The midweek games this week in the Premier Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League got underway on the Bank Holiday Monday afternoon when Pewsey Vale, unbeaten in their opening three games, met league leaders Kintbury Rangers at the Recreation Ground. The offer had been made to all clubs to bring forward games to the Monday if the two clubs agreed and, whilst Odd Down (Bath) Dev and Larkhall Athletic Development made tentative enquires to switch their game, in the end just the Pewsey Vale v Kintbury game was moved to the Monday afternoon. Both Pewsey and Kintbury already look like they will be involved in the title race and Pewsey were hopeful of attracting a large crowd to the Recreation Ground and they were duly rewarded with a bumper attendance of 187 for the game. Despite Pewsey starting the better of the two sides and going close early on, it was the visitors who struck first, Jake Allan firing in from close range after Pewsey keeper Louis Latouche could only parry a George Armstrong cross into his path. Kintbury went close to doubling their lead on 15 minutes, Will Frank forcing La Touche into a fine save. Kintbury didn’t have to wait too long for that second though, Carl Jenner heading in from a Ben Luckett corner on 22 minutes, the ball going in off a Pewsey defender to make it 2-0 to Kintbury. Three minutes later things took a turn for the worse for Kintbury when goal scorer Allan was sent off for a mistimed challenge and Kintbury were reduced to ten men. Despite the numerical disadvantage Kintbury extended their lead on 36 minutes, Will Frank with the goal for his fifth of the season and it remained 3-0 at the break. Despite the continued numerical headway, Pewsey were unable to take advantage of the extra man and that advantage disappeared three minutes from time when they had James Guthrie dismissed for pulling down Ali Thorp. There was to be no further goals and the win saw Kintbury open up a six-point lead at the top of the table ahead of Tuesday night’s games. The defeat for Pewsey meant ahead of Tuesday’s games there were now just three unbeaten teams, Blunsdon, Kingsdown and Larkhall Athletic Development.

It was a busy night of football across the whole of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League on Tuesday night with 20 games in total across all the divisions, with eight of those in the Premier Division. Evidence of what an excellent job new Referees Appointment Secretary Darren O’Neill is doing all eight games had three officials on them. Amesbury Town made the short journey into Salisbury to play Salisbury Development for what should have been their third away game of the season but having postponed their opener against Trowbridge and their game with Ludgershall having been switched to Bonnymead Park at the request of the two clubs, the visit to Salisbury had ended up being their first on the road. After a cagey opening 25 minutes Amesbury broke the deadlock when Ally McCracken got on the end of a Ben Morris cross from the right to make it 1-0 to the visitors. Amesbury doubled their lead just after the half hour spot from the penalty spot after Ben Morris had been adjudged to have been brought down in the box, Danny Field putting the spot kick away for 2-0. Having been involved in the first two goals Ben Morris then scored one himself. A solitary goal from Dyllan Roocroft in reply for Salisbury Dev saw Amesbury take the points with a 3-1 win. That is now four wins in a row for Amesbury ahead of the top of the table clash this coming Saturday with Kintbury Rangers. Amesbury sit three points behind Kintbury with a game in hand and a win on Saturday would see them move level on points with the leaders.

Blunsdon sit just a point behind Amesbury in third spot in the table and are one of three remaining unbeaten sides after the first month of activity in the Premier Division. They made it three wins from their opening five games with a 3-0 home success over Malmesbury Victoria Development on Tuesday night at Sutton Park. With joint Blunsdon manager Troy Prentice having left Malmesbury in the summer he would no doubt have particularly enjoyed Tuesday night’s victory. For the second time this season Blunsdon's Danny Hale helped himself to a hat-trick.

More of Alex Whites Sports Photos excellent pictures from the Blunsdon v Malmesbury game can be found on his Fllickr page.

