Last week the focus in the U18 Floodlight Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire League was on the quarter finals of the League Cup. Cup holders Calne Town were given a bye into the semi-final after Bradford Town withdrew from the league and the other three semi-finalists were confirmed in a week when games finally got played in the U18 category after what seems weeks of postponed games.

On Monday night league leaders Kintbury Rangers and Radstock Town were involved in a game played on a snow-covered pitch which saw no goals in open play but produced an excellent game of football between two evenly matched sides. In the end with no goal after 90 minutes nor again after 30 minutes of extra time penalties were needed to settle matters. Kintbury Rangers put all four of their opening penalties away but Radstock missed their fourth kick giving Kintbury the chance to win it with their final kick which they duly did to win 5-3 on penalties.

Whilst there was a dearth of goals on Monday night, Thursday night saw plenty as Melksham Town entertained Bristol Manor Farm. Unfortunately for the home side 12 of the 14 goals scored went the way of visitors who had a comfortable passage through to the last four. Amongst the goals for Bristol Manor Farm were Layton Thompson who helped himself to four goals, Evan Howse bagged a brace and Lavelle Bishop, Freddie Kershaw, Alfie Partridge and Corey Stock al found the net in the 12-2 victory.

The final quarter final tie was on Friday night at Green Lane when Kingsdown were home to Royal Wootton Bassett Town. It was 1-1 at the break but two unanswered goals in the second half saw Kingsdown through to the last four of the competition. On target for Kingsdown were Josh Atwell, Jack Overson and Reece Ricks, Sam Case with the goal for Royal Wootton Bassett Town.

The previous week just one game had been played in the league and it saw last season’s champions Kintbury Rangers move back top of the table after temporarily losing that position when the results against Bradford Town had been expunged following their withdrawal from the league. It was a hard fought close game away at Kingsdown, Kintbury eventually winning 2-1 thanks to goals from Kyran Barrett and Ben Luckett, Nicholas Wilkes with the Kingsdown goal.

The draw for the semi-final has been made and it sees the top two in the league drawn against each other with Bristol Manor Farm home to Kintbury Rangers, with the other tie seeing Kingsdown at home against Calne Town with the two games set to take place in week commencing 4^th March.

Radstock Town were in cup action on Sunday in the Somerset Youth Cup but went out of a cup competition for the second time in the week when they went down 1-0 to Westland Sports in what manager Ian Lanning described as their worst performance of the season.

15 January 2024