Despite the bad weather at the back end of the week it was another good week in the Under 18 Floodlight Division with three of the four scheduled games played and the division is by far the most advanced this season in terms of the percentage of games completed, with over 72% of the league games now played.

On Monday night Kintbury Rangers were able to play their home game against Westbury United on grass at the Recreation Ground and were rewarded for the groundsman’s efforts with their fifth win of the season, a 4-0 victory over Westbury Youth to complete a league double over their beaten opponents having won 2-1 at Green Lane back in November. The win for Kintbury saw them move to within three points of Bishops Cannings in sixth spot with a game in hand.

The same night Devizes Town were looking to make it three wins in a row when they entertained Calne Town at Green Lane on the 3G. When the sides had met earlier in the season Calne Town had edged a close goal by the odd goal in a 3-2 win and were hoping to complete a league double over Devizes. It was to be another night that went Calne Town’s way as they brought Devizes winning run to an end, defeating their opponents 4-2 on their own pitch to complete that league double. The win for Calne saw them move to within four points of their beaten opponents with three games in hand.  

The big game of the week was on Friday night with the two sides who had dropped the least number of points, Radstock Town and FC Chippenham, meeting at Stanley Park. Indeed, Radstock went into the game with a perfect record with nine wins from their opening nine fixtures, whilst FC Chippenham had only dropped points in their opening nine games against Devizes Town, losing 5-3 at Green Lane just before Christmas. A tight game was anticipated, and it proved to be just that as the two sides went into injury time with the match without a goal. However, there was to be a winner as Radstock Town broke the deadlock in the first minute of injury time to maintain that perfect start to the season and ruin FC Chippenham’s night. The win for Radstock saw them move three points clear at the top of the table having played three games less than the second placed team Swindon Supermarine. Chippenham are now six points adrift of the league leaders having played the same number of games. Whilst Radstock are clearly in the driving seat in the title race they still have some tricky games to come with both Calne Town and Swindon Supermarine to play twice along with the return fixture against FC Chippenham.

26 January 2025