Premier Division

Due to cup games and postponements, there were just six games played this weekend in the Premier Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League with the big game of the day being at Pewsey Recreation Ground where third in the table Pewsey Vale entertained the league leaders Kintbury Rangers. A solitary strike from Kintbury’s Kye Williams was all that separated the two sides at the break but second half goals from Jesse Bowers and a first for Danny Hale since his transfer from Blunsdon ensured Kintbury went home with all three points following a 3-0 win. With second place Wroughton in County Cup action the win for Kintbury saw them extend their unbeaten start in the league and open up a six-point lead over Wroughton, with both having played 13 games.

Melksham Town Reserves moved up to third spot in the table with a hard fought 3-2 win away against Salisbury Development on the 3G at Sarum. They started well getting an early lead on eight minutes, but Salisbury were back on level terms ten minutes later through Henry Anoma and it remained 1-1 at the break. Having scored early in the first half, Melksham repeated the trick in the second half, going to 2-1 up within a minute of the restart. For the second time in the game Salisbury levelled matters up, Dan Bazen firing in midway through the second half. There was to be late drama though, Melksham snatching a winner three minutes from time to break Salisbury hearts. There were two more goals for Kegan Smart for Melksham as he took his tally to 14 for the season, Aron Byfield with the other Melksham goal which saw Melksham move above Pewsey Vale and to within two points of second place Wroughton having played one game more.

Letcombe could well turn out to be Kintbury Rangers main challengers for the title, with games in hand over all the teams above them in the table they could move to within four points of the leaders if they won both of their games in hand. They picked up their eighth league win of the season on Saturday thanks to a storming first half performance that saw them lead 3-0 against Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development, James Webster getting the opener before two goals from Kieron Kirby put them in a commanding position. Flynn Walters pulled one back for the home side but a fourth for Kintbury scored by Dan Timbrell made sure of the points, a second for Flynn for the home side proving to be nothing more than a consolation goal as it finished 4-2 to the visitors.  

Letcombe who were 4-2 winners away at Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development

Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves have been consistently inconsistent this season but are currently having one of their better runs. Having won 2-1 at home against Shrewton United last week they made it two wins in a row with a 3-0 away success on their first ever visit to Faringdon Town. Goals from Dean Reynolds, Jack Stevens and a third of the season from Josh Hoey secured the points for the Salisbury based side who moved level on points with both Calne Town and eighth placed Kingsdown as a result of the win.

More of Tony Smith's pictures from this game can be found at www.efc.smugmug.com

Shrewton United bounced back from that defeat at the hands of Bemerton last week with a 4-1 victory over Calne Town Reserves, who lost and conceded four goals in the process for the second week running. Two quick fire goals early in the first half set them on their way. The first on 15 minutes saw a Calne defender turn a Lewis Cross shot across goal into his own net. A minute later Shrewton doubled their lead, Charlie Jackson scoring his eighth of the season. Calne managed to avoid conceding again before the break but found themselves 3-0 down six minutes into the second half, James Collins scoring with an audacious back heel after good work from Aiden Compton had set him up. Calne pulled one back 12 minutes from time but any thoughts of a comeback were ended when Lewis Cross added a fourth nine minutes from time after an assist from Ben Jenks as it finished 4-1 to Shrewton.

Larkhall Athletic Development have not had a particularly good start to the season and currently sit second from bottom in the table with just three points. The Bath based side were up against the team who started the day just above them in the table, Shrivenham and it was to be another day where things did not go the way of the Bath based side, although it had started brightly with them going 1-0 up. However, James Hirst got Shrivenham back on level terms with his fourth goal of the season as the teams turned round at the break all square. Hirst then netted a second and his fifth of the season to put Shrivenham 2-1 up before Alex Harrison made sure of the points with a third for Shrivenham. A series of injuries saw Larkhall reduced to nine men at the end of the game, with manager James Riccio having to take over in goal as Shrivenham secured their third win of the season and their second victory of the week. Larkhall will look to turn around their fortunes in midweek when they play host to another struggling side, Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development.

The league fixture between Blunsdon and Trowbridge Town and the Fountain Trophies Senior Cup tie between Kingsdown and Down Ampney were both postponed due to waterlogged pitches.

