Fountain Trophies Senior Cup

The final quarter final game in the Fountain Trophies Cup was played in midweek where Larkhall Athletic Development were looking to progress to the semi-final stage of the competition for the third consecutive season, having won the cup two seasons ago and then been beaten finalists’ last season. Their opponents were Division One side Down Ampney who were looking to join fellow Division One sides Cricklade Town and Lambourn Sports in the semi final. Larkhall have been in tremendous form of late which has seen them move out of the relegation zone, but they were not at their best in this cup encounter. Harley Prior put Larkhall 1-0 ahead but Down Ampney pulled one back through George Bailey. Second half saw Larkhall regain the lead when James Horrocks got on the end of a Ben Riccio cross to put the home side 2-1 ahead. A stunning equaliser from Harvey Coster brought Down Ampney back level and a strong defensive display saw them see out the remainder of the game without conceding again as it finished 2-2, meaning penalties would be needed to settle matters. It was Down Ampney who held their nerve scoring all five of their penalties whilst Larkhall missed their third one to bow out of the competition 4-5 on penalties. Down Ampney will now be home to Premier Division side Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves in the semi-final whilst Cricklade Town are home to Lambourn Sports in the other semi-final. Full details of this season's Fountain Trophies Cup to date is shown below:

Premier Division

There was also one league game in midweek, and it saw Kintbury Rangers secure yet another victory, win number 23 of the season, with a 4-1 away success at Malmesbury Victoria Development. Kye Williams was the player who inflicted the damage on the Vics helping himself to a hat-trick, two for him in the first half seeing Kintbury lead 2-1 at the break, William Goodey with the Malmesbury goal. Williams then completed his hat-trick in the second half before a late goal from Sean Cook gave the score a more flattering look on a night when Kintbury had been made to work hard for the three points by the team at the bottom of the table. The win meant that Kintbury could potentially then win the league on Saturday if they were to win and their only rivals for the title Letcombe dropped points. However, things did not quite go to plan for Kintbury at the weekend. Williams carried on where he left off in midweek putting Kintbury 1-0 up at the break in their game against Park United. However, second half goals for Park from Nick Chandler and Jake Angell turned things around as Park secured a come from behind win to inflict the first league defeat of the season on Kintbury.

Letcombe kept their mathematical chance of pipping Kintbury to the title alive, although it would need a dramatic end of season collapse from Kintbury for Letcombe to overtake the leaders, with a hard fought 2-0 win over Melksham Town Reserves. Kieran Kerby fired Letcombe in front following a goalmouth scramble and a second from Archie Brew curling a shot into the top corner of the net made sure of the three points for Letcombe. Letcombe now make the short trip across to the other side of the M4 on Tuesday night to play Kintbury knowing that a defeat will see Kintbury crowned as champions.

Pewsey Vale have returned to form at just the right time, Mark Field’s side picking up their third straight win on Saturday with a 5-0 away victory at Calne Town Reserves. Star of the show was Josh Fowler, Pewsey’s leading marksmen scoring four more goals taking his adjusted total for the season in all competitions to 29, and sole leadership of the Premier Division goal scoring chart, Andy Rossiter with the other Pewsey goal. The win for Pewsey saw them move up to fourth place in the table, three points behind Kingsdown with a game in hand. Calne Town Reserves meanwhile, with just one win in their last eight league games, have slipped down to 14^th place, just above the relegation zone and whilst they have games in hand over the other sides in the relegation battle they need to bring their recent poor run to an end quickly if they are to ensure they have no relegation concerns hanging over them in the final month of the season.

Shrewton United remained within touching distance of the top five, where such a finish could potentially elevate them to Step 6 were the FA to promote two sides from the division come the end of the season, something they have not done in recent seasons but potentially could do if short of numbers at the higher level. Shrewton were away at Shrivenham and a solitary second half strike form Solomon Sale was enough to give Shrewton all three points, and their fourth away win of the season. That win for Shrewton sees them sit in seventh place in the table just one point below fourth placed Pewsey Vale and one point below their beaten opponents Shrivenham who dropped to fifth place following the defeat.

The three main teams involved in the battle to avoid the drop, Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development, Salisbury Development and Faringdon all put in strong performances on Saturday but unfortunately for Faringdon Town  they were to suffer yet another agonising narrow defeat on the road against Kingsdown, who remain in third spot in the table as a result of their 2-1 win. Goals from Aiden Miller and Josh Atwell secured the three points for Kingsdown, Matthew Bibby having brought Faringdon back level after they had gone behind early in the game. Faringdon now have just three games left to play, all away from home with them yet to win on the road this season. They are now two points below Salisbury having played one game more and six points adrift of Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development.

