League leaders Trowbridge Town saw their game against Odd Down (Bath) Development postponed due to Odd Down not being able to raise a side to travel the short distance to Trowbridge despite having a sizeable number of players registered. This allowed the chasing pack, and in particular Devizes Town, the opportunity to close in on the leaders.

Devizes Town were away to Marlborough Town who started the day in the bottom three. Despite their lowly position Devizes found Marlborough a difficult opponent this afternoon and fell behind to an early goal scored by Charlie Frampton, Frampton netting for the first time this season. Devizes quickly got themselves back on level terms before the ten-minute mark, Jamal Chevolleau with the equaliser. It remained 1-1 at the break and the game was to become somewhat fractious in the second half. There were to be no more goals and towards the end both teams saw a man sent off, with Devizes also receiving five yellow cards issued as their frustration boiled over. The end result was that Devizes did not take full advantage of their opportunity to close the gap to the leaders and will no doubt be viewing this as two points dropped. For Marlborough Town an excellent point which, whilst not resulting in them moving out of the bottom three, will give them confidence and momentum as they look to escape the relegation positions.

Outside of the top two who remain unbeaten, the two form teams in the division are Blunsdon and Frome Collegians who were both at home this afternoon and looking to extend unbeaten runs. Blunsdon went into their home game with Salisbury FC Development on the back of a ten-game unbeaten run that had seen them win eight of those ten games.  When the two sides had met back in August it had finished 1-1 but a storming first half from Blunsdon meant they effectively had the return game wrapped up by half time, goals from Nick Craft, Lee Toomey and a 14^th of the season from Eliot Wheatley giving them a 3-0 half time lead. Salisbury to their credit came back at Blunsdon in the second half, pulling one back through Madison Wilkin, Wilkin scoring his fourth goal of the campaign. That was to be the end of the scoring as Blunsdon ran out 3-1 winners to extend that unbeaten run to eleven games. They remain fourteen points adrift of Devizes Town and the gap is probably too large for them to claim league honours at the end of the season but they will be hoping they take their league form into next week’s Fountain Trophies Cup tie against Malmesbury Vics Development. They will certainly be the side other teams will want to avoid in the cup if they can replicate their current league form in the knockout competition.

More action from today's game between Blunsdon and Salisbury FC Development (pictures courtesy of Alex White Sports Photos).

More excellent photos from this game can be found on Alex White Sports Photos flickr site using this LINK.

Frome Collegians went into their game against bottom of the table Melksham Town Reserves on the back of six straight wins. Having started the season with six of their opening eight fixtures away from home they have been playing catchup with their home fixtures in recent weeks. With a number of away games having been postponed over the winter months, the use of their 3G pitch at the Selwood Academy during the bad weather meant this afternoon’s game had ended up being their seventh home game in a row. Another solid performance saw them defeat Melksham 4-2 which means they have now won all seven of those games. Goals from Max Biddiscombe, Lee Handford and two more for leading scorer Jack Newman, taking his total for the season to 17, did the damage for the Collegians, Under 18 player Rueben Rule and Aaron Masson replying for Melksham Town Reserves. The win meant Frome Collegians remained level on points with Blunsdon, but the Swindon side have a much superior goal difference. Frome are without a game next week but will look to extend that winning run when they travel into Swindon to take on Stratton Juniors in a fortnight’s time.

Wroughton, after a run that had seen them win five in a row, have hit a sticky patch and travelled down to the south of the county to play Shrewton United on the back of consecutive defeats, albeit against those two in-form teams Blunsdon and Frome Collegians. Ben Jarrett’s side were able to end that losing run but had to settle for a share of the points against a much improved Shrewton United side. Dave Harmer put visitors Wroughton ahead on ten minutes but a second half equaliser from Lewis Woodhead, who scored for the second consecutive week, ensured it finished all square. Wroughton are now three points behind both Blunsdon and Frome Collegians but have two games in hand ahead of a tough looking fixture next weekend when their visitors to the Weir Field are league leaders Trowbridge Town.

