County Cup Semi Final

The first cup finalist of the 2024-25 Season is now known but penalties were needed to break the deadlock in the Wiltshire FA Veterans’ County Cup semi final between Bishops Cannings, from the Mid Wiltshire Division, and ExIntel, from the North Wiltshire Division, on Friday night. At the end of 50 minutes, the efforts of the two sides had failed to produce a single goal meaning penalties were needed to decide who would make it through to the cup final which is set for Friday 21^st February. The penalty shoot out saw ExIntel hold their nerve with a 4-2 spot kick victory to reach the final where they will meet either cup holders Nationwide or last season’s beaten finalist Cricklade Town, in what will be an all North Wiltshire Division final for the second season running.

The second semi final between Nationwide and Cricklade Town is scheduled for this coming Tuesday evening at New College. The full details of the cup competition to date are shown below:

League Games

The wet weather at the beginning of the week followed by a cold snap from the middle of the week took its toll on the league fixtures, with just one game played in the Mid Wiltshire Division and four games in the North Wiltshire Division. The one game played in the Mid Wiltshire Division saw Chippenham Town Youth pick up their second win of the season, a solitary goal from Craig Fisher four minutes from the end was enough to give Chippenham the points against Trowbridge Town Tigers who have now lost five games in a row in all competitions after their encouraging start to the season. The games on grass at Melksham Town and Radstock Town, and on Wednesday on the 3G at Bulford, all fell victim to the weather.

In the North Wiltshire Division ExIntel  had warmed up for that cup semi final with a league fixture on the Tuesday night at Moredon against bottom of the table FS Swindon. It would be a double victory in the week for ExIntel as suffered a surprise defeat, going down 3-2 to give an improving FS Swindon their first win of the season. On target for FS Swindon were Calum Dunn, Tom Brown and Niall Fegan, with Richard Wells and Matthew Gumm replying for ExIntel. The win for FS Swindon saw them move above Stratton Juniors in the table, with Stratton Juniors now the only team in the division without a win so far this season.

Stratton Juniors were in action on Wednesday night but fell to a 4-0 defeat at Moredon against Penhill United with Penhill scoring three times in the first half through Jamie Ashby, who bagged a brace, and Harry Etheridge, to put themselves in a commanding position at the break. Penhill eased up in the second half but were able to add one more, Etheridge getting his second of the game to make sure of all three points for Penhill who move to within a point of ExIntel in fourth place with two games in hand.

The week ends with new leaders at the top of the North Wiltshire Division. Nationwide returned to the top of the table following a hard fought 2-1 win against a much improved Chiseldon at New College on Tuesday night. It was 0-0 at the break as the two defences came out on top in the opening half but the deadlock was finally broken three minutes into the second half, Neil Snow firing in his fifth league goal of the season and take his overall total to eight for the campaign. Paul Stonehouse then added a second for Nationwide to take his own total for the season into double figures. Chiseldon pulled one back through their leading scorer Adam O’Keeffe with his sixth goal of the season but that was to be the end of the night’s scoring as Nationwide maintained their unbeaten start to the season and move a point ahead of Redhouse at the top of the table.

The game on Wednesday on the 3G at the Gerard Buxton Ground on Wednesday involving title chasing Cricklade Town was another game to fall victim to the weather, as the facility was taken out of action by the landlords due to the icy conditions.

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