Larkhall Athletic Development celebrate winning the Fountain Trophies Cup last season

There was just the one game played in midweek in the Premier Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League and it saw Trowbridge Town secure a hard fought 1-0 away win at Malmesbury Victoria Development. It was Trowbridge who went closest to taking the lead in the first half, Adam Shipman had the ball in the net only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. Shipman then went close with another effort as he got to the ball on the right hand side of the area before the outrushing Malmesbury keeper but his shot towards goal was cleared by the recovering Malmesbury defender almost on the line and it remained 0-0 at the break. The deadlock was finally broken in the second half and once again Shipman was involved, feeding George Bendle on the edge of the box who fired in an unstoppable shot past the Malmesbury keeper. Trowbridge thought they had doubled their lead when Shipman once again had the ball in the back of the net but once again the goal was struck off by a flag from the assistant referee. Both sides created further chances but there was to be no further goals as Trowbridge claimed all three points courtesy of that Bendle effort. The win for Trowbridge saw them move up to tenth spot in the table. Your Sport Swindon cameras were at the match and subscribers can view the highlights by clicking on the link below or accessing them from the link on the Your Sport Swindon page of the website.

Saturday saw most of the league involved in Fountain Trophies Second Round games with 13 ties played. Five games were all Premier Division ties, three involved just Division One sides, with the other five involving Division One sides looking to create a cup upset against Premier Division opposition, although all five ties would go the way of the higher division sides. The closest one of the Division One sides went to causing an upset was at Calne Town’s Bremhill View ground where Park United twice came from behind to send the tie into extra time. Jamie Norman with the first equaliser in the first half after Harrison Sartin had put Calne Town Reserves ahead. Calne went back in front courtesy of an own goal after good work by Luke Masero but, in the closing stages of normal time, Cory Harbour-Burgess fired in a goal that sent the game into extra-time. There was to be no further goals in extra-time meaning penalties were required to settle matters. Young Calne keeper Lewis Clarke pulled off a superb save in the penalty shootout and then Jack Fry put the winning penalty away for the home side to send them through into the next round.

Devizes Town Reserves were another Division One side eying up a cup upset when they entertained Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development at Nursteed Road. They fell behind to a well taken goal, Adam House volleying in from a Nathaniel Bell free kick. Devizes then had a golden chance to get back on level terms from the penalty spot, but Dan West in the Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development goal pulled off a fantastic save to maintain his sides lead. Nathanial Bell added a second for the visitors who went into the half time break two goals to the good. It got even better for the visitors when Bell was on the scoresheet again within three minutes of the restart to put his side 3-0 up and he rounded off his excellent afternoon with a hat-trick goal to complete the scoring as it finished 4-0 to the visitors who progress to Round 3.

Pewsey Vale Development had a tough looking game away to Kintbury Rangers and found themselves 2-0 down at the break thanks to goals from Will Frank and Terry Patton. However, the second half saw the young Pewsey side match their Premier Division opponents with both teams scoring after the break, Kierron Kiff with the Pewsey goal and George Armstrong with his 15^th of the season ensuring that it is Kintbury Rangers who are in the draw for the 3^rd Round.

Pewsey Vale first team were another Premier Division side up against a Division One side in the shape of Bishops Cannings and Craig Kent’s side had a comfortable afternoon as they scored six unanswered goals against their Division One opponents. Star of the show was Samuel Francis who scored four of the six Pewsey goals, Kyle Bird and Brandon Vincent also getting their names on the scoresheet as Pewsey progressed through to the last 16.

The final Division One side looking to cause an upset were Kingsdown Development who were home to struggling Odd Down (Bath) Development who are currently without a point in the Premier Division. However, the Bath based side will be celebrating tonight as they recorded their first victory of the season. Leading 2-0 at the break, despite Kingsdown scoring two of their own in the second half through Josh Atwell and Harrison Jordan, Odd Down doubled their first half tally eventually winning 4-2, the fourth goal coming deep in injury time. Shaquile Perkins bagged a brace and there were further Odd Down goals from Finlay Little and Jared Smith-Core, the latter with that late goal that made certain that Odd Down would progress through to Round 3.

