Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
Premier Division Preview Season 2019-20
No. 2 - Kintbury Rangers & Stratton Juniors
With the new 2019-20 Season almost upon us, we look forward to the new season with a brief look at each of the teams in the Premier Division for Season 2019-20. The preview is based on pre-season discussions with the respective team managers as they look forward to the coming season. Each preview will look at two teams and today the two featured teams are Kintbury Rangers and new club Stratton Juniors.
Kintbury Rangers
Picture courtesy of John Cuthbertson
Season 2018-19 Position
Last season Kintbury fell just short of defending the title they had won in their first season in the league, finishing as runners-up to Wroughton in Season 2018-19. However, they had the consolation of lifting the Fountain Trophies Cup defeating Wroughton 3-2 in an entertaining cup final at Corsham Town.
In the Dugout
There will be two new managers in the dugout this coming season with James Mandry and Liam Thorne taking over as joint managers from Michael McNally who is now managing Hellenic Division 2 side, Letcombe. James and Liam were both key players in Kintbury’s title winning season in 2017-18, with Liam also being a regular feature in the Kintbury side last season. Both will be signed-on as player managers but the extent to which they need to play themselves will depend on circumstances during the season. We spoke with James ahead of the coming season.

Jame’s Aspirations for Coming Season
James noted that the bigger focus this coming season is the progression of the club to facilitate a climb back up the National League System, having previously played at both Step 5 and 6 in the Hellenic League in the past. Having won the Wiltshire Senior League title once and then finished runners-up, and having also won the cup last season, the club are keen to progress and will be aiming to win the league again this coming season and expect to be there or thereabouts in the title race. Behind the scenes work will be carried out to develop the ground to enable entry into the FA Vase next season and potential promotion to Step 6.

Who Does James Expect to be Title Challengers?
James is hoping that his and Liam’s side can once again challenge for honours for the third season in a row and expects to see a group of familiar sides as being their main rivals. He noted that Wroughton are always there or thereabouts, Shrewton United are always strong and Melksham Town Reserves have been strong in the two seasons that Kintbury have been in the league. Liam noted that it will be interesting to see what sort of Reserve side Melksham will have this season with the change of first team manager. The three new sides will be a bit of an unknown quantity, but James expects there to be 5 or 6 sides battling it out at the top of the table this season.

Key Summer Signings
Two of last seasons’ potent Kintbury attack have been picked up by National League South side Hungerford Town in the summer based on their performances last season, with both Ally Thorp and George Smith looking to make the transition from Step 7 to Step 2 of the National League System. In fact, Kintbury have now established great links with Hungerford and in return will have two players from their Academy, Elliott King and Ryan Allan, in their ranks this coming season. The majority of the rest of the First Team squad from last season have been retained including the Premier Division’s top scorer from last season Shaun Thorp. In addition, Charlie Allsop, their top scorer from their championship winning season, when he hit 38 goals, returns to First Team action after a season of injury trouble to partner Thorp up front. Experienced midfield enforcer Danny Lachacz has joined from Royal Wootton Bassett Town where he made 30 appearances in the Hellenic Premier last season, having also previously played for Thatcham Town, Hungerford Town and Wantage Town. Another ex-Thatcham player who has joined from Newbury is striker Russell Benham, who scored 33 goals as Newbury won the Thames Valley Premier Division title last season. There is certainly a lot of competition for places and the challenge for James and Liam will be keeping everybody happy.
The league's top scorer last season Shaun Thorp (first picture) will be back to terrorise defences this season and will be joined by the fit again Charlie Allsop (second picture). New signing Danny Lachacz (third picture) will strengthen the midfield.
Games James is Most Looking Forward To
James is looking forward to all the games but particularly enjoys the encounters with Wroughton, Shrewton United and Melksham Town Reserves, when generally there is a lot at stake in the games between the sides.

Bogey Side
In their short time in the league the two teams which Kintbury do not have a better record over are Wroughton and Cricklade Town, winning just one of the four league games against each opponent. Kintbury did beat Wroughton in last season’s cup final, but in league meetings Wroughton are 2-1 ahead with one drawn game, whilst Cricklade have drawn twice with Kintbury and it is one win a piece.

