Premier Division

The good news this weekend was that all eight games were played in the Premier Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League on what was a pleasant sunny afternoon in Wiltshire and the surrounding counties.

League leaders Kintbury Rangers were back in action after a week off and it was to be another good weekend for the title favourites who recorded league win number 21 of the season, defeating Calne Town Reserves  2-0 to maintain their unbeaten league record. Two first half goals from Luke Polding and Aaron Voller secured the win for the leaders who saw their lead at the top increase to 23 points due to results elsewhere. Calne Town Reserves meanwhile dropped one place in the table to 13th as a result of the defeat, six points above the potential relegation zone, but with games in hand over the sides around them.

Shrivenham  started the day in second place in the table ahead of their trip to the Sustain Stadium at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground for their game against relegation threatened Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development. The first half saw the two teams completely cancel each other out with not a single real chance on goal being created by either side in the opening 45 minutes. The game finally came to life in the very first minute of the second half, Shrivenham’s James Hirst firing just wide of the goal. Two minutes later it was the turn of the home side to go close, Flynn Walters put George Staten through in on goal, but the Shrivenham keeper Liam Keville did well to prevent his side from going behind. The home side continued to have the better of things and went close again when Finlay Skittrall got on the end of a Walters cross from the right but again Keville did well to turn the ball away. Skittrall then went within whisker of giving the home side the lead, a shot from the left-hand side of the box coming back off the far post. The ball fell nicely to Jonny Aitkenhead, but his first touch let him down and he was quickly closed down and the danger averted. At the other end James Hirst had a half chance for Shrivenham but he fired over, and it remained 0-0. A goal was coming though, and when it did come it went the way of the home side ten minutes from time. Awarded a free kick midway inside the Shrivenham half, George Lance took the kick, and his dangerous ball into the box was flicked into the back of the net by Mani Mesas for 1-0 to Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development. Shrivenham sought to get themselves back into the game but struggled to break down a resolute home defence. In the end it was to be the home side who added a second to improve their chances of survival and once again it came from a free kick. This time the award was just outside the box. Leading scorer Walters took responsibility, and his well struck free kick was pushed onto the bar by Shrivenham keeper Keville, but the ball rebounded to substitute Matthew Capel who headed into an empty net for 2-0. There was one more excellent chance for Capel late on but that was to be the end of the afternoon’s scoring as it finished 2-0 to the home side. Three vital points for Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development in their quest to avoid the drop in what the management team described as their best performance of the season coming three days before their big Wiltshire County FA Senior Cup semi final game at Swindon Supermarine against Wroughton on Tuesday night. The defeat for Shrivenham saw them drop a couple of places in the table due to results elsewhere.

More pictures from the RWBT Dev v Shrivenham game will be on the League Facebook Group Page in due course.

Letcombe are one of the sides who moved above Shrivenham taking over that second spot in the table with a hard fought 2-1 win over Bemerton Heath Harlequins, avenging the 1-0 defeat they suffered at the hands of the Salisbury based side way back in August.  Ben Cleary put them ahead after a shot from Calum Pryce had been spilled by the Bemerton keeper, the ball falling nicely for Cleary who fired his side ahead. The same player then doubled the Letcombe lead, with once again the assist coming from Pryce. His run down the wing was ended with a cross into the box which found Cleary who tapped home for 2-0. Visitors Bemerton did manage to pull one back through Sam O’Hagan but were unable to find a second as Letcombe saw out the closing stages to secure the three points that elevated them back into second place. Bemerton meanwhile are back in action in midweek when they host Bratton in the first of this season's four quarter final ties in the Fountain Trophies Senior Cup.

Kingsdown  started the afternoon in third spot in the table and were looking to make it five straight wins in the league when they entertained manager Adrian Wilkinson’s former club Wroughton in a game switched to Kingsdown School due to the ongoing issues with their pitch at Southbrook Rec. Ahead of the game Wroughton sat two points and two places below Kingsdown in the table but with a game in hand and had the chance to erase that gap. It was visitors Wroughton who got themselves in front, former Blunsdon player Nick Craft scoring on his Wroughton debut. Kingsdown got themselves back on level terms thanks to a controversial penalty award. Josh Atwell took responsibility for the spot kick but saw his penalty saved by Wroughton keeper Luke Kuczynski but Kieran O’Daly was following up and fired home to level matters up at 1-1. The second half saw Wroughton have their own claim for a penalty but this time it was turned down despite strong appeals.  Kingsdown upped their game and started to get on top and went in front for the first time in the game with a second goal from O’Daly with a well taken effort.  However, things took a turn for the worse for Kingsdown when they had Ollie While sent off for a second yellow card and they were then temporarily reduced to nine men when Josh Atwell was sent to the sin bin. Wroughton took advantage of the situation and levelled matters up following a free kick on the edge of the box, Jonathan Peachey-Score with his 28^th goal of the season. The closing minutes of the game saw neither side really look like they would get a winner as it finished 2-2 and the points were shared. Wroughton are back in action on Tuesday night for that Wiltshire County FA Senior Cup semi-final against Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development.

