Amesbury Town who won on Saturday but then suffered defeat to Pewsey Vale for the second time this season
Premier Division
Amesbury Town maintained on track for the league title on Saturday with a 3-2 win over Melksham Town Reserves in what was the third meeting between the two sides during March, with the two sides having also met in the County Cup semi-final. Amesbury won that cup game and won again on Saturday but once again, in the end, they were made to work hard for the points by Justin Flowers young side. Goals from Jack Vallis, Robbie Owen and Josh Moore had seemingly put them in a commanding position but two goals in the final ten minutes through Tom Dowell and Archie Newman nearly saw Melksham Town Reserves snatch a point.
Josh Moore and Jack Vallis who both scored in Amesbury's 3-2 win over Melksham Town Reserves to open up an 11 point lead at the top of the table
Second placed Kintbury Rangers saw their scheduled game against Malmesbury Vics Development postponed due to ongoing issues with the pitch at Malmesbury caused by the wet weather.
With Kintbury inactive third placed Pewsey Vale had the chance to move above them into second place if they could defeat Shrivenham on Saturday and then the league leaders Amesbury Town on Bank Holiday Monday. However, Shrivenham have been a much-improved side in the second half of the season and made it four games unbeaten by holding Pewsey to a 1-1 draw to take a share of the points. On target for Shrivenham was Kieron Sutton, with Andy Rossiter getting the Pewsey goal.
Fourth placed Larkhall Athletic Development also missed out on the chance to close the gap to the top three when they were beaten 3-2 at home by Wroughton, Luke Saunders scoring twice for the visitors with Jonathan Peachey-Score also on target with his 23rd of the season. The two Larkhall goals were scored by Aidan Maslen and Eddy Pope.
It was a similar score line at Sutton Park where bottom of the table Ludgershall Sports pushed home side Blunsdon all the way. In the end goals from Nick Craft, Jake Fortune and Eliot Wheatley were enough to secure the points for Blunsdon, leading scorer Luke Holden and a first of the season from James Spackman in reply for Ludgershall. The win for Blunsdon saw them move to within a point of sixth placed Shrivenham with a game in hand and with the two sides set to meet next Saturday.
Eliot Wheatley (Blunsdon) and Luke Holden (Ludgershall Sports) who were both on target for their respective sides in Blunsdon's 3-2 win
Last season’s champions Trowbridge Town did not have the best of starts to the season but since the turn of the year have shown the form that saw them lift the title last May. They came into their game with Shrewton United, which had been switched to Westbury United’s ground due to ongoing issues with the pitch at Woodmarsh, unbeaten in 2024. At half time it looked as though that record was in serious danger as Shrewton led 1-0 at the break thanks to an own goal. However, a storming second half performance saw Trowbridge score six unanswered goals, including four in the last five minutes to run out 6-1 winners. Star of the show was James Rustell who helped himself to a hat-trick with the other three goals coming through Jack Miluk, Adam Shipman and a penalty from player-manager Ryan Baggs. Both Martin Pearce and Allwyn Bodman were at the game with their cameras and their excellent pictures can be found on the League Facebook Page.
Action from Trowbridge Town's 6-1 win over Shrewton United (pictures courtesy of Martin Pearce).
The game between Calne Town Reserves and Kingsdown saw the two defences come out on top with neither side able to find the net as they had to settle for a point apiece following a 0-0 draw.
There were scheduled to be five more games on Bank Holiday Monday but in the end, whilst four games started, only three went the full duration with the game between Shrivenham and Wroughton being abandoned at half time by the referee following a downpour. The scheduled game between Ludgershall Sports and Kingsdown was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch adding to Kingsdown’s fixture backlog.
The top match of the Bank Holiday was the game at Pewsey Recreation Ground where league leaders Amesbury Town were Pewsey Vale’s visitors. Having dropped points on Saturday Pewsey knew that they no longer could move up to second spot on Monday but were determined to become the first side to complete a league double over Amesbury having won 1-0 at Bonnymead Park in midweek right at the start of the season. Played in front of a bumper crowd of 143 Pewsey Vale did not disappoint their supporters with an impressive performance to lower the colours of the champions elect for the second time. Rory England opened the scoring on 11 minutes and it remained just the one goal at the break. Pewsey doubled their lead just before the hour mark through Brandon Vincent. Amesbury responded almost straight away with captain Jack Vallis reducing the deficit with his eleventh goal of the season. However, a second goal for Brandon Vincent ten minutes from time wrapped up the points for Craig Kent’s side securing that league double. The only other side to defeat Amesbury so far this season have been Kintbury Rangers and the defeat certainly opened things back up for Kintbury in the title race and there are still plenty of points to be won or lost before the end of the season.
