Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
 Bradford Town Close In,
RWBT Beat Blunsdon to Go 3rd

Royal Wootton Bassett Town who were 4-0 winners over Blunsdon to go 3rd in the North Wiltshire Veterans' Division

After 11 days of inactivity across the various divisions in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League, the week before Christmas finally saw a return to action with four Veterans’ games played. Three of those games were in the Mid Wiltshire Division with the action getting under way on Monday night with a big game at the top end of the table between Devizes Town and Bradford Town. Both teams went into the game with identical records of five wins, one draw and one defeat from their opening seven games and were looking to close the gap to the leaders Melksham Town whose game against Chippenham Town had been postponed by their opponents. Bradford Town’s only defeat so far this season had come at the hands of Devizes on the opening day of the season, when Devizes edged a seven-goal thriller by the odd goal. On Monday night Bradford Town avenged that earlier defeat with a 3-1 success thanks to goals from Waleed Bakali, Mark Robinson and Nicholas Ross, Robinson and Ross both taking their total for the season into double figures, Steve Bush with the consolation goal for Devizes Town. The win for Bradford Town saw them climb two places in the table to second spot, just two points behind leaders Melksham Town with a game in hand.

Mark Robinson, seen here playing for Trowbridge Town last season, took his goal tally into double figures  with a goal against Devizes (picture courtesy of Gary Caldicott)

Tuesday evening saw two close games between sides who started the evening in similar positions in the table. Both Westbury United and FC Calne started the night on 13 points with just two defeats in their opening seven games and knowing a win for either side would see them move level on points with third placed Devizes Town. It was tight affair all evening and a solitary first half goal from Westbury’s Wayne Wheeler was all that separated the two sides at the final whistle. The win for Westbury saw them take over from Devizes in that third spot on goal difference in what is shaping up to be a fascinating title race in the Mid Wiltshire Veterans’ Division.

At the other end of the table, just two points and a place separated Amesbury Junior Badgers and Trowbridge Town Tigers ahead of their return match on Tuesday with the two sides having met for the first time a month ago. That first meeting of the season had seen the Badgers take a mauling from the Tigers, going down 10-1. It was a much closer contest in the return game with the sides turning round at the break with the game still looking for its first goal. The deadlock was finally broken ten minutes from time, Amesbury Junior Badgers’ Richard Taylor scoring what turned out to be the only goal of the game as the Badgers avenged that earlier heavy defeat. The win for the Badgers saw them climb above Trowbridge into eighth place.
There was just one game in the North Wiltshire Division this week with the New College venue closed for Christmas. The one game that took place was at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground where the two teams with the least number of league games played met as Royal Wootton Bassett Town and Blunsdon played catch-up with their fixtures. Both have had to play in the first round of the two cup competitions and both have progressed into the later rounds of the County Cup, this along with a postponed game between the two at the start of the season due to maintenance work at Sutton Park has led to their falling behind with their league fixtures. Royal Wootton Bassett Town have lost just one game all season and they maintained that record with a 4-0 win that saw them move up to third place, three points behind the only side to beat them this season, Cricklade Town, and nine points behind leaders Redhouse. With a game in hand over Cricklade and three on Redhouse the current top three are looking like they are set to be involved in another tight title race. The latest win for Royal Wootton Bassett Town came courtesy of two goals from leading scorer Chris Head who took his total for the season to seven and one apiece for Nick Mason and Jonathan Davis. Blunsdon have still played the least number of games in the division and when they play their games in hand they could well move up into the top half of the table.

Nick Mason and Jonathan Davis who were both on target for Royal W. Bassett Town in their 4-0 win over Blunsdon (pictures courtesy of Steve Green & Carlos Green)

There is scheduled to be one more game in 2022 in the North Wiltshire Division with AFC Swindon and Stratton Juniors Black scheduled to do battle next Wednesday at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground.

League Tables

Leading Scorers

Results & Next Week's Fixture

23 December 2022
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