Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
 Cricklade Town Extend
Lead In North Division

  Cricklade Town who moved six points clear at the top of the North Wiltshire Division (Picture courtesy of Brian Busson)

Monday night in the Mid Wiltshire Veterans’ Division saw plenty of goals as the two games saw the net bulge 16 times. Both Amesbury Junior Badgers and Trowbridge Town Tigers were playing their penultimate games of the season but unfortunately for them they were up against sides in the title race and were on the wrong end of a couple of big scores. At Bradford Town the home side hit nine unanswered goals against bottom of the table Amesbury Junior Badgers. David Percival had scored four times against the Badgers when they had met in the Wiltshire Veterans’ County Cup and he went one better on Monday night scoring five of the Bradford Town goals in a 9-0 win. Both Mark Robinson and Nicholas Ross scored twice as the win saw Bradford Town climb a place in the table to fourth spot, five points behind the league leaders with a game in hand.

The other game on Monday night was at Green Lane where second placed Devizes Town entertained Trowbridge Town Tigers.  It was to be a comfortable night for Devizes as four goals from Rhys Schell saw him take over at the top of the mid Wiltshire Division goalscoring chart, and two further goals from Robert Mitchell secured a 6-1 win for Devizes over the Tigers, Clifford Sakyi getting the consolation goal for Trowbridge. The win consolidated Devizes in second spot a point behind leaders Melksham Town who they are set to meet in their final game. With just three games left Devizes know they need to win all three to have any realistic chance of honours this season, as a bad run of form at the back end of the last calendar year and the start of the current one really damaged their title chances.

  Rhys Schell seen here in action against Chippenham T earlier in the season scored 4 of Devizes' goals in their 6-1 win.

(Picture courtesy of David Giles)

 The following night at Green Lane saw a much closer affair between Chippenham Town and FC Calne. In the end a solitary first half goal from FC Calne’s Craig Pike was all that separated the two sides. The win for FC Calne was enough to see them move above their defeated opponents in the table. FC Calne have just two games to go now, both against sides competing for the title and, whilst they will certainly finish in a creditable mid-table position, they could yet still have a big say in the title race.

There were also three games in the North Wiltshire Division this week starting on Tuesday night when once again there were plenty of goals with both Swindon Rovers and division leaders Cricklade Town both scoring seven. At the Corinium Stadium Cricklade Town were up against near neighbours Blunsdon from along the A419. It was to be another good night for Cricklade Town’s TJ Bohane has he scored four in their 7-0 win to move within one goal of the Division’s leading scorer Richie Miles of Chiseldon. The other three goals for Cricklade came through Tom Dingle, a ninth of the season from Adam Smith and one from Jamie Richards. The win saw Cricklade move six points clear at the top of the table ahead of nearest rivals Redhouse’s game on Wednesday night.

TJ Bohane (4) and Tom Dingle who were both amongst the goals in Cricklade Town's 7-0 win over Blunsdon

Swindon Rovers were the second side to register seven goals on Tuesday night in their encounter with Stratton Juniors Black. Special mention to Referee Secretary Colin Nunn for stepping in at very short notice to take the game when the scheduled referee Gareth Powell was unfortunately involved in an accident on the way to the game. The good news is that he was not seriously injured and was able to take his place on the line in an Under 18 game on Thursday night. On the pitch Swindon Rovers dominated proceedings and a hat-trick from Andrew Mark plus further goals from Tom Bailey, Tim Hughes, Dan Paginton and Craig Johnson secured their biggest win of the season as they ran out 7-1 winners over Stratton.

The final game of the week in the Veterans’ divisions was on Wednesday night at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground where Redhouse had the opportunity to reduce Cricklade’s lead at the top back down to three points with a win over Chiseldon. This was the third meeting of the season between the sides and Redhouse were looking to complete a treble having won 1-0 in the league back in December and 2-1 in the League Cup in January. Both games had been tight affairs and Tuesday’s match turned out to be the third close encounter but on this occasion it was Chiseldon who got the better of Redhouse, inflicting damage to their title aspirations. For once Chiseldon did not have to rely on the division’s leading scorer Richie Miles as goals from Lee Hedges and James Lovell secured the three points in a 2-1 win, Nolan Paul replying for Redhouse. Following the defeat Redhouse remain six points behind leaders Cricklade with a game in hand with the two sides still set to meet each other in April. Next week Redhouse turn their attention to the League Cup with a semi-final game against Chippenham Town, this as a result of Redhouse being reinstated in the competition after Corsham Town played an ineligible player in their quarter final tie. The other semi-final sees fellow Mid Wiltshire Division sides Bradford Town and Melksham Town meeting at Trowbridge Road. Before that Melksham Town have an important game this evening when they play Royal Wootton Bassett Town in the final of the Wiltshire FA’s Veterans’ County Cup at Green Lane. 
Reminders to Clubs
Two reminders to all Veterans' teams.

Registration Deadline
The deadline for player registrations and transfers is a week today, Friday 31st March 2023.

End of Season Date
Secondly, clubs are reminded that the deadline set and agreed by the clubs at the AGM for the completion of the season is Friday 12th May 2023. Whilst one club has already finished and a couple have just one game to play, some clubs have up to eight games still to play and options are getting fewer and fewer. Vets’ teams who are using grass pitches but are seeing games postponed should note at the moment that our slots at Green Lane on 3rd April, 4th April and 18th April are currently not being utilised and should contact the Fixture Secretary Mark Smedley as soon as possible if they want to utilise one of these bookings.

League Tables

Result Grids

Leading Scorers

Next Week's Fixtures

   24 March 2023
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