The nightmare season in the Under 18 Floodlight Division has endured right to the final month of the season. After a winter of horrendous weather that saw multiple Under 18 fixtures postponed the end of season has been blighted with teams calling off games because they could not raise a side. Since 15^th April just five games have been played, one of which was last night, with five games postponed and two teams deciding they would not be able to fulfill their final fixtures. Kingsdown withdrew with four games still to play but with them having reached the 75% threshold the remaining games could be awarded.

That was not the case with Bristol Manor Farm who had six of their 16 league games still to play. They were unable to play games on 15^th April, 22^nd April, 25^th April and 29^th April subsequently confirmed to the league that they had withdrawn from the league. The problem at the end of the season for them was players were either not available due to suspensions, prioritising midweek games for their senior clubs with so many leagues behind with their fixtures due to the wet weather, or not available for other reasons. Having not reached the 75% threshold their record has been expunged.

On the pitch, having won the cup final, Kintbury Rangers, made sure of a league and cup double with wins over both FC Chippenham and Melksham Town. The game against FC Chippenham was a close affair with Kintbury eventually edging it by the odd goal in five, Rhys Atkins, Cameron Squires and leading scorer James Tomlinson with the Kintbury goals, Thomas Collings and Darcy Garner replying for FC Chippenham. Tomlinson was again amongst the goals against Melksham Town, Kian McNally also scoring in a 2-0 win that confirmed the title before it was known that Bristol Manor Farm would not complete the season. Congratulations to Kintbury on taking the title for the second consecutive season and also doing the league and cup double.

The other three games that have been played all involved Radstock Town who were playing catch-up with their fixtures following multiple postponements due to the weather and county cup commitments in the winter months. They were the last side to play Kingsdown before the Swindon side notified the league they would not be completing the season due to impending A levels, Bartek Grzywa and Casper Olczak scoring in a 2-1 win, Jack Byrne with the Kingsdown goal.

Radstock Town followed that victory with a 2-0 win over Wims 11, Bartek Grzywa again on the score sheet with the other goal coming through Lex Southall. With the record of Bristol Manor Farm having been expunged and having won those two games Radstock went into their penultimate game against Melksham Town knowing that they could finish runners-up if they could win both of their final two games.

Although Melksham Town are bottom of the table, they ran Kintbury Rangers close the previous week and Radstock Town also found them to be tough opponents, eventually edging a high scoring game 5-4. Substitute Jayden Purnell scored twice for Radstock, with Bartek Grzywa also on target, scoring for the third consecutive game, Theo King and Jacob Palmer with the other two Radstock goals. The four Melksham goals were scored by Tyrese Flower with two, Lincoln Stokes and Daryl James. The win for Radstock Town means that they now need to win their final game against the champions Kintbury Rangers to secure runners-up spot. Whilst Kintbury Rangers have lost just once this season, they have failed to find the net in two games this season against Radstock in open play, drawing 0-0 in the league and then seeing their cup game end up 0-0 at the end of extra time, with penalties being needed to decide matters. The final game is set to take place on Thursday. If Radstock fail to win, then Royal Wootton Bassett Town, who played their final game way back on 22^nd March will finish as runners-up.

7 May 2024