Premier Division

In midweek Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development had created a cup upset in the Quarter Final of the Wiltshire Senior Cup with a well earned 2-1 home win over Jewson Western League Division One league leaders Calne Town, this after having lost to Calne’ Reserves side 5-0 in a league fixture back in September. Goals from Ryan Withers and Flynn Walters securing the 2-1 win to see Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development through to the semi-final. On Saturday they had another tough looking game against unbeaten Kintbury Rangers who started the day nine points clear at the top of the table and few would have expected them to get another result against a team leading the division. However, another strong performance saw them come away with a point following a 1-1 draw. The teams turned around at half time with the game looking for its first goal, but George Armstrong put league leaders Kintbury ahead but an equaliser from Mani Mesas ensured a share of the points. With results elsewhere Kintbury saw their lead at the top cut to eight points whilst, despite picking up an excellent point, results elsewhere saw Royal Wootton Bassett slip back into the relegation zone.

Your Sport Swindon were at the Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development v Calne Town Wiltshire Senior Cup game with their cameras in midweek and subscribers can view the highlights of the game by clicking on the link below or the link on the Your Sport Swindon page of the League Website where all other games covered by Your Sport Swindon can be accessed.

Letcombe moved up to second place in the table with a 4-1 home win over bottom of the table Malmesbury Victoria Development who, despite their lowly position in the table, made it hard for the home side, particularly in the first half. In the end goals from Archie Brew, Ben Cleary, Jordan Davies and player manager Luke Stone gave Letcombe the points, Lewis King with the Malmesbury goal.

With Melksham Town Reserves inactive this weekend, and with Wroughton in County Cup action, Park United had the chance to move up into the top three with a win against Calne Town Reserves in a local derby game at Stanley Park. In midweek they had given an excellent performance in a Wiltshire Senior Cup tie away against Step 6 side Warminster Town, pushing their higher-level opponents all the way, leading 3-1 at one stage in the second half. However, a storming finish from the Jewson Western League side had eventually seen them win 5-3 so there was to be no cup upset on the night but Park United had given a good account of themselves. Two more goals for leading scorer Lewis McCarron for Park in the cup tie saw him move onto 16 for the season, Ben Pring with the other Park goal. Whether that cup encounter had taken too much out of the Park United side is unclear, but they were surprisingly beaten 5-2 by Calne Town Reserves on Saturday to miss out on that chance to move into the top three. Star of the show for Calne was Jack Smith who scored four goals to take his total for the season to 15, Lewis Royston with the other Calne goal, Jamie Norman and Adam Mitchell with the Park United goals.

Pewsey Vale also missed out on a chance to move into the top three when they were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by Salisbury Development in a game switched to Pewsey late on in the week due to ongoing issues for Salisbury in securing a pitch. It was a tale of two first half penalties, James Guthrie putting Pewsey ahead from the spot on ten minutes and Daniel Bazen replying for Salisbury with another penalty seven minutes before the break. Pewsey remain in sixth place in the table with Salisbury three points above the relegation zone in 13^th place.

Moving out of the relegation positions are Blunsdon who picked up a surprise 3-2 away win against a Kingsdown side who had defeated them 7-0 on their own patch just a fortnight ago. Goals from Joe Broadbank and Joe English put Kingsdown 2-0 up but Blunsdon pulled one back before half time and then scored two more in the second half to complete the turn around. Two goals for Eliot Wheatley and one from Nick Craft securing the points for Blunsdon.

Last season Shrivenham had struggled at the start of the season but turned things around in the second half of the season. It feels like Groundhog Day again this season, a poor start by Shrivenham has been completely turned around again as they made it six games unbeaten in the league, five of which have been won, with a 4-2 away victory at Larkhall Athletic Development to complete a league double over their Bath based opponents. On target for Shrivenham were Jacob Newdick with two, James Hirst and Josh Seller.

There was one game in the Second Round of the Fountain Trophies Cup, with Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves entertaining Faringdon Town. Faringdon have yet to pick up a point on the road in the league this season, losing all six of their away games but went close to ending that barren run on their travels in this cup game. However, in the end they were once again on the wrong end of a result, going down to a 3-2 defeat with a late winning goal for Bemerton coming courtesy of an own goal, the second own goal conceded by Faringdon on the day. The goal credited to a Bemerton player came from Hayden Wells, Max Wills and Adam Rudman scoring for Faringdon which saw the game neatly balanced at 2-2 but the Faringdon keeper unfortunately punched a corner from Ryan Scott into his own net to give Bemerton the win that sees them through to the Quarter Final stage.

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

On Tuesday night Melksham Town Reserves were looking to cause another side looking to cause a cup upset in the Quarter Final of the Wiltshire Senior Cup when they made the short journey to take on Devizes Town from the Jewson Western League. Devizes led 2-0 at the break and, despite scoring two of their own in the second half Melksham were unable to get the better of their Step 6 opponents who scored two more to run out 4-2 winners on the night, Kegan Smart and Leo Rendell with the Melksham goals. The four Devizes goals were scored by Leigh Rogers, Rhys Talmash, Josh Parsons and Dan Skinner.

More of David Giles excellent pictures from the Devizes Town v Melksham Town Reserves Wiltshire Senior Cup tie can be found on the Devizes Town website which can also be accessed from a link on the League Facebook Page.

