After last season’s disappointing Under 18 Floodlight Division that saw two teams, Bradford Town and Bristol Manor Farm, pull out of the league during the season and multiple postponements, Season 2024-25 was to prove to be good one with all eleven teams who started the season completing the season. Moreover, all 110 games were actually played although one had to be awarded after an abandonment due to the behaviour of one sides club official.

That said, this was the only division in the League where the league games were not completed by the deadline agreed at the AGM, with four games played after the deadline, three of which involved FC Chippenham, through no fault of their own, who were also in the cup final and were also in the battle for runners-up position behind Radstock Town. Things across the division were going well in terms of games played until the cup started, then we then lost two weeks’ worth of fixtures due to bad weather. If we had known that would happen, we may well not have played the cup competition.

The main problem for FC Chippenham remained their Friday game night with both Kintbury Rangers and Melksham Town both postponing their game at Stanley Park twice before finally both playing the games on a Thursday night, both games being played not under floodlights in what is supposed to be the Floodlight Division of the League. At least the games were played allowing runners-up spot to be decided on the pitch rather than the committee room. Thankfully, FC Chippenham, who are proposing to enter two sides next season, have confirmed they will be moving away from the use of Friday night for their matches next season.

Three teams played out of Green Lane this season with just enough weeks in the season, which included half term weeks, to get the league games in. Thankfully no games were postponed at Green Lane.  Radstock Town and Swindon Supermarine both entered the FA Youth Cup and got behind with their fixtures quite early on due to this and also games in their respective county cups. What was clear though was that both would feature heavily in the battle for honours along with FC Chippenham. After the first four weeks of league fixtures all three had 100% winning records although in Radstock’s case that amounted to just the one league game because of their FA Youth Cup exploits.

By the end of October, it would be just Radstock Town and FC Chippenham who retained a perfect record after Swindon Supermarine lost a local derby game against Wims, Supermarine losing 2-1 on the 3G at Moredon. Despite that defeat Swindon Supermarine remained top of the table with five wins from their six fixtures to date, Calne Town sat two points behind also having played six, whilst Radstock were third with four wins from their four league fixtures to date. FC Chippenham saw all their scheduled games postponed in the month, one being because their opponents could not raise a side on a Friday night.

November was a good month in terms of games played for most teams, particularly those that played on 3G surfaces, but Radstock were just to play the one game and once again won to maintain their perfect record. The month end saw Swindon Supermarine sat top of the table on 21 points having played half their 20 league fixtures already, twice as many as Radstock had played in the opening three months of the season. FC Chippenham now sat second in the table and, like Radstock, still had a perfect record with six wins in the six games they had played. Radstock Town and Devizes Town sat third in the table three points further back although Devizes had played four more games than Radstock. Bishops Cannings and Amesbury Town, like Swindon Supermarine, had already completed half their league fixtures.

Despite the wet weather in December, the use of 3G pitches, meant more games were played at this time of the year than in recent seasons. During the month FC Chippenham lost their unbeaten record, losing 5-3 to Devizes Town in what turned out to be their last game of the calendar year. Swindon Supermarine won both their games played in December against Bishops Cannings and Kintbury Rangers to remain top of the table at the turn of the year, six points clear of Radstock Town, FC Chippenham and Devizes Town who were all on 21 points. Whilst all three teams had secured seven victories, Radstock had yet to drop a point, FC Chippenham had lost just the one game, but Devizes had been beaten five times having, like Bishops Cannings and Swindon Supermarine, already played 60% of their league fixtures. At the other end of the table the young Westbury United side just had the one point from their opening nine games, Melksham sat on four points having suffered a two-point deduction for that postponement against FC Chippenham, whilst Amesbury Town were on seven points from their opening 11 games.

January was to prove to be a good month for Radstock Town as they played catch-up with their fixtures, playing four games and winning all four to maintain their 100% winning record. The victories came against Wims 11 (twice), Kintbury Rangers and importantly FC Chippenham, Radstock scoring the only goal of the game in a tight affair at Stanley Park. Prior to that home defeat to Radstock, FC Chippenham had beaten Westbury United 6-2 and ended the month with an important 5-3 win away at Swindon Supermarine which was to prove very important come the end of the season. It was a bad month for Swindon Supermarine who also lost to Devizes Town in the month meaning that come the month end they had been dislodged from top spot by Radstock Town, with Swindon Supermarine joint second with FC Chippenham, six points behind the new leaders but having played three more games than the other two sides.

