Wiltshire Senior League

Corsham Print

Wiltshire Senior League

Premier Division

Leaders RWBT Dev Unbeaten

Run Ended by Trowbridge

Action from Trowbridge Town v Royal W. Bassett Town (picture courtesy of Steve Green)

There were just four games this Easter Saturday in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League with the top match of the weekend being the game at Woodmarsh where Trowbridge Town, who sat third in the table, hosted the league leaders Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development. As well as their lofty positions in the league table, the two sides were also the two form teams in the division, Trowbridge had not lost any of the nine games they had played since losing to today's opponents in the first meeting between the sides, winning eight of them, whilst Royal Wootton Bassett came into the game on the back of a 16-game unbeaten run, with 15 of those 16 games having been won. The game saw Trowbridge attract their biggest crowd since 2008 with 173 in attendance.

As is often the way when two top sides go head-to-head the game becomes a battle of attrition with very little football being played through the middle. The first half saw both sides reverting to long balls with the defences on top with very few chances being created and no real clear cut ones. The first half chance of any note saw Josh Howlett head over from a Jamie Jordan free kick on fifteen minutes. Five minutes later Trowbridge were awarded a free kick dead central on the edge of the box, but once again Trowbridge failed to take advantage of the set piece. The first real chance for the visitors came on 28 minutes, Matt Bennett’s cross from the right finding Ryan Withers but his shot was fired straight at Trowbridge keeper Cameron Miller who saved easily. Both sides were to create one more decent chance each in the half, Trowbridge’s George Bendle seeing his low shot turned around the post by Royal Wootton Bassett’s keeper Simon Notman and at the other end Mani Mesas saw his low shot go just wide of the far post as the teams turned round with the game still looking for its first goal.

The best two early chances of the second half fell the way of the visitors. On 56 minutes a cross from the right from Bennett found the head of Ryan Withers but he was unable to direct the header downwards and it went over the bar. Four minutes later a poor kick-out from Trowbridge keeper Miller fell to substitute James Johnson 25-yards out from goal but his powerful low shot went just wide of the post. The visitors did not help their cause when on 65 minutes keeper Simon Notman reacted to a foot up from a Trowbridge forward by berating the referee for not awarding him a free kick when he had already safely gathered the ball. Notman was sent to the sin-bin with Royal Wootton Bassett Town captain Nick Mason donning the green jersey for ten minutes. Three minutes into the ten minutes sin-bin period a ball over the top from player-manager Jamie Jordan found Mark Robinson clear on goal but he fired well over. Royal Wootton Bassett saw out the remaining period of numerical disadvantage with stand-in keeper Mason keeping a clean sheet by the time Notman returned to the action.

The deadlock was finally broken nine minutes from time, and it was not unexpected that it came from a set piece, as both sides had struggled to create many clear-cut chances in open play all afternoon. A free kick awarded on the right-hand side of the area was fired into the top corner of the net by Trowbridge Town’s Ollie Dew for his sixth goal of the season to make it 1-0. The visitors started to throw caution to the wind and send extra players forward. First centre back George Drewitt went close to getting on the end of a Sam Ockwell free kick, but the danger was cleared by the Trowbridge defence. Then four minutes from time, Royal Wootton Bassett Town defender Josh Connolly who had been brought on up front to add extra physical presence, headed back to Matt Bennett on the edge of the box, but he fired over the bar as once again the visitors failed to test Miller. In the closing minutes, with the visitors throwing men forward they were caught on the break with a ball over the top which found Mark Robinson clear of the back line and he lobbed keeper Notman to give his side a 2-0 lead. Defender Ryan Baggs then had a chance to extend Trowbidge’s lead further after neat set-up play but shot tamely at Notman and it remained 2-0. When Sam Ockwell fired a free kick from the edge of the area just wide of the post it looked like Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development would fail to score for the first time this season. However, an injury time penalty award presented Bennett with the chance to maintain that scoring record and he duly made no mistake from the spot hitting his 42nd goal of the season. There was just about time for Trowbridge to take the kick-off before the final whistle was blown and that unbeaten run of Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development was finally ended. They remain two points clear of Pewsey Vale at the top of the table with both sides having two games to go with the two sides set to meet at Pewsey Recreation Ground next Saturday. Before that Pewsey play Stratton Juniors in midweek and are likely to be top of the table when they go into next week’s showdown encounter with Royal Wootton Bassett. Royal Wootton Bassett Town’s final game is away to Salisbury FC Development a week Saturday.

