Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
 Winning Start For Baggs At
Trowbridge As Top 3 All Win

Ryan Baggs whose side secured a 3-1 win over Melksham Town Reserves to maintain their lead at the top

Trowbridge Town ended a traumatic week on a high as they secured a 3-1 home win over Melksham Town Reserves to maintain their unbeaten start to the season and their five-point lead at the top of the table ahead of next week’s showdown with the other unbeaten side Devizes Town. After seeing manager Jamie Jordan depart to join Hellenic League side Bradford Town and take ten players with him, those that remained loyal to the club put in an impressive performance to maintain the Bees title challenge. Full-back Ryan Baggs stepped into the managerial breach, and not only did he enjoy a winning start, but it was also a goal-scoring start as he scored the third Trowbridge goal from the penalty spot. Adam Shipman put Trowbridge ahead in the first half, but Brandon Vincent equalised for Melksham. Ali Bradley restored Trowbridge’s lead getting on the end of a Grant Gunning cross before player-manager Baggs made sure of the points with that penalty. The penalty incident saw Melksham Town Reserves defender Alex MacLachlan dismissed for handball.
 Devizes Town kept up the pressure on the leaders maintaining their own unbeaten record, but for the second week running Pewsey Vale made it hard for one of the title challengers. Pewsey led 1-0 at the break courtesy of a Ben Rankin goal. However, second half goals from Derek Wheeler, Jordan Kirk and Gabe Costello secured all three points for Devizes to maintain that five-point gap behind Trowbridge. Devizes have a game in hand over the leaders and know that if they can win next week in front of what is expected to be a large crowd, they would have the chance move above Trowbridge if they were to then also win that game in hand.
It was a good day for all of the top three sides as Wroughton maintained their excellent record against Marlborough Town with a 3-1 success at Elcot Lane. That is now 14 wins in the last 18 league encounters against Marlborough for Wroughton and their fourth straight win at their opponent’s ground.  Leading scorer Jonathan Peachey-Score set them on the way, scoring his 28th of the season with 20 minutes gone. A long-range effort from Sam Long on the hour mark extended Wroughton’s lead, and the same player added a third 20 minutes from time. Marlborough scored a late consolation goal through Trevorson Bathe. For Wroughton that is now five straight league wins and six games unbeaten and whilst they remain eleven points adrift of Devizes, they have a game in hand and both Devizes and Trowbridge Town still have to come to the Weir Field.

   Sam Long who scored twice in Wroughton's 3-1 win at Marlborough Town

 Another side on a tremendous run of form are Blunsdon. They went into what looked a tricky looking game against fourth placed Kintbury Rangers having not lost in their previous six games and having won five of those games. An impressive first half showing saw Blunsdon lead 4-0 at the break and whilst Kintbury improved in the second half the damage had already been done as Blunsdon took the three points courtesy of a 5-1 final score. Sean Creeley had opened the scoring for Blunsdon curling an effort into the top corner of the net from the edge of the box. Nick Craft extended the lead after good work from Lee Toomey. Toomey was again involved in Blunsdon's third, setting up Harry Kearns for his second of the season in consecutive games. Toomey then went from provider to scorer with Blunsdon's fourth to give them that 4-0 half time lead.  Harry Skeates pulled one back for Kintbury after the break but Craft rounded off a good afternoon for Ian Rosewell's side with a fifth for Blunsdon and a third assist from Lee Toomey. The win saw Blunsdon move above Pewsey into fifth place in the table in what it is turning out to be an excellent first season at Senior level.
There was a close game with plenty of goals in Swindon where Calne Town Reserves were Stratton Juniors’ visitors. Last season Calne had put 19 goals past Stratton in the two fixtures between the sides but there was to be no repeat of those heavy defeats in this season’s first encounter between the sides in a game switched to Meadowcroft due to the pitch at Merton Fields needing some respite after recent games. In what was the proverbial game of two halves, Stratton led 2-0 at the break thanks to goals from Jason Tatum and Imman Bains and it could have been more. Tatum went close to making three with a shot from distance that beat the keeper but came back down off the crossbar and was cleared. Calne got themselves back in the game from the penalty spot and then equalised with an element of controversy with a Stratton player down injured with a head injury when the ball was  fired into the net. Calne Town Reserves completed a come from behind win when they added a third to make the final score 3-2. On target for Calne were Kian Fulford, Rory Davis and Bonsa Teshome. The win saw Calne climb one place in the table to eighth spot.

