
Marlborough Defeat Former Boss,
Pewsey Go Five Points Clear

Marlborough Town ahead of changing their shirts due to a colour clash and gaining a 5-0 win at Purton on Tuesday night

Purton have made their worst start to a season in many a year and had lost all four of their opening games, conceding 21 goals in the process, ahead of a visit from manager Andy Ealey’s former club Marlborough. Visitors Marlborough had won one and drawn one of their opening five, but went into the game with Purton having lost three on the bounce. Purton had much the better record in games between the two sides, Purton having won four of the previous six meetings and manager Ealey was hoping the visit from his former club would be an opportunity to bring the miserable run of results to an end. Things did not go to plan though and Purton fell behind with 15 minutes gone when Zac Symon, who was to have a major impact in the game, was upended in the box by Frank Hunt for a penalty. Symon picked himself up, dusted himself down and fired the penalty into the bottom corner of the net for 1-0. Five minutes later Marlborough extended their lead when a defence splitting pass from Jamie Conway found Ben Cramer who slid the ball under Purton keeper Jon Walters for 2-0. Marlborough remain on top although chances were created at both ends and Marlborough had shouts for a second penalty when Symon again appeared to be brought down in the box but this time the penalty appeals were waived away. Purton’s best chance came right at the end of the half when Marlborough keeper Harry Cooper-Brown misjudged a shot from Brandon Page thinking it was going wide, instead it hit the post and rebounded across the six yard box to Lewis Cholod whose shot was then well saved by Cooper-Brown with his feet, making up for his initial error. 

Zac Symon with the opening goal for Marlborough from the penalty spot

Second half saw Marlborough continue to take the game to the home side and they were awarded a second penalty when Declan McEniry was brought down in the box by Ian McDermid. Once again Zac Symon took the kick and fired his penalty to the same side with the same result to make it 3-0 to the visitors. Two minutes later three became four when Charlie Galley got beyond the Purton back line and beat the onrushing Purton keeper Walters to the ball knocking it through his legs to give him an empty goal and he made no mistake to make it 4-0 to Marlborough. Purton continued to try and create something of their own but the closest they went was a shot from distance from Scott Milloy which was easily pulled out of the air by Marlborough keeper Cooper-Brown. Marlborough had the ball in the net again five minutes from the end but the goal was disallowed with the referee’s assistant flagging for offside. There was still time for one more goal though, Ethan Muir firing in from distance to complete a comfortable win for Marlborough over their former manager’s new side. The Marlborough management team of Kenny Muir, Malc Ford and Steve Chadwick were pleased with their side’s performance with manager Chadwick, noting that “the clean sheet was also important after Saturday”. Highlights of this game are available on the Your Sport Swindon website.

Action from Purton v Marlborough Town on Tuesday night & Purton team photo ahead of the game

The other game on Tuesday night was a one-sided affair at Pewsey Recreation Ground where the league leaders hit eight unanswered goals against Ludgershall Sports to go six points clear at the top of the table ahead of Wednesday night’s fixtures. Star of the show was youngster Harry Hoareau who smashed a double hat-trick with Zak Messenger bagging a brace in the comfortable win for the league leaders. For Pewsey that is now 17 straight victories in league and cup games in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League whilst in contrast Ludgershall have lost all of their last eight and have another couple of tough looking games coming up before they play Purton a week Saturday, a game both of the two sides at the bottom will be looking at as the best opportunity to end their current run of defeats. Pewsey’s winning run is likely to face its sternest test so far on Saturday when Corsham Town Development are the visitors in a repeat of last season’s Fountain Trophies Cup Final.

Melksham Town Res and Trowbridge Town before their close encounter on Wednesday night

There was a thoroughly entertaining game at the InfiLED Stadium on Wednesday night when Trowbridge Town were Melksham Town Reserves visitors. In a high -tempo first half the visitors Trowbridge went ahead as early as the eighth minute, a defence splitting pass from Ollie Dew putting player-manager Jamie Jordan clear of the defence and he made no mistake for his fifth goal of the season. Melksham’s first chance of the night came on 13 minutes, the ball falling to Tom Arliss on the edge of the box, but the Melksham striker’s shot sailed well over the bar. A couple of minutes late Trowbridge extended their lead. Breaking at pace a long diagonal ball from the player-manager Jordan found Dew who’s cross to the far post was headed in by Mark Robinson for his second of the season and a second assist on the night for Dew. Up until this point it had very much been Trowbridge on top but finding themselves two down triggered a response from the home side as they tried to get back into the game. The way they did get back in had a touch of fortune about it. Cameron Pearce fired in a low corner that was turned in by Joe English after it eluded a number of players in front of him. It was a really soft goal to concede from the visitor’s perspective after having dominated the opening 20 minutes. Six minutes later it was all square when a free kick from Tom Mack was turned in with his stomach by Jake Farrell for his first goal of the season. It was now very much game on, and the two teams continued to attack each other in a game that up to this point remained at high-tempo. Trowbridge went close to going back in front just two minutes after the equaliser but a goal bound effort was cleared off the line by Mack. It was now end to end stuff and the next chance fell Melksham’s way as Cameron Pearce outpaced the Trowbridge defence but fired his shot agonisingly just past the post. Mack, who was now having a heavy involvement in the game, was the next to get clean through six minutes from the break but his goal bound effort was brilliantly turned away by Trowbridge keeper Sam Jepson. There was still time for another chance at the other end of the pitch, Ollie Dew seeing his free kick go just wide of the far post and it remained all square at the break. 