Wiltshire Senior Cup

Second in the table Wroughton meanwhile were taking a break from league action with their re-arranged Wiltshire Senior Cup tie against Amesbury Town. For some unknown reason the tie was not moved to the Weir Field as should have happened in accordance with the Wiltshire FA’s own rules which they had amended ahead of the current season. Whilst the merits of switching a game after just one postponement could be debated, that is what the revised rules stated should have happened, but these were not followed, the game being restaged at Amesbury having been initially switched to Wroughton on FA Full-Time before then being moved back to Amesbury.  If it was going to be played at Amesbury it should have been played in midweek thus avoiding the postponement of a Wessex League game and four teams in the Wiltshire Senior League having their fixtures changed at short notice. When the two sides finally got to play the game, it resulted in an entertaining affair that saw the sides share six goals, two more for Wroughton’s leading scorer Jonathan Peachey-Score taking him onto 18 for the season and one for Bonsa Teshome. With the scores tied at 3-3 it meant penalties were needed to settle matters, Wroughton winning the shootout 5-4 in sudden death, Nathan Barbato netting the winning penalty. Wroughton will now be home to Trowbridge Town in the next round.

Division One

It was a day of away wins in Division One of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League with all five league games going the way of the visitors. The series of away wins included one for league leaders Cricklade Town who were away to Lambourn Sports who are having a decent season and started the day in fifth place in the table. A first half goal from Callum Parsons saw Cricklade 1-0 up at the break. Lee Hayward added a second to put Cricklade in command and a third from Levi Cox late on, his seventh of the season, made sure of the points for Cricklade. That is now ten wins out of ten for Mani Roper’s side who should make it eleven next week when they make the short four mile journey along the B4553 to take on struggling Purton.

Cricklade Town who made it ten wins in a row to maintain their perfect start to the league season

With Down Ampney scheduled to be in cup action Bishops Cannings had the chance to move second in the table and it was mission accomplished for the Devizes based side as both Ben Haffenden and leading scorer Szymon Raczek scored twice in a 4-2 success at Stratton Juniors. Haffenden scored both his goals in the first half as Bishops Cannings led 3-1 at the break and it took a second from Raczek to add to the one he got in the first half to finally seal the points for Bishops Cannings, veteran Shane Hibbert and Ogedi Uzokwe with the two goals for Stratton.

Marlborough Town moved above Lambourn into fifth place with an emphatic 12-0 win at the Red House against Purton. There were hat-tricks for both leading scorer Jake Farrell and Tom Womersley, Farrell moving onto 13 for the season with his three. Harry Gibson bagged a brace with the other Marlborough goals coming through Ben Tylee, Harry Womersley, Zac Symons and an own goal.

Kingsdown Development picked up their third win of the season away at Bratton, a hat-trick from Josh Atwell doing the damage in a 3-1 win, a first of the season from Matthew Dew in reply for Bratton.

The other league game played saw Bradford Town Reserves return from their trip into Swindon with all three points following a 4-1 away success against Redhouse. Harry Ledbury put the visitors ahead from the penalty spot but Reece Pithers with his third of the season had Redhouse on level terms at the break. Ledbury then restored Bradford Town’s lead early in the second half before two goals from Kieran Balchin with his eight and ninth goals of the season made sure of the points for the visitors. The win saw Bradford Town move to within two points of Bratton with a game in hand.

David Grainge Saturday Trophy

Two of the Berkshire based sides were in County Cup action in the David Grainge Saturday Trophy. Kintbury Rangers Development had a comfortable passage into the next round against Bracknell Aces. Leading 3-0 at the break thanks to two goals from Charlie Allsop and one from Josh Walllin, Kintbury added two further goals through leading scorer Harry Murtagh and Sean Cook in the second half as they ran out 5-0 winners over the East Berkshire Football League side. 

Unfortunately, Shrivenham Development will not be joining them in the draw for the next round after they exited the competition, beaten 6-5 on penalties by Harchester Hawks from Division Three of the Thames Valley League, this after it had finished 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes. It was a story of missed chances for the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League side as they had enough chances to have won the tie before the need for penalties, the two they did score coming through Stephen Lepine and John Hannings.

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19 October 2024