Salisbury Development  and Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development both picked up impressive big wins against higher placed opposition on Saturday. Salisbury’s young side have not had many opportunities to play at the Ray Mac this season, but the club have permitted both their penultimate and final home games of the season to be played on the hallowed turf rather than the 3G at Bulford. On Saturday Salisbury’s penultimate home game saw them entertain Wiltshire Senior Cup finalists Wroughton and the young Salisbury side certainly enjoyed their afternoon back on home turf. It started well for Nick Edwards young Salisbury side, Harry Guy firing them ahead with just eight minutes on the clock. Salisbury extended their lead just before the half hour mark after Guy was pulled down in the box in an incident which saw the Wroughton player sent off. Naman Gurung took the resulting penalty to fire Salisbury 2-0 ahead and it remained that way at the break. Salisbury extended their lead within two minutes of the restart, Ferhat Canlier scoring for the third consecutive game. Wroughton pulled one back to make it 3-1, but Salisbury took full advantage of the extra man to open up a four goal lead with further strikes from Jerry Forson and a second for Canlier to make it 5-1. Wroughton pulled one back for a second time before an injury time sixth for Salisbury from Dillon Gurung rounded off a great afternoon for the young Salisbury side against the Wiltshire Senior Cup finalists, 6-2 the final score. The two Wroughton goals were scored by former Blunsdon player Jamie Pidgeon and Shane Hibbert. The win saw Salisbury move above Faringdon Town in the table.

Trowbridge Town  are the third team in the division who have applied for promotion and whilst they started the day down in eighth place in the table, they were just three points off third placed Kingsdown with seven games to go with expectations of a top five finish. It was to be an afternoon to forget for Wayne Thorne’s side though, as they conceded seven goals for the second time this season. A rampant Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development side led 4-0 at half time on the 3G thanks to goals from Finn Skittrall, Max Spackman, Oliver Smith and Dylan Griffin. They continued where they left off in the second half scoring three more, Spackman getting his second of the game, with further goals from Mani Mesas and Flynn Walters. Trowbridge’s cause was not helped by having Jordan De Silva sent off, but they did manage a consolation goal through Corin Day as it finished 7-1. Trowbridge will just need to write this off as a bad day at the office as they are still just three points off a top five place with six games to play. The impressive win for Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development did their chances of survival a power of good as it saw them move above Calne Town Reserves in the table on goal difference and also meant they remained four points ahead of Salisbury Development, who have a game in hand, and who they still have to play next month.

Division One

The original fixture list issued to clubs back in July had teams playing their final games of the season in Division One this Saturday, but a combination of the bad weather and cup runs means that April is once again going to be a busy month. It was very much as you were at the top of the table with wins for all of the top three teams.

Leaders Cricklade Town  were away at Pewsey Vale Development who are battling to get out of the re-election zone. First half goals from Chris Jackson and Parker Fisher saw Cricklade go into the break two goals to the good. They were unable to add to their tally in the second half but had done enough in that first half to maintain their six-point lead at the top of the table.

Second placed Devizes Town Reserves were biggest winners of the day, putting eleven goals past bottom side Purton to improve their goal difference. As had been the case last week, Purton had something of a second half collapse. Trailing 3-1 at the break they then conceded eight unanswered goals in the second half. Jordan Anning led the way for Devizes scoring five of their goals to take his tally for the season to 26, Tom Wynn-Davies bagged a hat-trick and there were further goals from Liam Moffat, Joseph Muir and Logan Anning, Jacob Ryan with that first half goal for Purton.

Bishops Cannings were playing their penultimate fixture of the season when they entertained Kintbury Rangers Dev at Green Lane, the 3G pitch at Green Lane assisting with ensuring that they were the closest side to completing their fixtures by the original scheduled date. They trailed to a Bernardo Martinez goal at half time but turned things around in the second half. Ethan Howard brought them back level 18 minutes from time and then Harry Drewitt notched his 17^th goal of the season to give Bishops Cannings all three points. Bishops Cannings remain in third spot for now, but Down Ampney who trail them by just three points, have seven games in hand due to going deep into both their cup competitions this season.

Down Ampney are now up to fourth spot after an impressive 6-0 win over Marlborough Town, the side that started the day just above them in the table. There were two more goals for Charlie McCuish taking his tally for the season to 29 which saw him join Josh Parsons and Szyman Raczek as the division’s leading scorers, Paddy Cripps, Harry Sealey, Connor Hibbs and a first of the season for Dylan Jones from the penalty spot with the other Down Ampney goals.

Redhouse’s run of two unbeaten games was brought to an abrupt end at Bratton, the home side inflicting a third heavy defeat of the season on Redhouse. Having won 8-1 away at Redhouse in the league and then 7-1 in the Fountain Trophies Cup in a game that had originally been abandoned at half time with Bratton again holding a big lead, Bratton hit another seven goals without reply on Saturday to complete a treble of big wins. Three more for leading scorer Jack Booth plus further goals from Brandon Thompson, Louis Wilkins, Max Bishop and Lewis Wayman doing the damage for Bratton and Redhouse will be relieved that they do not have to play Bratton again this season.

At the bottom end of the table Shrivenham Dev  increased the gap between them and Stratton Juniors to nine points by beating them 2-0 which should end any worries of dropping into the re-election zone, Kieran Sutton and Lewis Mokler with the two Shrivenham goals.

The Bradford Town Res v Lambourn Sports fixture was abandoned by the referee due to indiscipline by the away side with Bradford leading 1-0 at the time thanks to a Harry Ledbury goal. The game will now need to be discussed by the Discipline Committee once the full referee’s report has been received and the FA have adjudicated on the abandonment.

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