Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
Pewsey march on at the top of the table
& big win for Frome at Corsham

Action from Frome's impressive 5-0 win at Corsham (picture courtesy of John Cuthbertson)

Pewsey Vale’s great start to the season continued on Tuesday night as they won their fifth consecutive game of the new season with a hard fought 2-1 win away at Melksham Town Reserves. Melksham had started the season with three straight defeats but their performances had indicated they were a much better side than the results would indicate and they showed that last Saturday with an impressive 6-0 hammering of one of the sides expected to be in the title race, Shrewton United. On Tuesday night it was Melksham who had the better of things in the opening half hour and deservedly took the lead with a well worked team goal finished off by Rhys Talmash who had hit four in that win over Shrewton. Pewsey twice went close to getting back on level terms, with Ollie England and Ryan Thomas both seeing their efforts well saved by the Melksham keeper to leave it 1-0 to the home side at the break. After a sustained period of pressure at the start of the second half Pewsey drew level when Liam Edmondson turned the ball into the net after a goalmouth scramble following a corner to make it 1-1. The experienced defender is in a rich vein of goal scoring form this season as the equaliser was his third of the season. Both sides created further chances but both keepers were in good form, pulling off a number of key saves to keep the scores level. With the game heading for a draw Pewsey introduced James Guthrie in a striking role and this paid dividends when he got on the end of an Ollie England cross three minutes from time to secure all three points for the league leaders and maintain their 100% record from their opening five games, opening up a five point lead at the top of the table. 

In another match played on Tuesday night, Shrewton United bounced back from that defeat on Saturday against Melksham, which had seen their run of games without a win extend to three, with a dramatic late winner against Marlborough Town. Whilst Shrewton ended that winless streak, it was a close-run thing as they came back from 3-2 down with only ten men after striker Craig Lewis had been sent off. Marlborough had taken the lead through last season’s top scorer Jake Farrell  but Shrewton got themselves back into the game thanks to a Craig Lewis penalty, his first league goal of the season. Shrewton were then awarded a second penalty and Lewis again made no mistake from the spot to put Shrewton in front for the first time. Next it was Marlborough’s turn to get themselves back into the game with an equaliser when Jake Farrell scored his second of the game to make it 2-2 before the half time break. Marlborough started the second half on the front foot and went ahead for the second time in the game with a well worked goal from Jamie Conway to make it 3-2. It looked like it was going to be another bad night for Shrewton when two goal man Craig Lewis tarnished his night’s good work from the penalty spot when he received a straight red card following an altercation and Shrewton were reduced to ten men. Despite the numerical disadvantage manager Joe Sheldrake re-organised his side and was rewarded when Conor Cutler fired in an equaliser from a free kick from 25 yards for his first goal of the season. With time running out it looked like Shrewton winless run would extend to four games and they would have to settle for a point with a second 3-3 draw of the season, but substitute James Dolman had not read that script. In the final minutes of the match Dolman broke into the opposition area and from a tight angle fired the ball into the bottom corner across goal to make the final score 4-3 to Shrewton.
Wednesday night saw Purton make the short trip to near neighbours Malmesbury Victoria Development in the knowledge that their last three visits to the Flying Mong Ground had seen them leave with all three points. They also travelled looking to defend an unbeaten start to the season but Malmesbury had themselves picked up some good results in their opening games of the season. Purton went in front on 15 minutes when Danny Hale scored on his return to the Purton line-up. However, the lead did not last long as two minutes later Malmesbury were back level Aaron Sanghera putting away a penalty to make it 1-1. It remained all square at the break. There was not much between the two sides during the second half but a second from Danny Hale ensured that Purton’s excellent run of results at the Flying Monk continued as they edged it 2-1 and climbed into fourth place in the table. Highlights of this game provided by the excellent Your Sport Swindon can be viewed either by clicking on the link below or using the link on the Your Sport Swindon page of our website.

Purton warm up ahead of their win at Malmesbury Victoria Development (picture courtesy of Mike Wray)

Shock result of the midweek fixtures was the 5-0 home defeat of Corsham Town Reserves at the hands of Frome Collegians. Corsham, last season’s league leaders at the time football was brought to a premature end, have now won just one of their opening four games. For Frome Collegians, given the strength of the opposition, this was by far their best result in the short time they have been in the league. Star of the show was Jake Wright who fired a hat-trick, Theo Sing and James Hounsell with the other goals, the latter coming from the penalty spot. The win lifted Frome Collegians into sixth spot in the table whilst Corsham slipped to tenth.

Premier Division Results


Tuesday 22 September

Melksham Town Res 1 Pewsey Vale 2

Shrewton Utd 4 Marlborough Town 3


Wednesday 23 September

Corsham Town Res 0 Frome Collegians 5

Malmesbury Vics Dev 1 Purton 2

24 September 2020