Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
 Melksham Start Title Defence With A Win,
But Redhouse Beaten in the North

 Defending North Wiltshire Division champions Redhouse before their season opener against Royal Wootton Bassett Town

The 2022-23 Season in the two Veterans’ divisions of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League got underway this week with both last season’s two champions in action in the opening round of matches.

In the Mid Wiltshire Division reigning champions Melksham Town started their defence of the title at home against Chippenham Town. Melksham had won all four of the previous meetings between the two sides and that record continued on Monday night as they secured a 3-1 win to get their title defence up and running with a win. The top scorer in the two previous seasons, Charlie Griffin, was again the player inflicting the most damage on Chippenham as he bagged a brace. The third Melksham goal came from substitute Richard Siekiera deep in injury time on his Melksham Town debut, with Chippenham’s top scorer from last season Ryan Nicholls getting the goal for the visitors.

  Charlie Griffin scored two for Melksham in their 3-1 win over Chippenham Town (picture courtesy of David Giles).

Last season’s runners-up in the Mid Wiltshire Division and County Cup winners Bradford Town were also in action with a game against Corsham Town, the side who had finished just below them in last season’s final table. Both games last season had been tight affairs, both of which were won by single goal margins, but it was a different story in the first meeting this season as Bradford Town secured a comfortable 5-1 win with the goals being shared around the team with Michael Little, Robert Mitchell, David Percival, Mark Robinson and Nicholas Ross all getting their name on the score sheet. Corsham Town’s goal came from Steve Tweddle who was playing against his former club having moved from Bradford Town in the summer.
The new side in the division this season are Westbury United who opened their campaign away at Trowbridge Town Tigers, the division’s longest serving member of the league having taken part in the inaugural season in 2019-20. It was the new side who came out on top with an impressive 5-0 away win on their league debut. Paul Beavers set them on their way with the opening goal before Philip Hampson smashed a hat-trick to make it 4-0. Kane Scott then added a fifth eight minutes from time to complete the night’s scoring for Westbury.
The final game of the week in the Mid Wiltshire Division took place the following evening and FC Calne carried on the form that had seen them win eight of their last ten games at the back end of last season with a 5-0 win over Amesbury Junior Badgers to be the division leaders along with Westbury United at the end of the first week of action. Last season’s leading scorer Adam O’Keeffe carried on where he left off last season hitting a hat-trick with further goals from Kyle Balloch and Dean Slade.
Monday night saw two new teams in the North Wiltshire Veteran’s Division playing their first games in the league with mixed fortunes. Stratton Juniors Black were playing their first competitive game at their Merton Fields Ground against Swindon Old Boys but there was to be no first win on home soil as they went down 4-0. Andrew King led the way for Swindon Old Boys firing in a hat-trick, Charlie Knowles with the other goal.
The other side making their debut were Blunsdon who were up against the other Stratton Juniors side, Stratton Juniors Orange. Blunsdon did get their first campaign in the North Wiltshire Veterans’ Division off to a winning start, goals from Chris Quinton and Jamie Saunders securing a 2-1 win, Kenny Hawkins with the Stratton goal. 
On Tuesday night AFC Swindon and Swindon Rovers met at New College. AFC Swindon had shown much improvement during last season which had started with a 10-0 loss to Tuesday night’s opponents but by the time they met for the second time in what was AFC Swindon’s final game of the season, AFC Swindon ran Rovers close, eventually going down 3-1. In Tuesday nights game it was an even closer as Swindon Rovers edged it by the odd goal in a 2-1 win.

   Royal Wootton Bassett Town pictured before their 5-2 win over last season's champions Redhouse

The final game of the week saw last season’s North Wiltshire Division champions Redhouse open their defence against one of the sides who had pushed them all the way in the title race, Royal Wootton Bassett Town. Redhouse’s 3-1 win over the same oponents in their penultimate league match effectively secured the league title last season. Royal Wootton Bassett Town got off to a fast start scoring within two minutes of the start when Chris Head outpaced the Redhouse defence and hit a shot across goal which ended up in the back of the net off a defender trying to clear the ball. They doubled their lead shortly after, Head getting on the end of an excellent pass from the left flank from Jeremy Newton for 2-0. Redhouse got themselves back into the game shortly after and it came courtesy of a gift from Royal Wootton Bassett Town keeper Nick Warren who was caught trying to dribble the ball out allowing Dave Rendle to intercept and poke the ball into the net.  An embarrassing moment for the keeper and it gave Redhouse a foothold in the game just when it looked like it was getting away from them. However, Royal Wootton Bassett very quickly restored their two-goal advantage, Steve Yeardley firing powerfully into the bottom corner of the net past Stewart Thompson from just outside the 18-yard box for 3-1. With 20 minutes gone they extended the lead further Jeremy Newton turning a defender before firing into the net for 4-1. There was still time for one more goal before the break and it went the way of Redhouse and again Warren probably should have done better, allowing a shot from just inside the half-way line from Nolan Paul to slip past him into the net to make it 4-2 at the break. Whilst the first half had yielded six goals the second half was something of an anti-climax with neither side really creating any clear-cut chances until five minutes from time when Royal Wootton Bassett Town’s Nick Mason turned a defender and then curled a shot into the top corner of the net past Stewart Thompson for 5-2 for what turned out to be the final action of the night. For reigning champions Redhouse a defeat in their opening game of the season against what is expected to be one of their main rivals for the title this season.

League Tables

Leading Scorers

Results and Next Week's Fixtures

Wiltshire County Veterans' Cup

The Wiltshire FA  have this week drawn the First Round of the Veterans' County Cup which sees two games being played in the First Round. Swindon Old Boys will be home to one of the new sides to our league Chiseldon, whilst Blunsdon, another one of the new sides, will be home to Swindon Rovers. For some reason Stratton Juniors Black have not been included in the draw. The full draw is shown below:

Wiltshire County Veterans' Cup
First Round
Swindon Old Boys v Chisledon
Blunsdon v Swindon Rovers

The following teams all have byes:
AFC Swindon
Amesbury Junior Badgers
Bradford Town
Chippenham Town
Corsham Town
Cricklade Town
Devizes Town
FC Calne
Melksham Town
Redhouse
Royal Wootton Bassett Town
Stratton Juniors Orange
Trowbridge Town Tigers
Westbury United
8 September 2022
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