The lack of games in the Under 18 Division repeated itself again this week with just one of the five scheduled games going ahead meaning a couple of teams still only having played three league games this season. The one game that did go ahead was on the 3G at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground where Royal Wootton Bassett Town were looking to go joint top of the table with a win, whilst opponents Kingsdown had the chance to move above their opponents into second place with a win of their own. A tight affair was anticipated, and it proved to be just that, decided by the narrowest of margins. Kingsdown had the better of things in the early stages but were restricted to a couple of efforts from distance. The first chance of the half that came the way of the home side was when a poor clearance from the Kingsdown keeper went straight to Joe Beavis on the edge of the box, but he fired his shot just over. Kingsdown then went close to breaking the deadlock as twice Royal Wootton Bassett Town keeper Tom Davis denied them. First a neat through ball put Josh Atwell clear of the defence and his initial powerful shot was well blocked by Davis with the ball rebounding to a Kingsdown player who was following up and whose shot was then cleared by Davis with his feet to prevent his side from going behind.  Kingsdown then had a shout for a penalty which was waved away but they were to eventually make the breakthrough. A run at the defence by Atwell saw him stumble but still get a pass away to Ethan Lee on the right hand side of the Royal Wootton Bassett Town 18-yard box and as keeper Davis came out, Lee fired a low and pin-point shot in the far corner of the net to give the visitors the lead. That was to be the only goal of the first half.

The second half saw the home side look to get back on level terms and the closest they went was when a free kick from the right to the far post was met by the head of Rhys Westlake but this time it was the turn of Kingsdown keeper to deny an opposition striker with a good save with the ball then being cleared to safety by his defence. After that the home side had a couple of chances from distance but didn’t look like troubling the Kingsdown goal. Both sides were then guilty of some late challenges from behind which required the referee to show a yellow card, with Kingsdown’s Atwell being one of those to pick up a card which would have ramifications later on. As the game moved into the closing stages it was the visitors Kingsdown who went closet to scoring and had a couple of good chances which should perhaps have been put away to make sure of the three points but it remained just the one. A second mistimed challenge from Atwell saw him unfortunate to pick up a second yellow card and a dismissal late on but his side comfortably saw out the final minutes to take all three points and move ahead of their beaten opponents into second place, two points behind leaders Bristol Manor Farm having played one more game.

Your Sport Swindon were at the game with their cameras and subscribers can watch highlights of the game by clicking on the Your Sport Swindon image below or using the link on the Your Sport Swindon page of the league website where other games covered by Your Sport Swindon can also be accessed.

The same night that Kingsdown were defeating Royal Wootton Bassett Town, the League’s Discipline Committee were meeting to discuss, amongst other things, Kingsdown’s recent abandoned League Cup game against FC Chippenham. The outcome of the meeting is that the game will now be replayed on Friday 8^th December at Stanley Park.

More action from RWBT v Kingsdown (pictures courtesy of Steve Green)

14 November 2023