Contested header from Trowbridge Town's 3-2 win at Melksham Town Res & Melksham's Tom Arliss starting an attack from his own half

Whilst not surprisingly the game in the second half did not maintain the same level of high intensity as the first period, the first ten minutes of the second were in a similar vein. Within a minute of the restart Ollie Dew, who was having an outstanding game for the visitors, fed Mark Robinson but the Trowbridge striker fired his shot just wide. At the other end Ryan Lovitt forced a save out of Jepson after a driving run through midfield, the Trowbridge keeper holding his effort at the second attempt. The two teams continue to search for the lead and three minutes later Robinson should have done better for the visitors when put clear of the defence but fired over when clean through on goal. Melksham then went straight down the other end from the goal kick, a ball over the top finding Tom Arliss whose powerful shot was saved by Jepson with his feet and the danger cleared. A goal was certainly coming, and it eventually arrived just after the hour mark, a ball out wide right found Dew who took the ball on and then fired in a powerful shot that hit the underside of the bar and came down and appeared to cross the line. Mark Robinson, who was in the six-yard box fired the ball into the net to ensure that there would be no debate as to whether a goal had been scored, the only debate being whose goal it was. The Trowbridge players signalled to their bench that it was already over the line as Dew went from goal provider to goal scorer. The tempo by now had slowed but Melksham continued to press for an equaliser. Matthew Caslin saw his shot tipped over the bar by Jepson but the closest they came was from a corner eight minutes from time. The corner finding an unmarked Ryan Lovitt at the far post but his low diving header when just wide of the post and it remained 3-2 to the visitors. Deep into injury time there was nearly an own goal a misplaced Melksham defensive header having to be punched over by Melksham keeper Harry Pickering. In the end Trowbridge held out for three vital points in what had been an excellent game of football between two very good sides. The win saw Trowbridge leap frog Melksham in the table, Trowbridge moving up to fifth spot ahead of Saturday’s trip to Wroughton. Melksham will look to bounce back from this narrow defeat with a trip to Marlborough Town.
Bremhill View was the venue for another game at the top end of the table with fourth placed Calne Town Reserves entertaining sixth placed Frome Collegians. Frome Collegians were one of three unbeaten sides in the Division at the start of the night having won twice and drawn twice in their opening four fixtures. They sat a point behind Calne with a game in hand ahead of the first meeting between the two sides. Calne had won three of their opening five fixtures and joint managers George Bettles and Clive McDaid were looking for a response after they were made to pay for a series of missed first half chances in their defeat at Pewsey on Saturday. They certainly got the response they were looking for, Brett Fairclough giving them an earlier lead and further goals from Richard Hudson, Jamal Chevelleau and Dan Skinner completing an impressive 4-0 win to end Frome’s unbeaten start to the season. The win saw Calne go third in the table ahead of Saturday’s trip to bottom side Purton, whilst Frome slipped a couple of places in the table and will look to bounce back on Saturday when they visit Ludgershall Sports.
Corsham Town Development are still to announce their new management team but after an opening day defeat at Frome they had gone four games unbeaten, winning three of them ahead of their trip to Odd Down Reserves. The two sides had met twice last season, once in the curtailed league season and then again in the Fountain Trophies Senior Cup group stages, both games ending in draws. Goals had been a scarce commodity in Odd Down’s games ahead of this encounter, with just five being scored in their four previous games, but it was a very different story on Wednesday night. An impressive spell at the end of the first half and start of the second period saw Corsham score five times. Will Stead helped himself to a hat-trick, with two of his goals coming from the penalty spot. Further goals from Ben Wickens and Jonathan Bazley saw Corsham gain a 5-0 lead with less than an hour gone. Credit, however, to the young Odd Down side who kept plugging away and scored three goals of their own through Angus Williamson, Benji Riccio and Charlie Saunders to get within two goals of Corsham with ten minutes remaining. However, a second of the goal for Ben Wickens in injury time, taking him into double figures for the season already, wrapped up the points for Corsham, 6-3 the final score in a nine-goal thriller. Corsham Town Development moved above Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development into second spot ahead of Saturdays’ top of the table clash with Pewsey Vale.

Corsham's Ben Wickens seen in action here against Trowbridge Town recently scored another two against Odd Down to become joint  top scorer in the division

(picture courtesy of Martin Pearce)

Biggest winners of the night on Wednesday were Malmesbury Victoria Development who hit seven unanswered goals past Wroughton for their best result against Wroughton in recent times. Despite the large score line, it took 30 minutes for the deadlock to be broken, Harrison Archer putting the home side Malmesbury ahead. Once the first goal was scored Malmesbury took command with Joe Tranter adding a second a couple of minutes later. Six minutes before the break Harrison Archer netted his second of the game to give the home side a 3-0 lead at the interval. Archer completed his hat-trick on 54 minutes after a foul in the box on Jake Fortune led to a penalty which Harrison duly despatched for 4-0. Dan Cole then added a fifth firing in a free kick from 25 yards before two late goals from Joe Tranter and Josh Gale in the closing minutes of the match rounded off the scoring for a rampant Malmesbury side.
Shrewton United picked up their second win of the season with a 3-0 away win at Devizes Town Reserves. Shrewton led 1-0 at the break thanks to a Lee Himsworth header from a Craig Lewis cross. Devizes had a couple of good chances to get back on level terms before the break but were twice denied by excellent saves from 17-year-old debutant keeper Will Davis. After the break Shrewton extended their lead when Charlie Utterson was put clean through by a long diagonal pass from Jake Connor and made no mistake to make it 2-0 to the visitors. Shrewton were well on top now and Utterson added a third in a similar fashion to his earlier goal making it five for the season so far for last seasons’ top scorer. Devizes continued to try and get something out of the game and once again went close on a couple of occasions only to be denied by the young Shrewton keeper. The win saw Shrewton climb up to ninth spot in the table and just as pleasing as the win for manager Joe Sheldrake was the clean sheet maintained by his young debutant keeper.
02 September 2021
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