The final Quarter Final in the Wiltshire Senior Cup was on Saturday at Wroughton where Trowbridge Town were the visitors in an all Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League tie which guaranteed the league a second semi-finalist. Wroughton started brightly and went close to scoring in the very first minute of the match, Jono Peachey-Score seeing his effort turned round the post by Zak Beard in the Trowbridge goal. At the other end, an individual run by Ben Wickens down the right saw him cut in and hit a shot that was deflected over for a corner.  With just 11 minutes on the clock, Peachey-Score went close again his shot from the edge of the box going just wide with keeper Beard being adjudged to have got a hand to it again. After going close on a couple of occasions it was no surprise that it was the home side who went in front and it was an absolutely stunning goal from Aaron Maximen, controlling a cross from David Murray initially on his chest and then his thigh and then hitting an unstoppable shot past Beard from the edge of the area. Wroughton continued to press and twice Beard was forced to make saves to deny them, firstly from a shot by Max Scholefield and then Peachey-Score with another shot from just outside the area. A minute later Peachey-Score went close again heading just over from a cross from the left. Wroughton went close again shortly after, Alex Hammond shooting just wide as he cut in from the right-hand side of the box. Despite this pressure it was to be Trowbridge who got the second goal of the game, George Bendle firing in after a Jamie Jordan corner was only half cleared and fell to him just inside the box. Two minutes before the break Peachey-Score had another chance but it went straight to Beard in the Trowbridge goal and it remained all square at the break. It remained that way until just before the hour mark, and again the goal came from a corner kick. A group of players challenged for the ball in the air and the ball seemed to come off the shoulder of Maximen and end up in the Trowbridge net for his second of the game to give Wroughton a 2-1 lead. Two minutes later there was a bad challenge by Tom Gilbert on Peachey-Score which on another day could have seen a red card shown but to the relief of the Trowbridge player it was just a yellow. Wroughton then scored a third and what turned out to be the final goal of the game, Maximen going from scorer to provider setting up Peachey-Score to make it 3-1. Trowbridge threw everything forward, putting some dangerous long throws into the box but Wroughton safely saw out the final minutes to join Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development, Devizes Town and Warminster Town in the semi-final. Your Sport Swindon were at the game with their cameras and subscribers can view the highlights of the game by clicking on the link below or the link on the Your Sport Swindon page of the League Website where all other games covered by Your Sport Swindon can be accessed.

More of pictures from the Wroughton v Trowbridge Town game can be found on the League Facebook Page.

Division One

Cricklade Town had gone 12 games unbeaten in Division One of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League ahead of Saturday’s trip to Marlborough Town. Marlborough meanwhile had hit a bit of a rough patch and had lost three consecutive games, two in the league and one in the Wiltshire Junior Cup. However, the form book was turned upside down at Elcot Lane on Saturday as Marlborough inflicted a first defeat of the season on Cricklade, securing a 3-2 win over the league leaders. Goals from Kieran Maidment, Oli Hawkins and Jamie Baxter did the damage for Marlborough, Lee Hayward and Harry Ayres with the Cricklade goals. Cricklade remain five points clear at the top but have played one more game than second placed Down Ampney, with the two sides set to meet on Tuesday night at Cirencester Town in a crucial game at the top of the table.

With Cricklade losing Bishops Cannings could have reduced their lead at the top with a win away at Lambourn Sports, who are also in the promotion mix at the top of Division One. Bishops Cannings scored twice in the first 15 minutes but two goals from Lambourn’s leading scorer Lewis Shaw meant the points were shared, 2-2 the final score. Bishops Cannings moved level on points with Down Ampney but have an inferior goal difference and have also played four more games. Lambourn meanwhile remained in sixth spot.

Bratton are one of the form teams in the division and made in six wins in their last seven games in all competitions with an 8-1 demolition of Redhouse on their own ground. Jack Booth enjoyed his afternoon hitting four for Bratton, with the other goals coming from Jack Hayward, Joe Whiteman, Joe Edwards and Max Bishop, Jamie Axford with the consolation goal for Redhouse. The teams go again at the same venue next week when they meet in the Second Round of the Fountain Trophies Senior Cup.

At the bottom end of the table, Stratton Juniors who have strengthened their squad in recent weeks, made it two wins on the bounce with a 5-1 home success over Pewsey Vale Development. Lewis Taylor scored twice for Stratton, with Ryan Welland, Dan Peapell and Ben Wells also finding the net for the Swindon based side, Dominic Terrett with the reply for Pewsey. The win for Stratton opened up an eight point gap over their beaten opponents, although Pewsey have two games in hand.

The final game of the day in Division One saw Shrivenham Development and Kingsdown Development share the points following a 1-1 draw at the Ian Richardson Football Ground, Alex Harrison put the home side Shrivenham ahead but Toby Tew scored an equaliser for Toby Tew.

Kintbury Rangers Development meanwhile were in County Cup action in the Third Round of the David Grainge Junior Trophy. Two goals from leading scorer Harry Murtagh saw Kintbury safely through to the Quarter final following a 2-0 win over Slough Heating Laurencians Reserves. The goals for Murtagh saw him move top of the Division One goal scoring chart.

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16 November 2024