Pre-Season
Pre-season has seen Kintbury test themselves against higher league opposition as well as playing a couple of sides from lower down in the pyramid. They opened with a 4-0 win over local rivals Lambourn Sports. They have then played three sides from the Sydenhams Wessex League, beating Pewsey Vale 4-2, drawing 1-1 with Step 5 side Amesbury Town and losing 3-1 to Laverstock & Ford. They also lost narrowly against Hungerford Town Academy and Newbury Town and defeated Kingsclere 6-3 in the other game played at the time of writing this review.

Opening Fixtures
Kintbury open with the visit of Malmesbury Victoria Dev who left the Recreation Ground with a point last season and end the month with a trip to Cricklade. The full August fixtures are:

Sat 17-08-2019 Malmesbury Vics Dev (H)
Tue 20-08-2019 Ludgershall Sports (H)
Sat 24-08-2019 Frome Collegians (A)
Tue 27-08-2019 Marlborough Town (H)
Sat 31-08-2019 Cricklade Town (A)
Stratton Juniors
Season 2018-19 Position
Stratton Juniors are one of three new sides in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League for Season 2019-20. Their second-place finish in the Premier Division of the Swindon & District League in Season 2018-19 enabled them to gain promotion to the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League. As well as their league success, Stratton Juniors also won the prestigious Wiltshire Junior Cup last season and come into the league on a high after last season’s successes. The club are based at Meadowcroft in Swindon and fill the void that has existed for a number of seasons now, which saw no Central Swindon based side in the County’s Senior league. In the past Swindon clubs had formed a large constituent part of the league but the league had been without a Swindon based side since Season 2014-15.

In the Dugout
Last season’s successful manager Craig Bright remains in charge for their new adventure at the higher level this coming season. He will be assisted in the dugout by Paul Parsons, a former player whose goalscoring exploits in the mid 1990’s appear in the history section of the league website.

Craig’s Aspirations for Coming Season
In terms of aspirations for the coming the season the main one for Craig is for his side to make the step-up to the higher level, hold their own and have an enjoyable season, doing the best they can against the new clubs that they will be meeting.

Who Does Craig Expect to be Title Challengers?
Being new to the league this was a tough question to the manager of a side who has yet to play most of the sides in the league.  Craig noted that he had heard good things about Frome Collegians, so expected them to do well. Wroughton, having won the league last season and made the cup final are expected to be strong again. Corsham Town Res having gone unbeaten at home last season could be up there again this season.

Key Summer Signings
The key for Craig during the summer was to retain the players who had been so successful last season in finishing runners-up in the Premier Division of the Swindon & District League and winning the Wiltshire Junior Cup. Amongst the squad there is quite a bit of Wilts League experience and a tight knit group who enjoy playing for the current management team. This team spirit should stand them in good stead for the coming season.

Games Craig is Most Looking Forward To
Being a new side to the league, Craig is looking forward to all of the games, with new opponents and new grounds to visit.

Bogey Side
Yet to be discovered.

Pre-Season
Pre-season has gone well with high levels of turnout at training. Pre-season matches has seen them play two Hellenic Division Two sides, drawing 1-1 with Highworth Town Reserves and beating Shrivenham Town Dev 6-2.

Opening Fixtures
It is a bit of a baptism of fire for Stratton as they start the season by playing two of last season’s top three in the first month and also have to travel to play Corsham Town Res at the Southbank, where no side came away with all three points last season.

Sat 17-08-2019 Marlborough Town (H)
Tue 20-08-2019 Purton (A)
Sat 24-08-2019 Shrewton Utd (H)
Tue 27-08-2019 Wroughton (H)
Sat 31-08-2019 Corsham Town Res (A)

The two teams to be featured tomorrow in the season preview are Cricklade Town and Trowbridge Town.

Just a reminder to all Premier Division teams that, in accordance with league rules (Rule 18(B)(ii)), for the first game of the season teams need to register a player by 3pm on Wednesday 14th August if they require them to play on Saturday 17th August.

Thursday 08 August 2019
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