Action from Trowbridge Town's 5-0 home win over Salisbury Development (picture courtesy of Martin Pearce)
Premier Division & Fountain Trophies Cup
The Fountain Trophies Cup Quarter Final tie between Melksham Town Reserves and Wroughton finally went ahead in midweek on the outside pitch at the Oakfield Stadium at the fourth attempt, the three previous scheduled encounters being postponed due to waterlogged pitches. The game on Tuesday night was to prove to be an enjoyable evening for Justin Flower’s young Melksham side as goals from Aron Byfield, Josh Bellamy and Josh Bright helped secure a 3-1 win against a strong Wroughton side, Jonny Davoille with the solitary goal for the visitors. Melksham Town Reserves will now be home to Kintbury Rangers in the semi-final which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 19th March. The other semi-final will see league leaders Amesbury Town travel to Larkhall Athletic Development with the game set to take place the following night, Wednesday 20th March.
Before that Amesbury Town and Melksham Town both have another cup semi final as this coming Tuesday evening they will meet in the semi-final of the prestigious Wiltshire Senior Cup at Bonneymead Park, with the winner set to meet either Wessex League side Downton or Western League side Bradford Town in the final. With the two Premier Division sides meeting at the semi-final stage the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League are guaranteed a finalist for the second season running after Wroughton made the final last season.
After just one game was played in the Premier Division last week it is pleasing to report that six of the seven scheduled fixtures this weekend went ahead. The one postponed game was at Malmesbury on Friday night where the home side are under pressure to get their games in the Hellenic League Division One completed as early as possible ahead of the end of season play-offs. With the first team at home the next day the pitch at Malmesbury has not yet recovered enough to stage two games in two days.
Leaders Amesbury Town were without a game this weekend giving Kintbury Rangers the chance to close the gap at the top with a good result against the side they will meet in that League Cup semi-final, Melksham Town Reserves. First half goals from Carl Jenner and George Armstrong saw them lead 2-0 at the break and a second from Armstrong plus one from Terry Patton made sure that Kintbury took full advantage of what was their game in hand over Amesbury as they ran out 4-1 winners, Sam Dowell with the Melksham goal. The win for Kintbury saw Amesbury’s lead at the top reduced to seven points with both teams now having ten games to play.
George Armstrong who scored another two for Kintbury in their 4-1 win over Melksham Town Reserves
Captain Carl Jenner who also netted in Kintbury's 4-1 win
Pewsey Vale were also looking to close the gap to leaders Amesbury when they entertained a much-improved Shrivenham side who came into the game on the back of three wins in their last four games. Shrivenham went in front thanks to a first-half goal from a corner scored by Charlie Trinder-Sage. Pewsey threw everything at the visitors after the break but Shrivenham defended really well to keep the home side out and left with all three points thanks to that solitary first half goal. The win lifted them to sixth place in the table as they made it four wins in their last five games.
Larkhall Athletic Development, like both Amesbury Town and Kintbury Rangers, have applied for promotion to Step 6 and have their eyes on a top three finish. They still have Amesbury to play twice, three times in fact if you include the cup semi-final, and they also have Kintbury Rangers to play once and could yet still mount a title challenge if they maintain their current form. They were involved in an excellent game against Blunsdon this weekend, a side they had narrowly beaten at Sutton Park at the beginning of February. In this return fixture Sam Whitson missed two early chances for Larkhall, before Lewis Dixon scored with a stunning strike on 20 minutes to give Larkhall the lead. Blunsdon then had a golden chance to equalise from a scramble in the box, but Danny Hale missed the target with his effort. Larkhall extended their lead ten minutes before the break, Spencer Dyamond-Hall finished a well worked team goal to make it 2-0. The same player should then have made it 3-0 five minutes later but was denied by the Blunsdon keeper Elliot Clack with a fine save. In injury time Blunsdon pulled one back, Hale scoring with a stunning volley to make it 2-1 at half time. Blunsdon came out strongly in the second half and Oliver Eglon in the home goal denied Hale an equaliser. This escape saw Larkhall up their game as they looked to make sure of the points. Aidan Maslen volleyed against the post, before Rhys Talmash lobbed the visiting keeper Clack on the hour mark to make it 3-1. Fifteen minutes from time Blunsdon were given a foothold back in the game. Larkhall were guilty of over playing at the back, losing possession, allowing Blunsdon’s Nick Craft to reduce the deficit. Blunsdon now pushed for an equaliser but with the game becoming stretched a second from Talmash to make it 4-2 settled any Larkhall nerves and ensured his side secured all three points to make it four straight wins in the league and five in all competitions. The win saw Larkhall climb back above Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development into fourth place.
Former Devizes Town striker Rhys Talmash who scored twice for Larkhall Ath Development in their 4-2 win over Blunson
(picture courtesy of David Giles)
After last season’s title success, as the new season kicked-off, Trowbridge Town were hopeful of mounting another title challenge to secure back-to-back titles and were another side who had applied for promotion. However, a frustrating first half of the season that saw opponents unable to raise sides, just one win in their opening five games and then multiple postponements, coupled with a bad run of results in December meant any title ambitions this season realistically disappeared some time ago. The New Year though has heralded a change in fortunes, and they went into their game against Salisbury Development unbeaten since the turn of the year. They extended that unbeaten run to four games with what in the end was comfortable victory against the side at the foot of the table. They led just 1-0 at the break thanks to a Josh Howlett goal from a Liam Milburn corner. They upped their game after the break scoring four unanswered goals to register a 5-0 win, both Simon Millard and George Bendle scoring twice. The win saw Trowbridge climb one place in the table to 11th spot. Due to all the postponed games, they are one of several sides with games in hand who will be hopeful of climbing into the top half of the table if they maintain their current form. Both Martin Pearce and Alwyn Bodman were at the game with their cameras and their excellent pictures can be viewed on the League Facebook Group page.