Whilst there were no upsets from Division One sides, three of the leading sides from the Division are through to the last 16 after defeating fellow sides from Division One. Faringdon Town had a comfortable afternoon, bouncing back from last week’s defeat at the hands of Park United to defeat Wroughton Development 7-0 at Tucker Park. Jamie Broadfield helped himself to a hat-trick and there were further goals from Jamie Tuck, Kyle Bowyer, Sam Leech and Peter Fletcher.

Purton made the short trip into Swindon to take on Stratton Juniors at Merton Fields. When the sides had met at the Red House in the league back in August Purton had secured a comfortable 5-1 win and they once again struck five times in the cup encounter, although on this occasion Stratton doubled their tally from the first meeting as Purton progressed to Round 3 courtesy of a 5-2 success, ending their mini-run of defeats. There were two more goals for player-manager Matt Bennett, Ashton Glover also bagged a brace, with the other goal being scored by Lee Hayward.

The third Division One side through to the next round are Bratton who were involved in an entertaining game against Shrivenham Development which in the end needed extra-time to settle matters after Shrivenham went 2-0 up. They scored their first on the stroke of half-time through Matt Slevin before doubling their lead ten minutes into the second half, James Hirst with the second Shrivenham goal from a free kick. It took until the 65^th minute for Bratton to get a foothold back in the game, Jack Booth firing a free kick under the wall to make it 2-1. Twenty minutes from time Bratton were back on level terms, Joe Edwards heading in from a Jack Booth corner to send the game into extra time. Bratton went in front for the first time in the game four minutes into extra time, Brandon Thomson volleying home to put Bratton 3-2 ahead. Six minutes later Shrivenham Development restored parity, Kieran Sutton scoring from the penalty spot to make it 3-3. Two minutes from the end of the first period of extra time Bratton went back in front, Joe Edwards sending a header across goal which found Joe Wilkins who headed his side back in front. Two minutes into the second period of extra time Bratton gave themselves breathing space as Jack Hayward headed in from another Jack Booth corner to make it 5-3. Again, Shrivenham came back at Bratton, James Hirst scoring his second of the game to get back within one goal of Bratton. However, another equaliser was to prove elusive as the game ended 5-4 and the crowd certainly went home thoroughly entertained.

The remaining five games in the Second Round of the Fountain Trophies Cup were all Premier Division affairs. Shrewton United entertained Salisbury Development and were in confident mood after back-to-back wins in the league. However, thinks did not go to plan as they fell 2-0 down before goals from Jordan Cross and George Plank brought them back into the game. Having got back on level terms all the good work was undone as they conceded two at the other end as Salisbury won for the first time in eight games to progress through to the next round of the competition courtesy of a 4-2 scoreline.

The top match of the round on paper at least looked to be the game between last season’s champions Trowbridge Town and Kingsdown. Kingsdown went into the game in good form having won back-to-back games against Kintbury Rangers and Salisbury Development. Trowbridge had won that game in midweek at Malmesbury and came into the game in confident mood. Both teams had made the semi final of the cup last season, and both were keen to have another extended cup run. The two sides cancelled each other out with the match not really living up to the pre-match billing and extra time was needed with the game still looking for its first goal at the end of 90 minutes. That goal finally came towards the end of the first period of extra time, and it went the way of Kingsdown, Louis O'Shea with the goal. The teams turned round at half time in extra time with Kingsdown having that slender advantage and with Trowbridge not really looking like they were going to get a goal. Five minutes into the second period of extra time, Kingsdown player Aiden Miller suffered a shoulder injury that required an ambulance to be called. With the ambulance not able to attend for some time and with it not being possible to move the player the referee had no choice but to abandon the game. In the end, with the non-arrival of the ambulance, arrangements were made for the player to be transported to hospital in the van of one of the Kingsdown contingent. All at the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League wish the injured player a speedy recovery and we understand he is back home and on the mend. A decision will now need to be made by the Management Committee regarding the outcome of the game and whether it will be restaged and, if so, when.