Trowbridge Town continued their impressive run in 2024 when they held fourth placed Larkhall Athletic Development to a 1-1 draw in a game switched to the 3G at Odd Down Sports Ground to enable the game to go ahead, Josh Howe with the Trowbridge goal and Andreas Smolka replying for Larkhall.
It was also honours even in the game between Melksham Town Reserves and a rejuvenated Salisbury Development. The latter are making a serious challenge to avoid the drop having beaten Larkhall Athletic Development in their last outing. Against Melksham, Salisbury led 3-1 thanks to two goals from leading scorer Dyllan Roocroft and one from Harrison Mealing but a goal Tom Dowell and an injury time equaliser from Luke Curtis to add to one from Jake Dodge broke Salisbury hearts to deny them two points right at the death. Salisbury’s cause was not helped by having Mealing sent off for two yellow cards.
Dyllan Roocroft who scored twice for Salisbury in their 3-3 draw with Melksham Town Res
Division One
Five of the seven fixtures in Division One got the go ahead on Saturday but the games at Kintbury Rangers Development where Lambourn Sports had been set to be the visitors and Pewsey Vale, where Pewsey Vale Development’s visitors were set to be Purton, were both postponed due to waterlogged pitches.
Whilst those games didn’t get the go ahead the games involving both the top two did get played and in the case of one of the games, threw up the shock of the season in Division One. Few would have given struggling Stratton Juniors much hope in their game against the league leaders at the start of the day, Park United. Whilst the Division’s meanest defence once again kept a clean sheet for Park, at the other end their strike force failed to breach a defence that had conceded over 100 goals already this season at an average of 4.7 goals per game as it finished 0-0. A fantastic result for the Swindon based side which bodes well for a better time ahead after two difficult seasons.
With Park dropping those two points Faringdon Town took full advantage to move back top of the table on goal difference with a 2-0 win over Kingsdown Development. They were made to work hard for the three points by the young Kingsdown side. Faringdon went in front on 15 minutes when Josh Forth got on the end of an Adam Rudman corner to fire Faringdon in front. It remained just the one goal until three minutes from time when Mitch Coombes fired in from distance to make sure of the points for Faringdon and send them back top of the league as a consequence of that result at Stratton Juniors.
Faringdon Town who moved back top of the Division One table
Third placed Marlborough Town moved to within four points of the top two with a 3-0 away win on the 3G at Green Lane against Bishops Cannings. Two goals from Dan Burke and one from Alfie Johnstone did the damage for Marlborough who are looking to bounce back to the Premier Division at the first attempt after last season’s relegation.
Dan Burke who scored twice for Marlborough Town in their 3-0 win over Bishops Cannings
Two sides with promotion still on their mind met at Nursteed Road where Bratton took on Devizes Town Reserves having switched the game to their opponent’s ground to enable the fixture to go ahead with their own ground unavailable. Bratton were looking to bounce back from their defeat in the Wiltshire Junior Cup final but found fourth placed Devizes Town Res in good form and fell to a 3-1 defeat. Devizes went 1-0 up through Liam Moffat on 36 minutes but Bratton got themselves back on level terms on the stroke of half-time, Joe Moloney with the goal. Devizes went back in front just after the hour mark, Kieran Gleed putting away a penalty kick to put Devizes 2-1 up. A third for Devizes from Ben Tylee nine minutes from time made sure of the points and kept them four points behind third placed Marlborough with a game in hand.
There was an entertaining game at the Corinium Stadium, home of Cirencester Town, where Cricklade Town entertained Shrivenham Development with the two sides sharing six goals and the points. On target for Cricklade were Aiden Henshaw, Thomas Whitham and Luke Robinson, with Thomas Asiedu, Stephen Lepine and Thomas Ayres with the Shrivenham goals.
The one scheduled game on Bank Holiday Monday in Division One at Marlborough Town, where Bratton were the visitors, was, like the Premier Division game at Shrivenham, abandoned due to the weather. At the time of the abandonement Marlborough were leading 1-0 thanks to a Tom Etheridge goal but the game will now need to be restaged.
Statement from League Secretary, Jim Thorn
Following several enquiries about next season, I’ve been made aware that rumours are circulating that we will be setting up a Division 2 next season to cope with the increased numbers. I can confirm that we have no plans to form a Division 2 next season.
Applications to join the League next season, whether it be for Division 1, Women’s Premier Division, U18 Floodlight Division, Over 35’s Veterans Division or Over 45’s Veterans Division close on 30th April. Application Forms can be obtained from the League Secretary,
jim.thorn@wiltshireseniorleague.co.uk.
2 April 2024
