Kingsdown Lions who secured promotion to the Premier Division

Premier Division

After spending many weeks at number two in the Premier Division table, Devizes Town finally took over at the top on what had been officially designated Non-League Day. With Trowbridge Town scheduled to be in Fountain Trophies Cup action, although in the end their game was postponed, Devizes had the chance to finally dislodge them from that top spot and they didn’t disappoint their supporters. They were up against near neighbours Calne Town Reserves. With many connections between the two sides, including the Devizes management and many of their players having been at Calne last season, it meant there was added extra spice to the game. Calne have been in decent form of late and a close game was anticipated, as had been the case in the game between the sides earlier in the season. That day Devizes had edged it by a solitary goal, but they had a much more comfortable afternoon in the return. Two more goals from Jamie Walters, who moved onto 19 for the season, plus two also for Matthew Russell, with Rhys Talmash adding a fifth, saw Devizes secure a 5-0 win that saw them move two points clear at the top having played one game more than Trowbridge. Next week sees Devizes themselves in cup action with a semi final against Frome Collegians, giving Trowbridge the opportunity to regain top spot when they travel to Kintbury Rangers in the league.

Two more goals Jamie Walters in Devizes Town's 5-0 win over Calne Town Reserves.

(pictures courtesy of David Giles)

Calne Town Reserves had gone into today’s game on the back of a midweek 4-3 win over Melksham Town Reserves. An impressive first half performance had seen Calne lead 3-0 at the break. However, a storming second half fightback from Melksham in which they scored three of their own saw them go close to taking a point out of the game, but a second goal of the game from Calne’s Oscar Webster ensured it was Calne who took all three points. Also on target for Calne were Woody Smart and Ryan Flynn, two from Jake Dodge and one from Luke Ballinger for Melksham in that second half fightback.

Pewsey Vale went into their game away at Royal Wootton Bassett Town having won three games on the spin. They extended that winning run to four games with an impressive performance on the 3G at the Gerard Buxton Ground where the main pitch was staging the Wiltshire FA’s Junior Cup Final. James Guthrie has been in fine goalscoring form since returning to the club and he continued that rich vein of form as he made it eight goals in just seven appearances with a hat-trick in a 5-2 win. The other Pewsey goals were scored by Wayne House and Development team manager Kierron Kiff, Harry Bunce and George Lance in reply for Royal Wootton Bassett Town, the latter scoring from the penalty spot. The win for Pewsey saw them climb to fourth place in the table, two points behind Wroughton in third spot.

Kintbury Rangers had slipped down to eighth place with just one point from their previous four games before today’s trip to Shrewton United. Shrewton have shored up their defence since some heavy defeats earlier in the season and their last five fixtures had finished either all square or settled by a single goal margin. Today saw them involved in yet another close contest but Kintbury finally brought that run of games without a win to an end with a 2-1 success. A goal in each half from Aidan Maycock, who took his total to 12 for the season, put Kintbury in charge. Despite Shrewton creating a number of chances, it took until five minutes from time for them to register a goal, Ben Saunders reducing the deficit but that was to be the end of the scoring as Kintbury held out for a 2-1 win. The win saw Kintbury move up one place in the table, dislodging Calne Town Reserves from seventh spot.

There were two games at the bottom end of the table involving sides in the battle to avoid relegation. Bottom of the table Melksham Town Reserves and Marlborough Town are both running out of games and Melksham in particular knew that a win today against Marlborough would be essential if they were to avoid the drop. In one of their best performances of the season Justin Flowers side did not disappoint their manager, scoring seven times to register their fourth win of the season. Marlborough did manage to score three of their own but, after winning their two previous games their mini run of winning games was brought to end by a Melksham side who are now just two points below Stratton Juniors. James Gardner led the way for Melksham bagging a brace, with further goals from Jake Dodge, Aaron Masson, Adam Mitchell, Matt Caslin and Tom Dowell.

