James Guthrie who hit a hat-trick in Pewsey Vale's 4-2 win over Royal W. Bassett Town Dev

There were two games in midweek in the Premier Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire League. The first involved second in the table Amesbury Town who met Trowbridge Town on Tuesday night on a heavy pitch at Bonnymead Park in a game that was streamed live on YouTube by Grassroots Football Live. Both teams created early chances, but it was the home side who went in front on 11 minutes. A long throw from Arran Moore found Josh Moore in the box who took a touch before volleying home to give the Amesbury the lead. Ten minutes later they doubled their lead from a corner. The corner was put over by Kieran LeBrun and found the head of Jack Vallis at the far side of the 18-yard box and his header back across goal was met by Robbie Owen whose header was directed into the bottom corner of the net giving Trowbridge’s stand-in keeper Dominic Kilbane, who normally plays centre-back, no chance. It went from bad to worse for the visitors shortly after as they conceded possession down their own right flank, Amesbury’s Arran Moore picking up the ball and playing a one-two with Josh Moore before firing into the far corner of the net from the edge of the box for 3-0. After a poor opening, Trowbridge were able to avoid any further damage before the break. Second half saw a much-improved showing by the visitors, and they were to pull one back when Liam Watson headed in from a corner. That was to prove to be the last goal action of the night though as Amesbury comfortably saw out the rest of the half without looking like they would concede again. The 3-1 win for Amesbury was enough to see them move back above Kintbury Rangers at the top of the table.

Amesbury Town who were 3-1 winners over Trowbridge Town in midweek

There was a rare Thursday night fixture in the Premier Division with Shrewton United and Salisbury Development bringing forward their game a couple of days due to three of the Shrewton players being involved in a charity boxing event on Saturday that the rest of the team wanted to go along to support. Excellent collaboration between the two teams enabled Shrewton to bring this local derby forward. It started well for the home side as they went in front thanks to an own goal and they doubled their lead when Lewis Cross netted his 13^th of the season to make it 2-0 to Shrewton at the break. Whilst the first half had belonged to Shrewton it was a different story after the break as Salisbury came back strongly to score two of their own through Naman Gurung and Jamie Wintle to level matters up and ensure that the points were shared. The point apiece meant both sides remained in the same positions in the table that they had occupied at the start of the evening.

Just one game survived in the Premier Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire on Saturday 9^th December, with all games scheduled to be played on grass postponed. The one game that did go ahead on a wet and windy afternoon was on the 3G at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground where Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development entertained Pewsey Vale. With the top two seeing their games postponed third placed Pewsey Vale had the chance to close the gap at the top but they were up against the team just below them in the table. A stunning first half performance with the wind behind them from Craig Kent’s side ensured they did not miss out on the opportunity to bridge the gap. They fell behind to an early Kevin Lartey goal, but Brandon Vincent got Pewsey quickly back on level terms. The rest of the half belonged to James Guthrie as he bagged a first half hat-trick, two free-kicks and a powerful strike from the edge of the area to put Pewsey 4-1 up at the break. With the wind behind them second half the home side would have been hopeful of getting back into the game but a solitary strike from Flynn Walters was all they could muster as Pewsey left with all three points following a 4-2 win, a repeat of the score line when the two sides had met at Pewsey back in September.

Two league games survived the weather in Division One, both taking place in Swindon. Like Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development in the Premier Division, Kingsdown Development play their games on a 3G pitch, their home venue being Kingsdown School. Their visitors were Shrivenham Development. In a tight first half there was just the one goal as Kingsdown led 1-0 at the break. Two further goals in the second half saw Kingsdown take the points as it finished 3-0 to the home side. On target for Kingsdown were Ollie Hunt with two and Jack Harper.

The other league game played was the only one to be played on grass in the league this weekend so all credit to Stratton Juniors for enabling their game against the league leaders Faringdon Town to go ahead. Whilst Faringdon head the table it has been another season of struggle for Stratton Juniors who sit second from bottom in the table, and they went into today’s game on the back of seven straight defeats and having conceded six goals in both their previous two games. They must have been concerned that they would be on the end of another heavy defeat when they conceded in the very first minute of the game. A ball from Luke Smith found Kyle Bowyer who’s cross was met by Jamie Broadfield to put the league leaders in front before Stratton had time to settle into the game. They almost doubled their lead a minute later, but Matt Pill’s effort was well saved by the Stratton keeper. Faringdon went close on a couple of occasions to extend their lead, but it wasn’t all one-way traffic and Stratton went close to an equaliser eight minutes before half time but Jamie Arlott blocked the effort to retain the lead for his side. Stratton went close again two minutes before half time but a goal line clearance from Luke Smith ensured his side retained their lead. Having survived that double scare, the league leaders then went straight down the other end to score a second just before half time, a flick-on from Jamie Broadfield found Matt Pill who fired home to give his side a 2-0 half time lead. Having scored so early the neutrals may well have expected plenty more goals by half time but Stratton had given the league leaders a tough opening half. Stratton came out for the second half encouraged by that first half showing and got themselves back into the game within two minutes of the restart, Sam Lowrie scoring from a corner to make it 2-1. Stratton then went close to getting an equaliser on 57 minutes, a shot from distance hitting the Faringdon post.  They went close again ten minutes later, once again striking the frame of the goal, the ball coming back off the cross bar before being cleared to safety. Having survived those two scares Faringdon gave themselves breathing space 20 minutes from time, a ball from Jamie Tuck finding Kyle Bowyer who fired home for his 17^th of the season. They safely saw out the remaining minutes of the game to make sure of the three points and open up an eight-point lead at the top of the table. 

Faringdon Town before today's 3-1 win over Stratton Juniors

In the Wiltshire County Junior Cup both Marlborough Town and Park United played their rescheduled Third Round games. Marlborough Town were up against Sherston Town from the Stroud & District League. Sherston are going well in their league and currently sit in second spot in the Division Two table, and they brought that league form into the county cup competition, winning 4-1. The consolation goal for Marlborough was scored by Adam Bukowski.

Park United also exited the competition, going down 2-1 against Southampton League side Redlynch & Woodfalls, Garry Lock with the solitary goal for Park United who created numerous chances but only registered the one on target. With Marlborough Town and Park United both going out of the competition at the Third Round stage that leaves just Bratton as the sole representative of the league in the last eight.

9 December 2023