Shrivenham and Amesbury Town had met seven days earlier in the league with Amesbury returning south with all three points thanks to a comfortable 5-1 win. They certainly carried on where they left off last week in the first half in the cup encounter between the two sides, Josh Moore scoring as early as the fourth minute. Moore then added a second six minutes before the break but there was still time for another two goals before half time as Amesbury hit three goals in the space of just six minutes. Ben Morris added the third before Moore completed a first half hat-trick to send his team into the half time break 4-0 in front and with the game effectively won. Any hopes of a Shrivenham comeback appeared to be extinguished within three minutes of the restart as Ally McCracken added a fifth for Amesbury. It went from bad to worse for the home side just after the hour mark, when an own goal put Amesbury in an unassailable 6-0 lead. Few would expected what happened next though as Shrivenham finally kicked into gear and started scoring goals of their own, in fact they were to score four times in the closing twenty minutes to give the final scoreline a much more respectable look. On target for Shrivenham in that late rally were Chris Rivers with two, Finnlay Hopkins and Sam Ponting.

When Blunsdon and Wroughton had met in the league at the Weir Field at the beginning of September, Blunsdon had edged a tight game by the odd goal in three and another close encounter was anticipated when the two met in the cup. It was to prove to be a good afternoon for Wroughton as they avenged that earlier league defeat with a 3-1 success thanks to two goals from Jonny Davoille and one from leading scorer Jonathan Peachey-Score, Jamie Pidgeon with the Blunsdon goal.

The final game of the day in the Fountain Trophies Cup Second Round was at the Flying Monk Ground where Malmesbury Victoria Development’s visitors were Ludgershall Sports and the two teams served up another high scoring game, taking the total number of goals scored in the 13 games played in the cup on the day to 75. Ludgershall led 1-0 at the break thanks to a goal from Cameron Metcalfe around about the half hour mark. Joe Tranter brought Malmesbury level within seven minutes of the restart and the home side then went in front for the first time on 65 minutes, Rob Collier picking the ball up outside the box and firing a powerful shot into the bottom corner of the net to make it 2-1. It remained that way until five minutes from time when Ludgershall’s leading scorer Luke Holden netted to send the game into extra time. As the first half of extra time entered its final minutes both teams produced a goal within a minute or so of each other, Holden getting his second of the game for Ludgershall and 17-year old Connor Whatcott finding the net for Malmesbury on his senior debut for the club as the teams turned round at half time in extra time at three goals apiece. There would be no need for penalties to decide matters though as six minutes from time Metcalfe, who had opened the afternoons goalscoring exploits, bagged a second to put his side in front with what proved to be the winning goal for the visitors who triumphed 4-3 and saw them through to the last 16 of the competition.

The draw for the 3rd Round of the Cup has been made by League Chairman Brian Busson and League Secrtary Jim Thorn and is shown below:

Games in the 3rd Round of the Fountain Trophies Cup are to be scheduled to take place on Saturday 25th November.

Larkhall Athletic Development were in County Cup action and progressed to the next round thanks to a 2-1 win over Somerset County League Division 3 side Peasedown Albion, James Book scoring the winner for Larkhall.

There was just one league game played this weekend and it took place in Division One and it saw Kintbury Rangers Development pick up their third win of the season, 2-1 away at Cricklade Town. Goals from Joseph Sheridan and Ali Thorp had given Kintbury a 2-0 half time lead but Cricklade pulled one back through Josh Riggs after the break, but they were unable to find an equaliser. The win for Kintbury saw them move up a place in the table.

Tuesday night attention turns to the prestigious Wiltshire FA's Senior Cup as eight of our Premier Division sides are in County Cup action, with two all Premier Division ties and four where our clubs are looking to cause an upset against Step 6 opponents. Details of the games are shown below with the Trowbridge v Wroughton game set for next Saturday. More County Cup Competitions on Saturday with the Wiltshire Junior Cup dominating the fixtures for our Division One sides plus the Berkshire sides are involved in the Charles Twelftree Cup.

8 October 2023