Two sides who have been somewhat inconsistent since the start of the new calendar year are Park United and Pewsey Vale. Both had lost the previous Saturday and were keen to get back to winning ways having slipped out of the top five. The first meeting between the two side back in October had finished all square at 2-2 and given the two sides position in the table another close contest was expected However, that did not transpire as Park United shipped six goals for the second week running on another difficult afternoon at Stanley Park. Pewsey Vale’s leading scorer Josh Fowler added two more to his tally in the 6-1 win, with further goals coming through Brandon Vincent, Connor Marsden, Andy Rossiter and an own goal, Adam Mitchell with the solitary Park United goal. The win for Pewsey saw them move above both Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves and Trowbridge Town into ninth place and to within two points of Park with two games in hand.

Trowbridge Town still have ambitions of finishing in the top five and their visitors to Woodmarsh on Saturday were relegation threatened Salisbury Development. Salisbury’s record against Trowbridge in the league going into the game was not a good one, Salisbury having lost all six of the previous encounters between the sides, and with Trowbridge having won at Letcombe last week Salisbury would have made the trip with an element of trepidation. They started well though in a first half of limited chances. Salisbury’s best effort of the half came on 17 minutes when Jack Stacy fired just over the bar. At the other end Charlie Maddison went close on 27 minutes to breaking the deadlock, a throw in from Corin Day being headed down to him by Jordan De Silva but his shot went just wide of the post. Four minutes later Day himself went close with an effort that saw Salisbury keeper Ernest Osei pull off an excellent save to deny the home side. Maddison had another chance for Trowbridge on the stroke of half time, but he shot high over the bar after good set up play from Ryan Baggs. The large crowd would not have to wait long after the break for the game’s opener though and it went the way of Trowbridge within a minute of the restart. The ball falling to Maddison 12-yards out and he fired into the bottom corner for 1-0 to the home side. Salisbury sought to get themselves back in the game and Naman Gurung went close to levelling matters up, cutting in from the left before firing in a shot that went just wide of the far post. Just after the hour mark, they twice went close again to getting that equaliser, but on both occasions were denied by great saves from Trowbridge’s young keeper Jack Amor. At the other end Trowbridge went close to a second but a goal line clearance kept the score at 1-0. Salisbury had a golden chance for the equaliser 14 minutes from time, but the effort was fired well over from the edge of the six-yard box. The goal was coming though and three minutes later parity was restored, Josh Ngombi setting up Ferhat Canlier who made no mistake this time to level matters up at 1-1. Salisbury pushed for a winner in the closing ten minutes, which would have improved their position at the bottom end of the table, but in the end had to settle for a point. This was their first ever point against Trowbridge Town and a point which may prove to be important come the final reckoning at the end of the season. Despite the point gained Salisbury slipped one place in the table and are now second from bottom. Trowbridge remain in 10th place in the table but are back in action this coming Wednesday when they visit bottom of the table Malmesbury Vics Development, a win for Trowbridge would see them climb up to sixth place and just a point below a top five position.

The form team in the division at the moment are currently Larkhall Athletic Development who have put together an impressive winning run at just the right time. They went into their game with Shrewton United on the back of four straight wins, having also beaten Blunson in that run before that game was unfortunately expunged from the record books. That winning run is now back up to five games after an impressive 3-0 win over a Shrewton side who have struggled away from home of late, that is now three defeats in a row on the road for George Plank’s side. Harley Prior put Larkhall ahead before a second from Eddy Pope doubled Larkhall’s lead. A third from Angus Williamson confirmed the three points would be going the way of the home side who climbed above Calne Town Reserves as a result of the win. With the three sides just below them in the table at the start of the day picking up points, and with just three league games to go, two of which are against top three sides, Larkhall are not safe yet but this excellent winning run has given them a strong chance of avoiding the drop.