Another of the three unbeaten sides are newly promoted Kingsdown who have an identical record to Blunsdon with three wins and two draws from their opening five games. They were made to work hard for the points against Shrivenham with the game ultimately being decided by a ninth minute penalty, Aiden Miller putting the spot kick away for Kingsdown with his fifth goal of the season.

The third of the trio of unbeaten sides are Larkhall Athletic Development who have won three of their opening four games to sit five points behind the league leaders with two games in hand. Tuesday night saw them up against fellow Bath based side Odd Down Development. As is often the case with local derby games it was a close affair. Larkhall went in front 12 minutes in from the penalty spot after Marley Carpenter had been brought down, Harvey Kendrick for his second goal in the space of four days. Carpenter then doubled their lead with 20 minutes gone but Odd Down (Bath) Development got themselves back in the game thanks to a goal from last season’s leading scorer Jack O’Brien. Second half saw Odd Down push for an equaliser but, as was the case on Saturday against Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development, a disciplined defensive performance in the second half ensured it was Larkhall who made the short journey home with all three points in the bag. Win their games in hand and Larkhall can go top of the league having been promoted, like Kingsdown, at the end of last season.

Last season’s champions Trowbridge Town have not made the same start as they made last season and, whilst remaining tight at the back, they have found goals hard to come by, somewhat surprising given they were the league’s top scorers last season. They finally found their shooting boots away to local rivals Frome Collegians running out 6-2 winners. Jack Sterling helped himself to a hattrick and there were further goals for Alfe Francis, Liam Milburn and Leigh Rogers, the latter coming from the penalty spot. The two goals for Frome, who are now without a win in their opening five fixtures, came through Harvey Lear and Tom Brown. Next up for Trowbridge is a home meeting with Pewsey Vale who sit just one point and one place above them in the league table.

After two heavy defeats Wroughton looked like they would be returning to winning ways when they led 3-0 away at Calne Town Reserves thanks to two goals from leading scorer Jonathan Peachey-Score and one from Aaron Maximen. However the young Calne side never gave up and three goals in the closing 20 minutes ensured a share of the points. Fraser Blake gave them a foothold back in the game and then two goals from substitute Woody Smart in the final six minutes of the game saw Calne level matters up at 3-3. The point for Wroughton sees them in eighth place in the table whilst Calne sit 14^th with just the one win in their opening six games. Saturday sees Calne entertain Malmesbury Vics Dev whilst Wroughton travel to struggling Shrewton United who currently sit bottom of the table.

Shrewton United fell to their third defeat of the campaign when they made the short trip to Ludgershall Sports. Ludgershall, like the other two promoted sides, have made a good start to the season and have now won half of their games after a 3-0 victory over Shrewton, although one of those wins may not stand depending on the FA enquiry into what caused the abandonment of their game with Odd Down.  There were no such problems against Shrewton as two goals from Cameron Metcalfe and one from Dylan Humphries secured the three points for Ludgershall.

The final game on Tuesday night in the Premier Division was at the Oakfield Stadium where Melksham Town Reserves went in search of their first win of the season against Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development. It started well for Justin Flower’s side as they led 3-1 at the break thanks to two goals from Harvey Wood and one from Sam Dowell, Max Spackman in reply for the visitors. Second half saw Royal Wootton Bassett Town pushing to get back in the game and whilst they were able to add a second through Kevin Lartey the equaliser proved elusive and as they lost by a single goal margin for the second time in the space of four days and Melksham picked up that first win of the season.

It was also a busy night of action in Division One on Tuesday night with 12 of the teams in action including both the top two, Faringdon Town and Purton. Faringdon Town continued their perfect start to the season as they  hit five or more goals for the fourth time in just six games, this time at the expense of Stratton Juniors. Two goals for Adam Sly plus one apiece for Kyle Bowyer, Luke Davenport and Adam Rudman did the damage for Faringdon in their 5-2 success, two goals from the usual source for Stratton, Cory Cullen taking his total for the season so far to 12 as he continues to head the leading scorers’ chart in the division. Faringdon travel to Pewsey Vale Development on Saturday and have the chance to open up a bigger gap at the top of the table as Purton are set to be team without a game in a 15-team division this coming Saturday.

