Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
 Veterans' Round-up
League Cup Underway
 This week’s fixtures in the Veterans’ Divisions were overshadowed by the sad passing of League Fixtures Secretary Phil Cook on Tuesday after a short illness. Games played that night and in the following days all held a minute’s silence as a mark of respect to a league officer who had been in-post for over 45 years. All games in the Premier Division and Division 1 on Saturday will similarly also be holding a minute’s silence before the games. The thoughts of all involved in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League are with Phil’s wife Jose and family at this sad time.

On Monday night the first two games in the Veterans’ League Cup took place and resulted in two big wins for Westbury United and Royal Wootton Bassett against sides from another division. Mid Wiltshire Division side Westbury United were up against North Wiltshire Division opponents Stratton Juniors Black and in a one side affair ran out 14-0 winners against the Swindon based side. Philip Hampson led the way for Westbury hitting a double hat-trick, Peter Ayton also helped himself to a hat trick and there were further goals from leading scorer Dale Rowland, Steve Munday, Sam Tucker, Mark Pearce and Wayne Wheeler.

Whilst that first game saw a win for the Mid Wiltshire Division side it was the North Wiltshire Division side who came out on top in the clash between Royal Wootton Bassett Town and Radsto ck Town in the other cup tie on the same night which was played at Green Lane, Devizes. Once again there was a hat-trick involved, Royal Wootton Bassett Town’s Steve Shaw putting the ball into the Radstock net on three occasions, the other two goals coming courtesy of Stephen Yeardley and Nick Lye-Owens. The other two games in the First Round of the cup are set to take place next week.

There were also a couple of games in the Mid Wiltshire Division in the league on Monday night. The big game at the top end of the table was at MOD Lyneham where FC Calne, who started the night in second place in the table, were up against third placed Corsham Town. The original fixture for the night was scheduled to be a Corsham Town home game, however with their pitch waterlogged and, with the two sides having not played each other so far this season, they agreed to play the match as FC Calne’s home game. A thank you from the league to both clubs for their excellent collaboration in getting a game played. The game itself was a tight affair. FC Calne led 2-0 at the break thanks to goals from Chris Pitman and Ben Trafford but Corsham Town pulled one back after the interval through Liam Ralph but that was to be the end of the night’s scoring as FC Calne secured all three points courtesy of a 2-1 win. Results the following night meant that they dropped a place in the table on goal difference but closed the gap to league leaders Melksham.

The other game on Monday night was a high scoring affair at Selwood Academy where Bradford Town were Trowbridge Town Tiger's visitors. Bradford Town led 2-0 at the break but Tigers pulled one back early in the second half, Mariusz Hoszko firing in from the right after a good team move. Bradford struck straight back to restore their two-goal advantage, but a Matt Bailey goal saw Trowbridge reduce the deficit once again. Trowbridge went in search of an equaliser, and it eventually came through their usual source of goals, Clifford Sakyi finding the top corner of the net with a shot from outside the box. In an end-to-end game Bradford restored their one goal advantage but once again the Tigers pulled themselves back into the game, Sakyi scoring his second of the game from the penalty spot after Hoszko had been fouled in the box. With minutes to go Bradford scored their fifth of the game which in the end proved to be the winning goal, a free kick coming down off the crossbar and crossing the line for 5-4. Despite Trowbridge going close to getting yet another equaliser they were unable to find the net again as Bradford held out for a win in what sounded a very entertaining game. The Bradford Town goals were shared around the team with one goal apiece for Nick Ross, Samuel McKernan, Adam Pugsley, Mark Robinson and Waleed Bakali. The win for Bradford Town saw them climb a couple of places in the table to fifth spot, whilst Trowbridge still seek that first win of the season but will be encouraged by their performance against one of the strong sides in the division.

Tuesday night saw in-form Chippenham Town continue their great run of late with a comfortable win over Amesbury Junior Badgers. Chippenham came into the game on the back of a seven-game unbeaten run which they extended to eight games by scoring eight unanswered goals to return from Bulford Camp with all three points. By scoring those eight goals it meant they also moved above FC Calne into second spot on goal difference despite FC Calne having won their own game this week. On target for Chippenham in their latest win were Gino De Antonis (2), Jason Forde, Jonathan Grogan, Matthew Hooper, Rob Pocock, Martin Riddell and player-manager Nick Still.

Also in action on Tuesday night were divisional leaders Melksham Town who were up against Devizes Town at Green Lane. The sides had met three times last season and they had all been close games, including a 2-2 draw in the last league meeting between the two sides. Devizes had beaten Melksham back in Season 2020-21 and it looked like a second win since the formation of the Veterans’ league was on the cards as they led 2-1 in the closing moments of the game thanks to goals from Charlie Collier and Robert Mitchell. However, Melksham were given the chance to maintain their unbeaten start to the season when they were awarded a last-minute penalty. Lee Morgan put the spot kick away with virtually the last kick of the game to level matters up at 2-2, Rob Cousins had scored the earlier Melksham goal. Whilst Melksham retained their unbeaten record, the dropped points meant both Chippenham Town and FC Calne are now just two points behind, with FC Calne having a game in hand over the leaders and two over Chippenham Town.

 Devizes Town Vets who went close to ending Melksham's unbeaten start to the season (picture courtesy of David Giles)

There were three games in the North Division this week with five of the teams who started the week on nine points, and also nine points behind the leaders Redhouse, all in action looking to close the gap to the leaders. On Tuesday night Swindon Old Boys and Swindon Rovers were up against each other at New College. As has often been the case in matches in the North Wiltshire Division this season, a close game ensued. Despite games being close this season the division had yet to produce a draw before this week but that record was finally ended as the two sides had to settle for a point each following a 2-2 draw, Martyn Roberts and Paul Stonehouse scoring for Swindon Old Boys, Andrew Mark and Tom Bailey replying for Swindon Rovers.

Minute's silence held as mark of respect for Phil Cook before Swindon Rovers v Swindon Old Boys

The same night saw Cricklade Town playing at their new home ground at the Corinium Stadium against near neighbours Blunsdon in the A419 derby. Again, it was a close affair settled in the end by two TJ Bohane goals for Cricklade Town, Bohane taking his total for the season to eight. The win saw Cricklade move up to second spot in the table six points behind Redhouse but with two games in hand.

The final game of the week in the Veterans’ Division was on Wednesday night at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground which produced yet another close game with the second North Wiltshire Division draw of the week, and also the season, as Stratton Juniors Orange and Chiseldon shared six goals and the points. The draw saw both move onto 10 points level with Swindon Rovers and Swindon. On target for Stratton Juniors were Vince McMackin, Dave Toomey and an own goal, Godrey Chisanga, Liam Hector and leading scorer Richie Miles with the Chiseldon goals.

League Tables

Leading Scorers

11 November 2022
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