Premier Division

The weather at the back end of the week with further rain on Saturday once again played havoc with the fixtures in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League with just two fixtures in both the Premier Division and Division One of the league surviving, along with the Wiltshire Junior Cup tie involving Cricklade Town which was being played on the 3G pitch at Cirencester Town.

The two games that survived in the Premier Division were both in the south of the county and well done to the ground staff at both Bemerton Heath Harlequins and Shrewton United for getting their games on, although neither were rewarded for their efforts come the end of their respective games. At Shrewton, Shrewton United’s visitors Shrivenham continued their fine form of late that had seen them go eight games unbeaten in the league ahead of Saturday’s game. That unbeaten league run now stretches to nine games after a 3-0 victory over Shrewton who fell to a second consecutive defeat. Zac Skinner set Shrivenham on their way with the opener before two goals from Jacob Newdick completed a comfortable win for the visitors. Shrewton’s best chance of the afternoon came from the penalty spot, but Shrivenham keeper Lewis Fox saved the spot kick to ensure his side maintained a clean sheet on the way to claiming all three points. The win for Shrivenham saw them move up into the top half of the table for the first time this season. Martin Pearce was at the game with his camera and more of his excellent pictures can be found on the League Facebook Group page.

The only other game to survive in the Premier Division was at Bemerton in Salisbury where Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves visitors were Larkhall Athletic Development. When the two sides had met in Bath at the beginning of September it had finished all square at 1-1 when, at the time, Bemerton were riding high at the top end of the table. However, since then they have hit something of a sticky patch that had seen them go four games without a win in the league. That unwelcome record now stretches to five games as Larkhall returned home to Bath with all three points following a 3-0 win, two goals for Alfie Prescott and one for James Okell doing the damage for Larkhall. The win for Larkhall meant that they moved to within two points of Faringdon and within four points of Blunsdon, the two sides immediately above them in the bottom four. Tony Smith was at this game with his camera and more of Tony’s excellent pictures can be found at  www.efc.smugmug.com.

Division One

Only two games survived the wet weather in Division One but only one of the two games would go the full duration. That game saw Pewsey Vale Development pick up three welcome points with a 3-1 home win over Lambourn Sports, denying the visitors the chance to move level on points with second placed Down Ampney and Bishops Cannings in third spot. Player-manager Kierron Kiff was once again amongst the goals taking his tally for the season to nine, with further goals for Pewsey coming through Ollie Morris and Jay Roden.   

Down Ampney, already behind with their league fixtures mainly due to their County Cup exploits and a wedding, were proactive in trying to get their game on when their own pitch failed a pitch inspection Saturday morning. They managed to book a 3G pitch at Moredon so that their fixture against Redhouse could go ahead, only for the booking staff to make an error and reserve the slot for one hour instead of two, meaning that the game was called to a halt at halftime with Down Ampney leading 2-1 at the time.  Hopefully Down Ampney will not be getting charged for the use of the pitch.

Wiltshire Junior Cup

Cricklade Town staged their rearranged Wiltshire County Junior Cup game against Mere Town, originally called off due to Storm Darragh. Mere Town currently sit second in the table in the Dorset Senior League, unbeaten in their opening nine league games, seven of which have been won. On paper it looked a tough game for Mani Roper’s side but an early goal from the penalty spot on 13 minutes from Scott Chilcott settled any nerves, Chilcott winning the penalty and then taking the spot kick himself and making no mistake. Seven minutes later Cricklade doubled their lead, Callum Parsons firing in from a free kick to put Cricklade two goals up with just 20 minutes gone. Cricklade continued to press and extended their lead nine minutes before half time, Zak Robinson winning the ball before setting up Chilcott for his second of the game. That was not to be the end of the first half scoring for Cricklade, as Chilcott completed his hat-trick on the stroke of half time to give Cricklade an impressive 4-0 half time lead. A shell-shocked Mere came out for the second half determined to get themselves back in the game but Cricklade, whilst not adding to that first half tally, ensured they did not concede to progress to the last eight of the competition, joining Bishops Cannings in those quarter finals. The two teams from the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League may yet be joined by Bratton, whose Fourth Round tie is now scheduled for the first Saturday in January, when the other two sides will play their quarter final ties. Cricklade Town have been drawn away to Wilton from Division 2 of the Dorset League whilst Bishops Cannings are away to Tisbury United from the top division of the Dorset Senior League.

The full schedule of games played so far this season in the Wiltshire Junior Cup and the draw for the quarter final is shown below:

Whilst there are normally no games in the Christmas period, this season sees a break from tradition with three games scheduled to take place next Saturday. In the Premier Division Larkhall Athletic Development  are home to Trowbridge Town. This game had been scheduled for the early part of the season in September and early October but was postponed four times due to delays in finalising the new 3G at the Plain Ham Ground. When the game was postponed for the fourth time the game was moved to the Saturday between Christmas and the New Year with the message to the two clubs that if they wanted to bring it forward to a midweek date ahead of Christmas, and could agree a date, then the new date would be sanctioned. The two clubs decided to leave it as is and hopefully Larkhall will be rewarded with a large crowd. 

The other league fixture sees a local derby between Shrivenham and Faringdon Town, had again been originally scheduled for midweek in early September. However, with challenges with the light the previous week it was agreed to move it until later in the season Shrivenham suggesting the Saturday between Christmas and New Year given it would in all likelihood draw a large crowd which Faringdon agreed to. Hopefully Shrivenham will be rewarded with a big crowd as people go in search of some fresh air after the festivities.

The final game next week, subject to confirmation of the pitch being available, is in the Fountain Trophies Cup between Kingsdown and Down Ampney. The game was rearranged for this date when the original tie was postponed and was partly driven by Down Ampney’s continued involvement in the Gloucestershire County Intermediate North Cup which sees them behind with their fixtures.

Finally, as this is the last roundup before Christmas, on behalf of the Committee of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League, a happy Christmas to all involved in the league in whatever capacity.

For exclusive insight from the team managers of our clubs read Your Sport's Swindon weekly coverage of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League. For details of how to subscribe see the advert below.