Thursday night saw the staging of the third Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League Under 18 League Cup Final, the setting for the final being the Oakfield Stadium home of Melksham Town FC. The two finalists, Calne Town and Radstock Town, both went into the final on the back of excellent seasons in the league, with Calne Town currently sat third in the table and Radstock just one place behind in fourth place. Calne still have a good chance of finishing runners-up, and Radstock will have a big say in who finishes as runners-up with both Royal Wootton Bassett Town and Calne Town, the two sides in contention for honours behind leaders Kintbury Rangers, to play. The one meeting between Calne Town and Radstock Town so far this season in the league, had seen Calne Town win 3-2 at Bremhill View back in October.

Radstock Town went into the final as the form team in the Under 18 Division, unbeaten in their last seven games in all competitions, six of which have been won. The unbeaten run was even more impressive given that three of those seven games were against the top two sides in the division, Kintbury Rangers and Royal Wootton Bassett Town. Radstock had reached the final by defeating AFC Aldermaston and then league leaders Kintbury Rangers, the latter a narrow 1-0 semi-final success.

Calne Town also had an impressive record coming into the final having won all six of their most recent games in all competitions, that run of victories included a 3-1 defeat of Royal Wootton Bassett Town in the semi-final. The other side Calne defeated on their way to the final was Kingsdown Lions, again the score was 3-1 in their quarter final tie. Calne had been beaten finalists in the inaugural Under 18 League Cup Final, losing 3-2 to New College in 2019, whilst Radstock were playing in their first final.

It was Radstock who started the better on a windy evening at the Oakfield Stadium, with Calne looking nervous in the opening minutes. Calne eventually settled those nerves and went in front on 13 minutes, a misplaced pass out of defence fell to Jack Smith and he had the simple task of putting the ball into the net to make it 1-0 to Calne. Calne extended their lead on the half hour mark, and it was Smith again with his second of the game, executing a calm and composed finish into the bottom corner for 2-0. It remained 2-0 at the break.

The second half saw Radstock looking to get back in the game but now with rain also adding to the difficult conditions. Radstock were unable to create any clear-cut chances in those difficult conditions and found themselves further behind around the hour mark, Calne scoring what turned out to be the best goal of the game. After build up play down the left, the ball fell to Henri Parry-Williams on the edge of the box, and he smashed in on the volley from 20-yards out giving Radstock keeper Tom Crouch no chance to give Calne a 3-0 lead. Calne saw out the remaining half an hour without conceding, their disciplined defensive performance restricting Radstock to a limited number of half chances. Their defensive discipline and clinical edge in front of goal ensured they went one better than in 2019 and lifted the cup for the first time. Well done to the Calne Town players and the management team of Josh Carey, Dan Carey, Malcolm Sealy and Josh Fry on their cup success and congratulations also to Ian Lanning and his Radstock Town team on making the final and for their performances so far in a very competitive Under 18 Division this season.

Teams come out for the final (picture Matthew Meaden)

Action from U18 League Cup Final (picture Matthew Meaden)

Action from U18 League Cup Final (picture Simon Lawrence)

Action from U18 League Cup Final (picture Simon Lawrence)

Click on picture below to view PDF of the Cup Final Programme

Thursday night also saw a couple of league games played including Warminster Town and Melksham Town meeting for the second time in the week. On Tuesday night the two sides had met at the Oakfield Stadium, and it had resulted in a comfortable win for the home side following another good performance from Steve Rendell’s side. Melksham were 4-0 up at half time thanks to goals from Owen Allison, a brace from Dean Kumanga and one from Reuban Rule. The second half saw Melksham add one more to their total and it was the best goal of the night, Frank Dunn scoring with a diving header from a Reuban Rule pinpoint cross to make the final score 5-0. Warminster had played their part in a good game, but the difference had been that Melksham had been clinical in front of goal.  

It was a much closer game in the return on Thursday night at Warminster in an entertaining nine-goal game in which there was never more than one goal in it between the two sides with the winning goal coming in the eighth minute of added time. The first half saw the two teams share six goals and it was then all square at 4-4 with both sides scoring another one each after the break before the dramatic ending.  There was to be a winner though in the eighth minute of injury time with Melksham getting that late winner to complete a league double in the space of a few days. The goals were shared around the Melksham side with one apiece for Charlie Warren, Tom Dowell, Caiden Rose, Harry Messenger and Luke Gonsalves, two from Joseph Stockley and one from both Lennon Burden and Cooper Brooks in reply for Warminster in this nine goal thriller. 

Whilst the game at Warminster was something of a goal fest it was a different story at Trowbridge Road, Bradford-on-Avon where Royal Wootton Bassett Town were looking to keep their quest for honours alive against Bradford Town. In the end a solitary goal from Royal Wootton Bassett Town centre back Alan De Paula was the only difference between the two sides. The win for Royal Wootton Bassett Town saw them move to within three points of leaders Kintbury Rangers with both teams having two games to play. Kintbury Rangers are home to Bishops Cannings this coming Monday and then finish with a trip to Warminster Town. Royal Wootton Bassett Town are home to Warminster Town next Thursday and then finish with a tricky looking away trip to Radstock Town.

Unfortunately due to issues with their floodlights and difficulties with raising a side for games that would need to take place away from AFC Aldermaston, Aldermaston have advised they will be unable to complete their remaining fixtures and, after consulting the other clubs in the division, the games have been awarded to their opponents. The league table below reflects the impact of this.

League Table

Leading Scorers

Results Grid

Results and Next Week's Fixtures

23 April 2023