Action from Corsham Town's win over FC Calne (picture courtesy of Mike Wray from Your Sport Swindon)
Action in the Veteran’s Divisions of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League resumed this week and there were plenty of goals across the five fixtures played in the two divisions.
The first game of the week was in the Mid Wiltshire Division at the Southbank Ground on Monday night where Corsham Town carried on where they left off before lockdown with what in the end was a comfortable 5-1 win over FC Calne. Despite having most of the early chances Corsham found themselves trailing when Stuart Ballinger put the visitors ahead against the run of play, a neat lay off on the edge of the box seeing Ballinger control the ball and then hit a volley into the bottom corner of the net. Despite this set back Corsham were soon back on level terms. A long clearance as an FC Calne attack broke down on the edge of the Corsham box found Simon Gray who outpaced the FC Calne defence and finished in style with his second goal of the season to make it 1-1. Corsham went ahead for the first time in the match shortly after when a miskick by the FC Calne keeper saw James Lye return the ball back over the keeper’s head to make it 2-1. Adam Taylor then added a third just before the interval following some neat inter-play down Corsham’s left to make it 3-1 to Corsham at half time.
Soon after the restart Corsham went further ahead when Stuart Skinner turned his defender just outside the penalty box on the left-hand side and curled an excellent placed shot over the keeper’s head into the far top corner of the net. The same player then added a fifth in the closing moments of the match with another excellent shot into that same top corner of the net from the edge of the box. There was still time for FC Calne to have a great chance of a consolation goal when they were awarded a penalty for handball on the line which also saw the unlucky Corsham defender dismissed. However, the resulting penalty was fired wide of the post and it remained Corsham Town 5 FC Calne 1. The win extended Corsham’s unbeaten run to four games and saw them leapfrog their opponents into third place in the league table. Your Sport Swindon covered the game and their coverage of the game can be found using the link below or the link on the Your Sport Swindon page of the website.
More pictures from Corsham Town's win over FC Calne (pictures courtesy of Mike Wray from Your Sport Swindon)
The same night saw more action as Mid Wiltshire Division leaders VFC Devizes extended their lead at the top of the table with victory over Amesbury Junior. Devizes went into the game unbeaten after their opening six fixtures before lockdown, five of which had been won. Amesbury meanwhile had started the season well but went into the fixture without a win in their last four. It was a tight affair for the opening 25 minutes as the two sides turned round at the interval with the game still looking for that first goal. However, it was a very different story after the break. The deadlock was finally broken by VFC Devizes’ Marcus Wallen two minutes into the second half. Wallen quickly doubled his sides lead before Devizes’ leading scorer Craig Townsend got in on the act to make it 3-0 ten minutes into the half. Amesbury had battled well in that opening half but were now unable to hold back a rampant Devizes and there were further goals from Lee Jackson (2), Stephen Campbell, an own goal, and a third for Wallen as he completed a hat-trick in an 8-0 win which had not looked improbable at the break. The sixth win of the season saw Devizes open up a four-point lead over Melksham ahead of the latter’s own fixture against Amesbury on Thursday night.
The following night at Green Lane, St Andrews meet Bradford Town for the first time this season. St Andrews started the game second from bottom in the league table having only played four games, but a win would have seen them climb into the top half, so congested is the table below the top two sides. Bradford Town were one of the sides who were coming into form just prior to lockdown, registering an impressive 5-1 win over Marlborough Town in their final game before football came to a halt in December. They continued that form on Wednesday racing into a 3-0 lead at half-time before adding a fourth after the break to make sure of the points with a 4-0 success. Leading scorer Rhys Schell was the star of the show for Bradford Town firing in a hat-trick to take him to nine for the season, Kane Scott with the other Bradford Town. The win saw Bradford Town move into third spot in the table above Corsham Town on goal difference having played one game more.
On Thursday evening Amesbury Junior played their second fixture of the week when they followed their game against the league leaders on Monday with another tough looking fixture against second placed Melksham Town. Melksham had won all of their opening five fixtures prior to lockdown, those victories including a 3-1 success over Amesbury. In that first meeting it was the prolific strike force of Charlie Griffin and Steve Tweddle who did the damage, Griffin bagging a brace and Tweddle adding a third. The same two were at it again in the return fixture, both scoring twice in a 4-1 win, Craig Lewis replying for Amesbury. The win saw Melksham Town move to within a point of leaders VFC Devizes with a game in hand, with the top two sides set to meet at the end of the month.
In the North Wiltshire Division, Tuesday night at New College saw leaders KMLC extend their lead at the top of the division, registering the biggest win of the season across the two Veteran’s divisions with an 11-0 success over AFC Swindon. Having defeated AFC Swindon 7-0 in their opening game of the season the latest win saw them complete the double over their opponents. First half goals from Neil Matthews, Timothy Hughes, Paul Cooper and Ian Wilmer gave KMLC a 4-0 lead at the break. The second half saw Cooper go on to complete his hat-trick but the star of that second period was substitute Gary Ashford who scored four times taking his tally for the season to six, all of which have been scored against AFC Swindon. A goal from Nick McCrae, his fourth of the season, completed the scoring for the Division leaders who opened up a three-point lead over Redhouse at the top of the table but have played two games more than their nearest challengers.
1 April 2021