George Bendle who scored twice in Trowbridge Town's 5-0 win
(picture courtesy of Martin Pearce)
Simon Millard who also scored twice in Trowbridge's 5-0 win
(picture courtesy of Martin Pearce)
Biggest winners of the weekend were Calne Town Reserves who bounced back from last week’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development with an impressive 7-0 win over struggling Ludgershall Sports. Star of the show was Sean Bailey who helped himself to a double hat-trick, the other Calne Town goal coming courtesy of Jack Smith. The win saw Calne climb two places in the table into eighth spot.
Sean Bailey who scored a double hat-trick in Calne Town Res 7-0 win over Ludgershall Sports
(picture courtesy of Helen Louise Photography)
Kingsdown manager Adrian Wilkinson was forced to miss his sides’ visit to his former club Wroughton, but his side produced an excellent performance in his absence to return with all three points following a 3-0 win thanks to goals from Antonio Gerrish, Stefan Edwards and Issac Osazulwa. With several former Wroughton players in their line-up Kingsdown clearly enjoyed their visit to the Weir Field. The win for Kingsdown saw them move out of the bottom three and to within two points of their beaten opponents. Kingsdown are another side with plenty of games in hand over the sides immediately above them in the table and will be confident of achieving a top half finish in their first season in the Premier Division.
Division One
After last week's total wipe out it is pleasing to report all six games scheduled in Division One this week went ahead. League leaders Park United had requested not to have a fixture on this date a couple of months ago but it gave the chasing pack the chance to peg back the leaders. Second placed
Faringdon Town had the chance to go back top of the table with a win but came across a determined
Cricklade Town
side who had switched the game to the 3G at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground to ensure that the game went ahead. It started well for the home side, Thomas Whitham scoring with a wind-assisted volley from 25 yards out to give Cricklade the lead with just five minutes on the clock. Five minutes later it was 2-0, a hopeful ball into the box from his own half by Tyler Fitchett completely deceived Faringdon keeper Jack Gibson bouncing over the keeper and into the net. The league leaders did pull one back just after the half hour mark, this after Kyle Bowyer was upended in the box. Jamie Broadfield took responsibility for the penalty kick sending the Cricklade Town keeper the wrong way to make it 2-1 at the break. The home side held onto that slender advantage until 15 minutes from time, when the experienced Matt Pill pulled his side level with a neat finish for 2-2. Cricklade have been on the wrong end of several late winners this season but on this occasion, it was them that would have the joy of a late goal to secure a victory. It was Gergo Komjati with the goal after another uncharacteristic error from visiting keeper Gibson who didn’t have an enjoyable afternoon on the 3G surface. The defeat meant Faringdon missed out on reclaiming that top spot and remain a point behind Park having also now played one more game than their main rivals for the title.
Devizes Town Reserves moved up into third spot after a big 7-3 away win at bottom of the table Stratton Juniors. They are now unbeaten in their last seven completed games with their abandoned game against leaders Park United set to be discussed at this week’s Discipline Meeting. Leading 3-1 at the break Devizes added another four goals in the second half to run out convincing winners in the end. Liam Moffat scored twice to take his total for the season to 15 with the other goals coming through Toby Baker, Eoin O’Grady, Harvey Swain, a long range effort from Jamie Wallen and the other goal coming through 16-year old Theo Corbin who scored on his senior debut. For Stratton Juniors, once again Corey Cullen was on the score sheet bagging a brace with Ethan Lee getting the other Stratton goal. For Cullen that is now 23 for the season with the Stratton striker contributing 60% of all Stratton’s goals in league games this season. After the 7-3 win Devizes are now the sole top scoring side in the Division with an impressive 70 goals from their opening 17 league fixtures and are still serious contenders for the league title. Those title credentials are set to be tested next Saturday with the return fixture against league leaders Park United.
Another side to close the gap to the top two were County Junior Cup finalists Bratton who stayed two points behind Devizes Town Reserves with two games in hand following a come from behind win against Kintbury Rangers Development. They started well against Kintbury, Max Bishop putting them 1-0 up with just five minutes gone. However, Kintbury were back level before ten minutes had been played and then went in front midway through the first half, Leo Greenwood and Aidan Maycock with the two Kintbury goals. Bratton came out for the second half in a determined mood and were back on level terms within a minute of the restart, Bishop scoring his second of the game. They went back in front just after the hour mark, Joe Edwards getting on the end of a Joe Moloney corner to make it 3-2 to Bratton. Bratton made sure of all three points in injury time, with Moloney getting on the end of a Max Bishop ball to make the final score 4-2.
The two sides that started the day in third and fourth spot in the table, Marlborough Town and Purton, met at the Red House. Both sides have scored plenty of goals between them this season but this was to be a day where the two defences came out on top, both sides registering a clean sheet to ensure that the points were shared. Both sides dropped a place in the table as a result of Devizes Town Reserves big win at Stratton Juniors.
There was another tight affair at the Ian Richardson Football Ground where Shrivenham Development hosted the young Kingsdown Development side. The game could have gone either way but in the end was decided by a solitary Liam Humphries goal for Shrivenham following a scramble in the box midway through the first half. Kingsdown pushed for an equaliser with Shrivenham also creating chances at the other end, but there were to be no further goals as it finished 1-0 to the home side.
Lambourn Sports continued their good run under their new management team, securing a second straight win and their third win in the last four games, with a 2-1 success away against Bishops Cannings on the 3G at Green Lane. On target for Lambourn in this one were Scott Garrett and Harry Meeky as Lambourn recorded their seventh league victory of the season.
9 March 2024