Kintbury Rangers exploits in the Berks & Bucks County Cup mean they have fallen behind a little bit with their fixtures. They were today playing their first league game for over two months and it was to prove to be a winning return to league action as they returned from Calne Town Reserves with all three points thanks to a narrow 2-1 victory. Star of the show for Kintbury was Jacques Tonge who scored both of their goals, Under 18 player Fraser Blake with the reply for Calne Town Reserves. The win saw Kintbury move to within three points of Wroughton with a game in hand, with the two sides set to meet in a fortnight’s time.

Pewsey Vale had fallen down the table on the back of a six game run without a win but that run was finally brought to an end this afternoon when they secured a 2-1 home success over Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development. The last time the two sides had met it had been a title decider last season that had gone the way of Royal Wootton Bassett, Bassett had also won at the Recreation Ground on their previous visit to the title decider. There was to be no third straight win for the visitors as Pewsey avenged that painful defeat at the end of last season thanks to two goals from Haydn Amor, Euan Spackman with the Royal Wootton Bassett Town Dev goal. The win saw Pewsey climb one place in the table to seventh spot.

The final game in the Premier Division was at Merton Fields where Malmesbury Victoria Development were Stratton Junior’s visitors. Stratton started the game well and were 2-0 up before Sam Parker brought the visitors back into the game from the penalty spot. However, Stratton restored that two goal advantage and, despite a late goal from Malmesbury’s Ryan Collins, held out to secure three vital points in their quest to avoid those bottom three positions. On target for Stratton were Jason Tatum, who bagged a brace, and leading scorer Corey Cullen who took his total for the season to 13. The win saw Stratton move above Shrewton United and into 12^th place.

Jason Tatum (2) and Corey Cullen who scored Stratton Juniors goals in their 3-2 win over Malmesbury Victoria Development..

There were two big games in Division One this weekend involving the top four sides who are battling it out for promotion to the Premier Division next season. The top two, Kingsdown Lions and Devizes Town Reserves,  were in action at Nursteed Road in the fourth and final league meeting between the two sides this season. Kingsdown Lions have lost just three times all season in the league and two of those defeats were at the hands of Devizes Town Reserves and they were keen to ensure they avoided a hat-trick of defeats against one of their main rivals for the league title. It was mission accomplished for manager Adie Wilkinson’s side as they evened it up at two wins apiece from the four fixtures with a 3-1 success. There were two more goals for Aiden Miller, who took his total for the season to nine, with Tyler Wilkinson getting the other Kingsdown goal, Jack Woolsgrove replying for Devizes Town Reserves. The win meant Kingsdown extended their lead at the top of the table to ten points having played one more game than both Devizes and Ludgershall Sports.

Aiden Miller (2) and Tyler Wilkinson who got the goals in Kingsdown Lions 3-1 win over Devizes Town Reserves (pictures courtesy of David Giles).

More of David Giles excellent photos from this game can be found on the League's Facebook Group using this LINK.

The other Division One game was an entertaining match at Larkhall where Larkhall Athletic Development's visitors were Ludgershall Sports. It was the visitors who struck first, leading scorer Luke Holden scoring with an audacious overhead kick to give Ludgershall a 1-0 lead. The home side got themselves back on level terms before Elliott Sharlott restored Ludgershall’s lead. The young Larkhall side bounced back from this setback and got themselves back on level terms for a second time before adding two more goals to secure three vital points in the promotion race. Thierry Swaby had scored on his debut last week and was once again on the score sheet and this week there was another debutant goal, this time that honour went to Arinze-Truss Nonyelu. The other two Larkhall goals were scored by Kyle Norris. The win did not see Larkhall climb any places in the table but now means that they are just a point behind both Devizes Town Reserves and Ludgershall Sports with three games in hand, this is before any adjustments are made to the league table for the withdrawal of Kintbury Rangers Development.

11 February 2023