This weekend’s games in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League were overshadowed by the sad news of the passing of Colin Nunn on Friday. Colin joined the league in 2020 as Referee Appointments Secretary for our U18 and Veterans Divisions. He had been battling illness for just over a year and only resigned from the role at the end of January when his illness took its toll. Colin will be sorely missed by all on the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League and all our thoughts are with his family and his many friends at this sad time. As a mark of respect, we ask all teams to observe a minute’s silence prior to all fixtures on Saturday 23rd March and all U18 and Veterans’ fixtures during week commencing 25th March.
Colin (far right) before a game at Purton a couple of seasons ago where he was assistant to fellow Referee Appointments Secretary Darren O'Neil
Premier Division & Wiltshire Senior Cup
League leaders Amesbury Town and Melksham Town Reserves have met twice this week, both games taking place at Bonneymead Park, Amesbury. The first was in the Wiltshire County FA’s prestigious Wiltshire Senior Cup on Tuesday night and then in the league on Saturday. Credit to the Amesbury ground staff for their work on Tuesday, despite heavy overnight rain and more on the morning of the game for getting the cup game on. In difficult muddy conditions it was to be Amesbury’s night as Melksham found Amesbury’s leading scorer Josh Moore too hot to handle, Moore scoring a hat-trick in a 5-1 win. The other two goals came courtesy of Ally McCracken and Arran Moore, Elliott Haffenden with the consolation goal for Melksham. Amesbury will now meet the winner of the tie between Wessex League Step 6 side Downton and Western League side Bradford Town. The final is set for Wednesday 10th April.
It was a much tighter affair in the league encounter on Saturday where once again the hard work of the Amesbury ground staff allowed the game to be played despite more heavy rain at the latter end of last week. Amesbury went in front in the first half, Josh Moore once again inflicting the damage on Melksham with his 28th of the season. It remained just the one goal until deep into injury time at the end of the game when Melksham were awarded a penalty. Aron Byfield held his nerve to put the spot kick away to give his side a share of the points. Despite the two dropped points Amesbury sit comfortably clear at the top of the table, eight points clear of Kintbury Rangers who have just one game in hand. Both Amesbury and Melksham are back in action this coming midweek with the semi-finals in the Fountain Trophies Cup, both games set to take place on Wednesday evening when Amesbury travel to Larkhall Athletic Development and Melksham Town Reserves entertain Kintbury Rangers for a place in the final. All four semi finalists have previously won the cup. Amesbury Town have won it on four occasions, with their last success coming back in 1992-93. Melksham Town Reserves have lifted the cup on three occasions, with their last victory coming in Season 2014-15. Both Kintbury Rangers and Larkhall Athletic Development have won the cup once, Kintbury's sucess coming in 2018-19 whilst Larkhall Athletic Development are the current holders having won the cup as a Division One side last May defeating Devizes Town in the final.
Josh Moore who was once again amongst the goals for Amesbury this week, scoring a hat-trick in midweek in the County Cup against Melksham and again getting one on Saturday in the league fixture between the two teams
Larkhall Athletic Development warmed up for that semi-final with home game against the side just above them in the table, Pewsey Vale, looking to close the gap to Pewsey and also the top two sides, Amesbury and Kintbury. In another close affair on the 3G at Odd Down Sports Centre a stunning second half goal from Larkhall’s Aidan Maslen was to prove to be all that separated the two sides. Maslen’s strike eventually breaking down a stubborn Pewsey defence that remains the meanest in the division despite the defeat with just 16 goals conceded in the 20 league games to date. The win for Larkhall saw them move to within four points of Pewsey with two games in hand.
Aidan Maslen who scored the only goal of the game in Larkhall's win over Pewsey Vale
(picture courtesy of James Riccio)
The other game played in the Premier Division was at Shrivenham where the home side were looking to extend their excellent run since the turn of the year which had seen them win four of their six games going into Saturday’s visit from struggling Ludgershall Sports. Ludgershall were to prove to be no pushovers though, but Shrivenham were to continue their good run in 2024 with a 3-1 win. Two goals from Finlay Hopkins and one from James Hirst did the damage for Shrivenham who moved level on points with Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development with two games in hand. The games at Wroughton and Calne were both postponed due to waterlogged pitches and Trowbridge were unable to field a side for their trip to Swindon to play Kingsdown.