Melksham Town Reserves, pictured earlier in the season, who were 7-3 winners over Marlborough today

The other game at the bottom end of the table was at the Lew Hill Memorial Stadium where Odd Down (Bath) Development entertained Malmesbury Victoria Development. After the sad news of the passing of Odd Down manager Mark Brown, the club dedicated today’s game in memory of their late manager with members of his family present and the game drew a sizeable crowd as many came to pay tribute.  At the end of the match there was a balloon release in memory of Mark. The game itself was secondary to the occasion but saw Tyrone Mulholland put Odd Down ahead before Malmesbury drew level from the penalty spot through Kyle Witt, both goals coming early on in the game. Unfortunately the game had to be ended early 15 minutes from time due to an injury sustained by Malmesbury goalkeeper Macawley Brown, with an ambulance required. All from the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League hope that the injury is not too serious and that he is back playing as quickly as possible. The game will now need to be considered by the Management Committee as to whether it will have to be replayed.

The league games between Blunsdon and Frome Collegians, Salisbury FC Dev and Stratton Juniors, and Trowbridge Town against Wroughton in the Fountain Trophies Cup, were all postponed due to waterlogged pitches.

Division 1

Two of the three scheduled games in Division One survived the week’s rain, although the game at Kingsdown Lions where Purton were the visitors was never really in doubt with the game being played on the 3G at Kingsdown School. Kingsdown went into the game against the bottom of the table side knowing that a win would guarantee them promotion to the Premier Division. Having beaten Purton three times already this season and with Purton yet to register a point this season, Kingsdown went into the game anticipating they would secure promotion this afternoon. An early goal from Harrison Jordan settled any nerves and further goals from Callum Wilkinson, Jordan Lea, Josh Barnfield, Louis O’Shea and a couple of penalties from Ollie Hunt saw Kingsdown secure promotion in style with a 7-0 win.

The other game in Division One saw the two teams battling it out for the third promotion spot up against each other. Ludgershall Sports and Devizes Town Reserves started the day level on points, separated only by goal difference with both sides having five games to go. After ninety minutes this afternoon it is as you were at the start of the day as the two sides fought out a 2-2 draw with both teams’ leading scorers both scoring twice for their respective sides. Tyler Smith took his adjusted total for the season to 16, joining Larkhall’s Charlie Saunders at the top of the Division 1 goalscoring chart. Ludgershall’s Luke Holden also bagged a brace and is two goals behind the two leader scorers. Devizes and Ludgershall have to meet one more time this season and of the remaining three games for each side, Devizes have much the tougher run in with Larkhall Athletic Development to play twice, whilst Ludgershall Sports have two games against bottom of the table Purton still to come.

The game between Larkhall Athletic Development and Pewsey Vale Development was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.  

Registration Deadline

Clubs are reminded that the deadline for player registrations and transfers is next Friday, 31st March 2023.

Next Season

Today’s social media tweets talking about promotion from our Division One seem to have generated some interest amongst the members of the Non-League Forum. As our clubs were advised by the League Secretary on 13^th March, at the end of this season we intend to implement the “three up and three down” that we agreed at last year’s AGM. However, both Devizes Town and Trowbridge Town have applied for promotion to Step 6, though it’s our understanding that the FA will only allow one to be promoted. If that’s the case, promotion / relegation this season would change to “three up and two down” assuming no team is relegated to our league from Step 6. We will not know the answer to all of this until the FA confirm promotions and relegations throughout the National League System, which is usually late May.

We started the season with just seven clubs in our Division 1 and we are extremely grateful to those clubs for sticking with it. We are aware that Premier Division clubs may have concerns about dropping into Division 1 next season, but we have already received seven applications from new teams for next season. In addition, a further three teams have requested application forms, but have not returned them yet, so we are confident that Division 1 will look a lot more healthy next season. Any clubs interested are reminded to get their forms in as soon as possible and if they are leaving another league to make sure they notify that other league of their intention by 31^st March to avoid any fine. Any clubs not intending to carry on in any of our divisions are also reminded of the need to do this by 31^st March to avoid a fine from ourselves.

25 March 2023