    Former Cricklade Town striker Jason Tatum who scored the opening goal for Stratton Juniors in their 2-3 defeat to Calne Town Res

The final game of the weekend in the Premier Division was the South Wiltshire derby between Shrewton United and Salisbury FC Development. After a couple of heavy defeats at the back-end of October Salisbury have strengthened during November with a number of last season’s side returning to the fold. Today it all clicked for them as the young side outplayed an aging Shrewton side scoring nine unanswered goals. Lewis Cross led the way scoring four times, Madison Wilkin bagged a brace and there was one apiece for Jayden Goodall, Joseph McFarlane on his debut and Gabriel Spennato, the latter scoring direct from a corner.
The top match in Division One saw Larkhall Athletic Development entertain Kingsdown Lions who they had lost to the previous week in what turned out to be another tight game. All three games between the sides this season have now been decided by one goal margins. The game saw the two sides turn round at half time with the match still looking for its first goal. The deadlock was finally broken early in the second half, Josh Barnfield connecting with a Scott Stone cross to head powerfully into the net to give Kingsdown the lead. Larkhall pushed hard for an equaliser but some solid defending from Kingsdown denied them any real clear-cut chances. Kingsdown continued to be under the cosh for sustained periods of play but gave themselves some breathing space 20 minutes from time when a breakout of defence saw Scott Stone quickly close down a Larkhall defender, dispossessing him and slotting the ball home for 2-0. Larkhall continued to try and get themselves a foothold in the game, but Kingsdown defended stoically until deep into injury time when they gave away a penalty which was put away by Larkhall captain Charlie Saunders for his eighth goal of the season to make it 2-1. There was to be no further goals as Kingsdown held out for three vital points in the battle for the Division One title. Their victory was slightly marred by the sending off of their manager Adie Wilkinson along with Larkhall striker Finn Norris following an exchange of words between the two at after the final whistle. The back-to-back wins for Kingsdown over Larkhall meant they opened up a four-point lead at the top of the table and a five-point advantage over Larkhall.  However, Larkhall still have two games in hand and would move above Kingsdown were they to take maximum points from those two games. 

Charlie Saunders whose last penalty wasn't enough to prevent Larkhall from falling to their second league defeat of the season against Kingsdown Lions

There was just one more game in Division One and it saw Kintbury Development secure a 2-0 win over managerless Purton who saw Andi Philpott step down during the week. Despite falling to their twelfth straight loss in the league Purton can take encouragement from a much-improved defensive performance, particularly during the second half when they managed to prevent Kintbury from adding to their two first half goals scored by Josh Luckett and Josh Wallin.

The scheduled game between Devizes Town Reserves and Pewsey Vale Development was postponed with Pewsey unable to raise a side.

Ludgershall Sports meanwhile were in Wiltshire Junior Cup action against Swindon & District League Premier Division side Redhouse. It was goalless at half-time, but visitors Redhouse took an early lead in the second half. Ben Wyatt got Ludgershall back on level terms with his fourth goal of the season but Redhouse regained the lead. However,  once again Ludgershall got themselves back on level terms with an eleventh goal of the season from leading scorer Luke Holden to make it 2-2. It looked like penalties might be needed to settle matters, but Aziah Kella had other ideas netting a winner for Ludgershall to send them into the quarter finals. Joining Ludgershall in the last eight are D.I. United, FC Devizes United, Tisbury United, Heytesbury, Seend United, Alderbury and either The Duke or Minety who are scheduled to play their Third Round match next week.

Luke Holden who scored his 11th goal of the season in Ludegrshall's 3-2 win over Redhouse

Watch out for more insights regarding this weekend’s games, including interviews with some of the managers, on the Your Sport Swindon website later in the week.

Fixtures
Fixtures have now been published on FA Full-Time up to and including Saturday 18 February 2023. Further fixtures will be added once the winners from the Second Round of the Fountain Trophies Cup are known.

League Tables

Leading Scorers

Results & Next Week's Fixtures

3 December 2022
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