This week’s games in the Veterans’ Divisions of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League stretched from Monday through until Friday and details of Friday night’s game between Melksham Town and Amesbury Junior Badgers will be included in next week’s round-up. On a foggy Monday night in Wiltshire that caused the postponement of the game between FC Calne and Chippenham Town Yard Dogs three of the scheduled four games across the two divisions still went ahead despite the difficult conditions.
Mid Wiltshire Division
At Corsham’s Southbank Ground last season’s champions of the Mid Wiltshire Division met Bradford Town and it is looking like they are going to struggle to hold onto their title after they fell to their third league defeat of the season. It was all square at 1-1 at the half time interval but a second goal for Bradford Town completed a quick-fire league double over the champions for Bradford Town. It was their two leading scorers, Rhys Schell and Steve Tweddle who did the damage, Schell taking his league goal tally into double figures with Tweddle just two behind on eight, Jonathan Scott with the Corsham Town goal. The win lifted Bradford Town up into second place in the table and they are looking to be Melksham Town’s main rivals for the league title this season.
Monday night in the Mid Wiltshire Division also saw Devizes Town return to the form that had seen them challenging for honours last season, their 5-1 home success over Amesbury Junior ending a run of four games without a win. Player manager Craig Townsend got them on their way with the opener before Stephen Campbell made it 2-0. A second of the game for Townsend saw his side lead 3-0 at the break. Townsend then completed his hat trick just after the half hour mark to put Devizes 4-0 to the good. A second of the game for Campbell put Devizes 5-0 ahead before a late consolation from Derek Barclay for Amesbury saw it finish 5-1. Despite the win Devizes remain sixth in the table one place and two points behind a Amesbury side who have now lost their last three games in all competitions after starting the season with four straight wins.
The following night St Andrews recorded their best win of the season with a 3-0 success over Trowbridge Tigers, the side who had knocked St Andrews out of the Wiltshire Veterans’ County Cup. Steve Jackson bagged a brace for the Saints as he moved onto four for the season, the other goal coming courtesy of an own goal. The win saw St Andrews climb a couple of places in the table moving above their opponents on Tuesday night.
As noted above the final game of the week involving Melksham Town and Amesbury Junior Badgers is on Friday night at the Oakfield Stadium.
North Wiltshire Division
There were three games in the North Division this week and all three games saw wins for sides challenging at the top of the table. On Monday night Royal Wootton Bassett Town overcame the fog and opponents Swindon Old Boys to record a 5-1 win that took them into second place in the table, level on points with both Redhouse and Priory Vale who were both playing later in the week. Jeremy Newton scored twice for Royal Wootton Bassett Town, taking his total for the season to six. The other goals for Royal Wootton Bassett Town were scored by Martin Ohrland, Chris Head and Ben Gould, Andrew King with the consolation goal for Swindon Old Boys.
The following night saw Priory Vale in action and an impressive first half showing saw them lead 4-0 at the break against South Cerney Rangers, Richie Miles and James Lovell both scoring twice for the in-form Priory Vale side. Two late goals from Rangers Harley Coram and Dale Keen were not enough as Rangers fell to their fourth straight defeat. The win for Priory Vale saw them move top of the table overnight but they were to be dislodged the following evening.
The final game of the week in the North Division saw Redhouse up against an AFC Swindon side still looking for their first point in what is their third season in the league. There was to be no happy ending for the bottom of the table side as they were comprehensively beaten by a rampant Redhouse side who hit eight unanswered goals. Leading the way was the leading scorer across the two Veteran’s Divisions David Rendle who hit four goals for the second consecutive game to take his total for the season to 15. Chris Hughes also hit a hat-trick and a Tafari Anderson goal completed the scoring as Redhouse went back top of the table on goal difference from Priory Vale.
Next Week's Fixtures
18 November 2021