After last week’s win against Shrewton United Faringdon Town  were looking to make it back-to-back wins and five games unbeaten when they entertained bottom of the table Malmesbury Vics Development at Tucker Park. On a difficult bumpy pitch it was actually the visitors Malmesbury who started the brighter with a free kick from Rob Collier that went just over the bar and another shot from the edge of the box that again went just over. Despite that good start it would be the home side Faringdon who got themselves in front and it came from a set-play, Liam Hares heading powerfully home from a corner, Malmesbury’s young keeper Rhys Simpkins got his hands to it but could not prevent the ball going into the net. Malmesbury went close to getting back on level terms when a curling shot from the left-hand side of the box from Jake Pinnell was turned onto the bar by Faringdon keeper Jack Gibson and the ball was then cleared to safety. Hares then went close from another Matt Pill corner for Faringdon, but his header went wide of the target and the teams turned around at the break with Faringdon holding that slender lead.  Malmesbury had a chance early in the second half to get back on level terms when the ball fell nicely for veteran Andy Wicks but his headed effort went straight to Faringdon keeper Gibson and it remained 1-0. Faringdon then went close to increasing their lead just before the hour mark, Jamie Tuck and Raymond Lovell combining to set Tuck up for a volley which struck the Malmesbury crossbar. Five minutes later Faringdon got that vital second goal and it was a fine individual goal from Tuck, his powerful run into the box ended with a well-placed low shot into the far corner of the Malmesbury net for 2-0. Any Malmesbury hope of getting anything out of the game was finally ended four minutes from time, Zac Bruce volleying home on his debut for Faringdon, as the former Blunsdon man opened his account for his new club as it finished 3-0 to Faringdon. The win for Faringdon saw them move above Salisbury in the table but with Larkhall Athletic Development and Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development both winning they remain deep in relegation trouble with a run of difficult fixtures starting with league leaders Kintbury Rangers next week before ending the season with the return fixture against Malmesbury Vics Development. Your Sport Swindon were at the game with their cameras and subscribers can view highlights of the game by clicking on the Your Sport Swindon logo below:

Division One

With Cricklade Town without a game this weekend the teams just below them in the table had another chance to close the gap to the league leaders with two games involving the four sides just below Cricklade in the table. Second in the table Devizes Town Reserves were back at home for the first time since the mysterious sink hole had appeared on their pitch which had required emergency repairs. Their visitors were Down Ampney who started the day in fifth place, six points behind Devizes but with two games in hand. A close encounter was anticipated, and it proved to be the case with the two sides sharing two goals and the points following a 1-1 draw, Tom Wynn-Davies scoring for Devizes and Harry Sealey with the reply for Down Ampney.

With Devizes dropping points, third placed Marlborough Town missed out on the chance to move into second spot when they were beaten heavily by fourth placed Bishops Cannings on the 3G at Green Lane. Two early goals in the first five minutes set Bishops Cannings on their way and they would go on to add four more to run out 6-1 winners and move to within two points of their beaten opponents although they have played two more games than Marlborough and only have three games still to play. Leading scorer Szyman Raczek led the way with a hat-trick to take his total for the season onto 29 and give him joint leadership of the Division’s top goal scorer chart. The other Bishops Cannings goals came courtesy of Oliver Barnes, Ethan Howard and Ben Haffenden.  

Three sides at the bottom end of the table all picked up maximum points in their quest to avoid the need for re-election come the end of the season. At Moredon Redhouse went someway to ensuring their safety with an impressive 3-0 win over Kingsdown Development in their local derby game. Goals from Charlie Chambers, Daniel Axford and Paul Amoni inflicted the damage for Redhouse.  

Shrivenham Development and Stratton Juniors started the day level on points just above the re-election zone. Come five o’clock Shrivenham had opened up a three-point gap over Stratton following a 4-2 win. The goals were shared around with Lewis Moklar, Kieran Sutton, Ryan Bragg and Brad Ellis all scoring one apiece for Shrivenham, Lewis Taylor and Levi Dunn replying for Stratton Juniors.

The final game of the day in the Division involved the bottom two sides and Purton  remain rooted to the bottom of the table without a point after they were beaten 4-0 by Pewsey Vale Development  thanks to two goals from Drew McIntosh, one from James Salkeld and an own goal. The win for Pewsey saw them move to within three points of Stratton Juniors with three games in hand.  

Unfortunately, Lambourn Sports were unable to raise a side for their home game against Bratton, which has added to the fixture problems for Bratton who already had a game every Saturday until the end of the season and are also still in the Fountain Trophies Cup with that trip to Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves this coming Tuesday night for their quarter final tie.

Kick-off Times

Teams are gently reminded that if you wish to change the kick-off times from those agreed at the League AGM, which is now 3:00PM at this time of year, it must be agreed with the opposition. Confirmation then needs to be provided to the Fixture Secretary that the opponents have agreed to the change. Most occasions teams will agree but FA Full Time will not be updated until confirmation of that acceptance has been seen by the league.

Registration Deadline

Clubs are reminded that the deadline for registering and transferring players for Season 2024-25 is 31st March 2025.