The past fortnight saw the two Veterans’ Divisions concluded with Corsham Town crowned champions in the Mid Wiltshire Division, the second time they have won the league title, and Cricklade Town secure the North Wiltshire Division for the second consecutive season.

Mid Wiltshire Division

Corsham Town secured the Mid Wiltshire Division title with a game to spare following a 2-0 win over Devizes Town at Green Lane on Monday 29^th April. Early first half goals from Ross Lye, his sixth of the season, and a third of the season from Daniel Harvey, did the damage for Corsham in a game where Corsham manager Chris Jones noted Devizes had been the better side over 50 minutes but were undone by those two early goals. The opener was a well taken goal by Lye.  Intricate build up play saw him put in behind the Devizes back line where he had the choice to either lob the keeper or go around him. He chose the latter but ended up being pushed wide but was still able squeeze it in from an acute angle to make it 1-0 to the league leaders. The second came shortly after from a free kick wide on the left from Lye which caused mayhem in the Devizes box. After taking a couple of deflections Dan Harvey swept the ball home from close range to make it 2-0. Devizes fought hard to get back in the game, hitting the crossbar on three occasions, with two of the three attempts seeing Corsham keeper Russell Lodge get a hand on the shots on goal to push them onto the bar. Lodge and his defence, with Matty Lye having a fine game in front of the keeper, ensured Corsham did not concede to secure the victory.

Despite Melksham Town also winning the same night away at Radstock Town, the win for Corsham meant that Melksham with just the one game to play could no longer catch Corsham. Tom Robinson scored both Melksham goals in their 2-1 win which guaranteed them runners-up spot, James Billing with the Radstock goal. Corsham Town had been the inaugural champions of the Mid Wiltshire Division back in Season 2020-21, when they had again pipped Melksham Town to the title and congratulations to Corsham on securing a second league title. Corsham have also now finished in the top three in all four seasons of the Mid Wiltshire Division’s existence.  Melksham’s second place finish means they also maintained their record of finishing in the top two in each of those four seasons.

Corsham Town followed that win over Devizes with a 2-1 away win against Radstock Town in their final game thanks to two goals from Simon Gray which meant he has finished the season as the leading scorer in the Mid Wiltshire Veterans’ Division. The reply for Radstock was scored by Mike Perry.  With Melksham being awarded their final game against Warminster Town the gap at the top of the table in the end was five points which is the biggest winning margin in the four seasons completed to date.

Warminster Town and Devizes Town, two sides who play their games on grass pitches had a busy end to the season as they played catch up with their fixtures. On the same night that Corsham Town were securing the title Warminster Town were winning at home against Trowbridge Town Tigers 5-2 the score in this one. Leading scorer James Vincent helped himself to a hat-trick and there were further goals from Louis Sparey and Tom Baxter.

After that win there was still an outside chance Warminster Town could get runners-up if they could win their final two games but those hopes were ended by Devizes Town in the first of those two games, a hat-trick from Rhys Schell inspiring Devizes to a 4-2 away win which meant Warminster could no longer catch Melksham even if they were to defeat them in their final game. The other Devizes goal was scored by Paul Herman. In the end that game between Warminster Town and Melksham Town did not take place and the points were awarded to Melksham.

These two Warminster defeats then gave Devizes Town the chance to finish in third spot if they could defeat Radstock Town in their final fixture but a 3-1 defeat on Monday 13^th May meant that Warminster ended the season in that third spot and Devizes had to settle for fourth place.  On target for Radstock were Simon Millard with two and James Billing, Stephen Cambell replying for Devizes.

North Wiltshire Division

In the North Wiltshire Division there were still three teams battling out for honours when Coate and Redhouse met at the Gerard Buxton Ground on Wednesday 1^st May. A win for Redhouse, in what was their final game of the season, would have seen them crowned champions. A win for Coate followed by victory in their final game against Chiseldon would see Coate lift the title, whilst a draw would open things up for Cricklade to overtake both sides if they could then defeat Royal Wootton Bassett Town in their final game of the season. What transpired was that Coate and Redhouse both failed to find the net in their encounter that Wednesday night and had to settle for a point apiece meaning that Cricklade Town could still secure the title with a win by a margin of two or more goals in their final game.

Before that game Coate won their final game of the season against Chiseldon to go second in the table behind Redhouse. Goals from Marc Merritt and Adam Rudman, the latter taking his adjusted total for the season to 15 and third place in the final leading scorers’ chart in the North Wiltshire Division for Season 2023-24, secured the win for Coate who finished a point behind Redhouse.

Cricklade Town went into that final game against Royal Wootton Bassett Town on Wednesday 8^th May knowing that nothing less than a win was needed if they were to win the title. Any other result would also see them miss out on honours altogether, with Redhouse champions and Coate runners-up. Cricklade were three points adrift and one goal worse off in terms of goal difference compared to Redhouse going into that final game. A win by just a single goal margin would have given Redhouse the title on the basis of goal scored which would have been harsh on Cricklade given that bottom of the table Stratton Juniors had called off twice against them removing the chance to improve their goal difference in those games. Next season, due to games continuing to be awarded where teams fail to raise a side (with a much bigger fine set to be introduced), goal difference and goals scored will cease to be used as a differentiator and the Vets’ rules will mirror those of the Under 18 Floodlight Division.   In the end an impressive performance from Cricklade saw them score four unanswered goals against Royal Wootton Bassett to make sure of the title, pipping Redhouse on goal difference. That is now back-to-back league titles for Cricklade. On target for Cricklade in their 4-0 win were TJ Bohane and Jamie Richards, who both scored twice. Bohane’s two goals saw him finish just two goals behind the division’s top scorer David Pratt of Redhouse. However, had Bohane’s hat-trick against Blunsdon not been expunged due to Blunsdon’s withdrawal from the league he would have been top of the pile.

The other game played in the past fortnight in the North Wiltshire Division saw Penhill United complete their fixtures with a 2-0 win over Swindon Rovers, Jamie Ashby with both goals for Penhill who finished their first season in the league in fourth spot.

Cricklade Town North Wiltshire Veterans' Division Champions Season 2023-24

(picture courtesy of the Wilts FA)