A combination of the World Cup game between England and Wales on Tuesday night and then heavy fog on Wednesday night meant there was a complete blank in terms of fixtures played in the North Wiltshire Division this week.
Thankfully it was a much better picture in the Mid Wiltshire Division with an almost full programme of games played on Monday night. It was top versus bottom when Melksham Town
and Radstock Town
met up and, whilst relative league positions would have predicted a comfortable win for Melksham, in the end it was a solitary goal from Steve Pegler that settled things in their favour. The victory meant that Melksham reached the half-way stage in their fixtures unbeaten but have dropped more points than both Bradford Town and Devizes Town who have both played less games than the leaders. Next up for Melksham Town is a Wiltshire Veterans’ County Cup quarter final tie against Cricklade Town from the North Wiltshire Division this coming Monday, whilst Radstock Town play Westbury United in a league fixture.
BradfordTown
climbed a place in the table to second following a 4-1 win over FC Calne
in the big match at the top end of the table. Nicholas Ross led the way scoring twice for Bradford taking his total for the season to nine goals, joining him on nine is teammate Mark Robinson, David Percival with the other Bradford Town goal. In reply it was second of the season from Kyle Balloch for FC Calne, as they fell to defeat for only the second time this season. Bradford Town are also in Wiltshire Veterans’ County Cup action this coming Monday when they travel to Corsham Town but due to maintenance work on the floodlights at Lyneham FC Calne’s tie against Royal Wootton Bassett Town from the North Wiltshire Division will now be played in the New Year.
Corsham Town
warmed up for that County Cup game with a hard fought 2-1 win over Trowbridge Town Tigers
in what was the third meeting of the season between the two sides, the sides having met also in the First Round of the Wiltshire FA’s Veterans’ County Cup. Corsham’s Steve Tweddle took his goal tally into double figures for the season, Jonathan Scott with the other Corsham goal, with Clifford Sakyi replying for Trowbridge with his eighth goal of the season. Corsham have now beaten Trowbridge three times this season with the two teams set to meet in the League Cup early in the New Year. Having lost so narrowly on Monday Trowbridge will be aiming to continue their improvement and get the better of Corsham in that fourth meeting of the season. The win for Corsham on Monday saw them climb a couple of places in the table to fourth spot.
The final game on Monday night was at Green Lane where Chippenham Town’s visitors were Amesbury Junior Badgers. Having conceded 49 goals in the five fixtures leading up to Monday’s encounter Amesbury Junior Badgers had been having a tough time of it of late. Whilst they fell to another defeat on Monday, they will no doubt have been pleased with the much better defensive showing which saw them only fall to a narrow 2-1 defeat against a side challenging for honours at the top end of the table. Nicholas Still scored both goals for Chippenham, a second of the season from Lee Bates replying for Amesbury. Chippenham are another side in Wiltshire FA County Cup action this coming Monday when they entertain Blunsdon from the North Wiltshire Division whilst Amesbury will be back at Green Lane the following night for a league fixture against Devizes Town.
January Fixtures
January fixtures are all now showing in FA Full-Time including the games in the Second Round of the League Cup. Clubs in the North Wiltshire Division will note that we are now scheduling league games as well as cup games at Green Lane in order to complete the league season by the end of April. We will endeavour to share the burden around but will take account of where efforts have been made to find additional venues. Fixtures will also be scheduled on grass pitches from when the clocks change at the end of March.