It was the First Round of the Fountain Trophies Cup this weekend with 13 ties scheduled although one, the game at Malmesbury Victoria Development where Calne Town Reserves were scheduled to be the visitors was postponed due to ongoing issues with the pitch.

The 12 games that took place saw several cup upsets with teams from Division One knocking out sides from the Premier Division. Two sides who are unbeaten in their league fixtures in their respective divisions met at Kintbury Recreation Ground where Premier Division leaders Kintbury Rangers entertained Division One leaders Cricklade Town. IN the league Kintbury had won ten of their opening 12 league fixtures, drawing the other two whilst Cricklade had won all nine of their opening league fixtures in Division One including a hard fought 3-2 win against Kintbury’s Development side on their last visit to the Recreation Ground. It was to prove to be a happy return visit for Mani Roper’s side as they repeated that 3-2 win albeit this time against Kintbury’s first team. The manager himself was amongst the scorers for Cricklade, Harry Ayres and Callum Parsons with the other two Cricklade goals who had led 2-0 at the break. Whilst Kintbury scored two of their own after the breakthrough Ollie Denner and Tom Beal it was not enough to prevent them falling to their first defeat of the season. Both are again in cup action next week in their respective County Cups, Kintbury Rangers are at home to near neighbours Hungerford U23, whilst Cricklade are home to Swindon & District League side Nalgo Masters in the Wiltshire Junior Cup.

Lambourn Sports are also going well in Division One this season and were another side on Saturday to defeat Premier Division opposition, Thomas Whitham scoring the only goal of the game against Shrivenham in a local derby at Lambourn Sports Club.

The third side to cause a cup upset were Bratton who, despite sitting in mid-table in Division One, inflicted a surprise 1-0 defeat of Premier Division Wroughton, who currently sit second in the table, meaning both the top two in the Premier Division crashed out of the cup at the first hurdle. The only goal of the game came when a cross from debutant Lewis Wayman was turned into his own net by a Wroughton defender.  

Two of the all-Premier Division ties required penalties to settle matters including the game at Salisbury where third placed Pewsey Vale were the visitors in a game switched to the new 3G at Sarum. Pewsey took an early lead but Narum Gurung brought Salisbury back level from the penalty spot after Omari Henry was brought down in the box. Two further goals for Pewsey saw them open up a 3-1 lead but Henry gave Salisbury hope with a second and Dillon Gurung then completed the comeback scoring with a diving header. It remained 3-3 meaning penalties were needed to settle matters, Pewsey Vale prevailing in the penalty shoot-out, winning 3-2 from the spot kicks. The Pewsey Vale scorers before those penalties were required were Josh Fowler with two, taking his total for the season to 18, and Callum Ball.

Josh Fowler who scored twice for Pewsey in their cup game with Salisbury which finished 3-3 before Pewsey prevailed in the resulting penalty shoot out 3-2

The other tie requiring penalties was at Tucker Park where Faringdon Town’s visitors were Royal Wootton Bassett Town. When the two sides had met at the same ground in the league back in August, Faringdon had won 3-1. It looked like the visitors Royal Wootton Bassett would avenge that defeat when they led 2-1 with the game moving into injury time, but a powerful volley from Adam Rudman brought Faringdon back on level terms meaning penalties were once again needed. Earlier Harry Timbrell had given Faringdon the lead, but goals from Adam House and Ryan Withers had Royal Wootton Bassett on course for victory until that late strike from Rudman. In the penalty shoot out Royal Wootton Bassett Town went first and scored from the first penalty but then missed their second. Faringdon went on to score all five of their penalty kicks to run out 5-4 winners from the spot kicks.

The all-Premier Division tie between current cup holders Melksham Town Reserves and Blunsdon ended up not being a close affair, but at half time it looked like another that could have been heading for penalties. Blunsdon led 1-0 thanks to a penalty from Eliot Wheatley as the game entered the final minute of the first 45 but two goals for Melksham in injury time at the end of the half saw Melksham turn things around to go into half time with a narrow lead. However, the second half was to be a different story as the young Melksham side hit Blunsdon with five unanswered goals to run out 7-1 winners, a score few would have predicted at half time.

There were three ties where Development sides of Premier Division clubs took on sides from the Premier Division but there were to be no shocks in these three fixtures. At Kingsdown School it was an in-house affair when Kingsdown Development took on their own Kingsdown first team with the result going as expected with the first team winning 3-1 thanks to goals from Josh Atwell, Tyler Preedy and Tyler Wilkinson, Steve Davis with the reply for the Development side.

Last season’s cup finalists and previous winners of the Fountain Trophies Cup Larkhall Athletic Development maintained their good record in the competition with a 2-0 away win over Shrivenham Development at the Ian Richardson Ground. Visitors Larkhall dominated the early stages of the game and scored twice through Thomas Dowell, with his seventh goal of the season, and Harvey Kendrick with a powerful header. Larkhall went close on several occasions, hitting the post and missing other good chances but it was just the two as the teams turned round at half time. It was a different story after the break as Shrivenham Development fought to get back into the game creating several chances of their own, but the Larkhall defence held firm, avoiding conceding to safely progress through to the Second Round.

Pewsey Vale Development from Division One were at home to Premier Division side Letcombe and goals from Ben Cleary, Jack Daley and Dan Timbrell ensured Letcombe remain fighting on all three fronts with their County Cup fixture against Burghfield set for this coming Saturday.

The game between Premier Division Park United and Division One side Stratton Juniors turned into a one-sided affair with Park running out 12-3 winners to progress to the last 16. Star of the show was Jamie Norman who scored four of the Park goals, Lewis McCarron, Charlie Norman, Adam Mitchell all bagged a brace and there were further goals from Zac Hillier and Alex Hillier. For Stratton the goal scorers were Ogedi Uzokwe with two and Daniel Bond.

The other two ties were all Division One ties and saw wins for Devizes Town Reserves and Down Ampney. Devizes Town Reserves were up against Bishops Cannings at Green Lane for the second time this season having won 3-2 in the league back in August in this most local of derbies. It was to prove to be another tight affair with Devizes edging it by the odd goal with a 2-1 win, Jordan Anning and Eoin O’Grady with the Devizes goal, substitute Ethan Howard with the reply for Bishops Cannings 13 minutes from time.

David Giles was at the game with his camera and more of David's excellent pictures from this game can be viewed on the League Facebook Group page.

The final game of the round played on Saturday was at Down Ampney where the home side entertained fellow Division One side Marlborough Town. When the two sides had met at Marlborough in the league last month it had been a one side affair with Down Ampney scoring seven times with just one in reply for Marlborough. It was a much closer affair in the second meeting of the season at Down Ampney with the home side eventually edging it by the odd goal in five, two for Connor Hibbs plus one for Harry Sealey for Down Ampney, Joe Reynolds with both the Marlborough Town goals.

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6 October 2024