Division One
Just four games went ahead in Division One this weekend with both Lambourn Sports and Kingsdown Development failing to raise a side. In the case of Lambourn Sports that is the fifth occasion they have done this, and a further point deduction is expected to follow the eight points deduction already imposed. In the case of Kingsdown that is the third such postponement and they are also likely to suffer a further points deduction to the four points that have come off their total.
The big game at the top of the table was at Nursteed Road where Devizes Town Reserves were home to league leaders Park United. It had been tight in the first meeting between the sides with Park leading 1-0 when the game was abandoned with ten minutes to go due to an injury to the referee. It was another close encounter in the return game as the two sides fought out a 1-1 draw, Corey Harbour-Burgess with the goal for leaders Park and Declan McStravick with the Devizes reply. The point gained saw Park United extend their lead over Faringdon Town, who were the innocent victims of the postponement by Kingsdown Development, to two points. Devizes Town Reserves dropped out of the top three due to results elsewhere.
Moving above Devizes Town Reserves into the top three are Marlborough Town who secured a 2-0 away win at Pewsey Vale Development thanks to two goals from Kieran Maidment. Marlborough are now four points behind Faringdon having played one more game with the two sides yet to play each other this season.
Bratton warmed up for next week’s Wiltshire Junior Cup final with a hard fought 2-0 away win against Cricklade Town on the 3G at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground. On target for Bratton were Brandon Thompson and Billal Karmani. The win for Bratton saw them move above Purton into fifth place, level on points with Devizes Town Reserves with at least two games in hand over the four sides above them in the table. If they were to win those games in hand, they would move up to second place and are very much in this season’s title race.
Action from Bratton's 2-0 win over Cricklade Town
Another side on a good run of ate amd climbing the table are Kintbury Rangers Development who made it six wins in their last seven games with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Stratton Juniors. On target for Kintbury were Aiden Maycock who bagged a brace to move onto 15 for the season, Jamie Gannon and Charlie Allsop. Kintbury moved to within three points of sixth placed Purton. Kintbury are back in action on Tuesday night when they entertain Shrivenham Development as they seek to play catch-up with their fixtures.
Some League Statistics
Both the Registration and Fixtures Secretary presented some statistics at last Thursday’s Management Committee Meeting.
Registrations
As at the 12th March 2024 the total number of player registrations is as follows:
- Premier Division - 988 (2022-23: 1,042)
- Division One - 802 (includes 296 players also registered with teams in the Premier Division) (2022-23: 418)
- Under 18s – 273 (includes 87 players also registered with either a Premier Division or Division One side)(2022-23: 300)
- Vets – 697 (includes 12 players also registered with either a Premier Division or Division One side). (2022-23: 667).
There have been 66 transfers in total which is already ten more than last season which itself was a record for transfers in a season. So once again a new transfer record has been set.
Fixtures
The Fixtures Secretary presented fixture statistics to the Committee Meeting noting that ahead of this weekend’s games, which saw another five games lost, 206 games had either been postponed or abandoned across the five divisions and three cup competitions. That included an unacceptable figure of 41 games where teams could not raise a side, 151 postponed due to pitch conditions in what has been an extremely wet winter. Postponement of County Cup games, particular in terms of Division One and the U18’s has had a major impact, with 76 County Cup and FA Youth Cup games played and 19 postponements to add to those in the league and league cups. With County Cup’s taking precedence the knock-on effect of any postponement in this outside competition has been painful. 59 games played have also ended up being expunged due to teams withdrawing from the league.
Ahead of this weekend’s round of games the Premier Division was 67.1% complete and Division One was 69.8% complete. The worst performing league is the U18 Floodlight Division which is just 62.5% complete, this in a division of just nine teams following Bradford Town’s withdrawal.
With games being awarded in the two Veterans’ Divisions when teams are unable to raise a side the two Vets Divisions are on-track with the North Wiltshire Division 76.7% complete and the Mid-Wiltshire Division which also utilises grass pitches as well as 3G pitches 75.5% complete despite the wet weather.
16 March 2024