More action shots from Trowbridge Town v Royal W. Bassett Town (pictures courtesy of Steve Green)

Corsham Town Development were playing their final game of the season when they hosted Stratton Juniors at the Southbank Ground with a fourth-place finish already secured. Stratton were looking to bounce back from their heavy defeat in midweek whilst Corsham were looking to make five wins from their final six games. The teams turned round at the break with it all square at one apiece. Corey Harbour-Burgess put Corsham ahead after 18 minutes from a free kick but Stratton were back on level terms seven minutes later, Leonard Khan with the equaliser. Corsham got their noses back in front within three minutes of the restart through leading scorer Ben Wickens. The same player made it 3-1 just after the hour mark, scoring from the penalty spot after Jamie Cunning had been upended in the box, that was Wicken’s 25th goal of the season. Benji Smith then extended Corsham’s lead but that was the not the end of the scoring, Corey Cullen notching a late consolation goal with his 15th of the campaign for Stratton as Corsham ended their season with a 4-2 win and that fourth-place finish. Stratton now have that tough looking fixture against Pewsey Vale in midweek.

Two more for Ben Wickens in Corsham Town Dev's 4-2 win over Stratton Juniors

Odd Down Reserves, who started the day in ninth place in the table, were another side playing their final game of the season with Wroughton their visitors. Wroughton started the day just three points behind Odd Down with both sides eying up a top half of the table finish. Odd Down came into the game in decent form, unbeaten in their previous four outings and just the one defeat in their last nine games but were forced into multiple changes from there last outing with players missing due to the Bank Holiday weekend. Wroughton were looking to end a run that has seen them lose their previous two and had just one win in their previous five games and were also missing players with manager Ben Jarrett having to bring myself on for 15 minutes at the end of the game. Having played and scored last night for Shrivenham in the Hellenic Premier, Jonathan Peachey-Score showed no signs of tiredness as he bagged a brace for visitors Wroughton, Ollie While scored his fourth of the season from the penalty spot and a stunning strike from Luigi Hernandez completed an impressive 4-0 away win for Wroughton that saw them move level on points with Odd Down with one game to go, that match being next Saturday at home against Frome Collegians. Odd Down remained in ninth spot on goal difference but Wroughton will finish above them if they can avoid defeat in that final game.

Jonathan Peachey-Score (2) and Luigi Hernandez who were both on target in Wroughton's 4-0 win at Odd Down Res.

After their midweek win at Calne Town Reserves, Salisbury FC Development were looking to make it three wins on the bounce when they travelled to Malmesbury Victoria Development. There was just a point separating the two ahead of the game although Malmesbury Victoria were looking to complete a league double over Salisbury having won 2-0 against the same opponents last month. It started well for Salisbury, the returning Will Waterson scoring after just seven minutes to give his side the lead. Ten minutes later Malmesbury got themselves back on level terms Josh Gale scoring his fourth of the season to make it 1-1. It remained that way until five minutes from time when Malmesbury’s leading scorer Joe Tranter slotted in from close range for his 18th of the season and put his side in front for the first time in the game. Two minutes later Malmesbury made sure of all three points when Benji Smith opened his account for the season with Malmesbury’s third goal as it finished 3-1 to the Vics. The win saw Malmesbury move above Salisbury in the table..