Purton stayed in touch of the leaders with another win and went one goal better at home against Kingsdown Development scoring three goals in each half to secure a 6-0 win over the young inexperienced Kingsdown side. Josh Coombe scored twice on his Purton debut, player manager Matt Bennett took his total for the season to eight and there were further goals from Alex Hammond, Devan Bryan and Alex Daley.

There were also plenty of goals at Nursteed Road where Devizes Town Reserves became the second side to hit six goals on the night, with Pewsey Vale Development netting just the once in a 6-1 win for Devizes. Star of the show was Liam Moffat who smashed a hattrick, Harvey Swain bagged a brace and there was also one for Ben Tylee, Michael Martin with the consolation goal for Pewsey. Devizes sit four points behind Purton with all of the top three having played six games in the first month of the season. This was the last round of midweek games at the start of the season for the Division One sides and a big thank you from the Fixture Secretary to the sides who have got on and played the games hopefully setting us up nicely to be able to deal with whatever the weather hits us with in the winter months of the season. Some of the earlier postponed games will be played in midweek but for most in Division One that will be the end of midweek games for a while.

There was a high scoring encounter at Lambourn Sports where the home side continue to show encouraging signs despite having lost all their games so far. Playing another of the sides tipped to do well this season in the shape of Marlborough Town they were eventually edged out by the odd goal in seven as Marlborough ran out 4-3 winners. On target for Marlborough were Jake Farrell with two, Kieron Maidment and Daniel Burke. The Lambourn Sports goals were scored by Sam Broadbank and Harry Meeky, the latter scoring twice for the home side. Saturday sees Lambourn entertain the other side who are yet to secure a point, Wroughton Development, and both teams will be eying up this particular fixture as the one when they get some points on the board.

Bratton went into Tuesday’s home game with Bishops Cannings still looking for their first win of the season, although the fixture scheduling had not been kind to them with games to open their season against Purton, Park United and Devizes Town Reserves. They finally got that first victory at the fourth attempt with a 5-1 home success over Cannings. Leading 3-1 at the break two further goals in the second half secured that first maximum points haul. Jack Booth had set them on their way with the opener 15 minutes in and further goals from Joe Moloney and Max Bishop gave them that half time lead. Two second half goals from Drew Adams completed the scoring for Bratton on the night, Charlie Swan with the Bishops Cannings goal.

With a number of injuries in their camp, Cricklade Town were forced to call up a few from their Veterans’ side to fulfil their midweek fixture, they were able to do this after the Veterans’ game was postponed due to opponents being unable to raise a side for the second time this season. The Veterans’ will no doubt appreciate the opportunity to build up match fitness for when they finally get the chance to play and one of them, Godfrey Chisanga, got himself on the score sheet in Cricklade’s 2-0 win over Shrivenham Development, Thomas Whitham with the other Cricklade goal. The win saw Cricklade move up to sixth place in the table.

The final game of the week was on Wednesday night at Kintbury where Kintbury Rangers Development and Park United provided an incident packed game that saw four goals, two sending’s off and a late equaliser to ensure a share of the points. The game was deep into injury time with visitors Park leading 2-1 thanks to goals from Jamie Norman and Haken Blackmore when Kintbury were awarded a free kick outside the box in a central position. Up stepped Harry Way to fire a shot over the wall that eluded the Park keeper and sailed into the top corner of the net to level matters up at 2-2. Earlier Aiden Maycock had scored the first for Kintbury and both sides had been reduced to ten men following a dismissal from each side. Park were no doubt disappointed not to come away with all three points but the point was enough to see them move up to fourth spot, a point behind Devizes Town Reserves with a game in hand. Saturday sees them travel into Swindon to play Kingsdown Development. .

31 August 2023