The wet weather and February half term meant Swindon Supermarine did not play a single game in February and FC Chippenham played just the one, a 0-0 draw against Calne Town. Unfortunately for them Kintbury Rangers became the second side to fail to raise a side for a Friday night visit to Stanley Park. Radstock Town took full advantage to extend their lead at the top of the table defeating both Bishops Cannings and Devizes Town in the two games they played in the month to move nine points clear of Devizes Town who, after a good run of results, had climbed to second place in the table but had already played 17 games and only had three more to play. FC Chippenham sat third, 11 points adrift of the leaders with a game in hand, whilst Swindon Supermarine were now down to fourth place.

March saw the start of the League Cup and there was to be a surprise as Radstock Town fell to their first defeat of the season, going out against Devizes Town on penalties after the game had finished 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes. The same night FC Chippenham also needed penalties to progress from their game against Kintbury Rangers after that also finished 2-2. Swindon Supermarine also progressed to the next round after a 4-0 win over Westbury United. There were also two games played in the same week in the Second Round which saw Wims 11 and Calne Town progress to the semi-final, although Calne needed penalties to finally overcome Melksham Town after it had finished 1-1. Wims were comfortable 5-2 winners at home against Bishops Cannings.

The following week in the league, Radstock Town, FC Chippenham and Swindon Supermarine all recorded one goal margin away victories over their opponents in a series of close games, Radstock Town won 2-1 at Calne Town, FC Chippenham won 1-0 at Kintbury Rangers and Swindon Supermarine were 3-2 winners against Bishops Cannings. The following week saw Radstock Town take on Swindon Supermarine in what was the first meeting of the season between the sides looking to make it 15 wins from their opening 15 games and put a major dent in the hopes of Swindon Supermarine for league honours. It was to prove to be Radstock’s night as they ran out 2-0 winners to move a step closer to the league title. The win for Radstock meant that only FC Chippenham could now catch them and Radstock were guaranteed honours, but no doubt wanted to maintain their perfect record until the end of the season and lift the title in style. FC Chippenham secured a 3-0 win over Wims 11 to remain 11 points behind Radstock with a game in hand, with Supermarine four points behind them but crucially now with just four games to play.

The month ended with Radstock Town and FC Chippenham both winning in the league to leave things as they were at the top of the table but with now one less game to go and with Radstock knowing they would be crowned champions in their next game, which was against FC Chippenham, the only side who could now pip them to the title. Meanwhile, Swindon Supermarine were involved in a cup quarter final tie and safely progressed to the semi final with a 6-1 away win against Amesbury Town.

The following week saw Radstock Town secure the Under 18 Floodlight Division league title with win number 17 of the season, a 2-0 victory against the side who were the only one who could have caught them, FC Chippenham. With three games to go they were now aiming to achieve a perfect record, matching what Melksham Town achieved in Season 2018-19 albeit it would be playing twice as many games than that earlier season.  Calne Town kept their outside chances of finishing runners-up alive with a 2-0 away win in Swindon against Wims II. They would need to win all three of their remaining games and hope that FC Chippenham lost all their remaining games, so realistically Swindon Supermarine were the main challengers to FC Chippenham and that runners-up spot.

Devizes Town and Bishops Cannings became the first two sides to complete their fixtures. Devizes Town drew with Westbury United 2-2 with the points shared, with Westbury actually playing in Westbury rather than Devizes for the first time this season and they clearly enjoyed playing on home turf against a side they lost 4-0 to earlier in the season. Bishops Cannings were also playing their final game of the season, and the season would not end on a winning note as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Melksham Town, Melksham avenging the narrow defeat they suffered at Green Lane back in October.

Radstock’s quest to record win number 18 was frustrated when they were comfortably ahead against Westbury United at half time, but a floodlight failure caused the game to be abandoned. Win number 18 did come in their next game but Melksham Town, who had been consistently inconsistent all season, put in one of their stronger performances and pushed the champions all the way eventually losing 2-1. It was to be a disappointing April for FC Chippenham as they dropped two more points in a 0-0 draw with Calne Town, that result meaning that it was now just FC Chippenham or Swindon Supermarine who would be runners-up. It got worse for FC Chippenham as they then fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Melksham Town and then saw Kintbury Rangers call off against them for a second time. In contrast, it was to be a good month for Swindon Supermarine. First of all, they progressed to the cup final thanks to a late winner in their semi-final against Wims 11 which gave them a narrow 3-2 win. They followed that up with league wins against Amesbury Town and Calne Town to move to within a point of FC Chippenham with two games to play with FC Chippenham having the three games still to play but with the destiny of that runners-up spot still in their own hands.

The restaging of the abandoned game between Radstock Town and Westbury United saw Radstock win comfortably to register win number 19 with just one more win was now needed for that perfect record. Swindon Supermarine also defeated Westbury 3-1 to move above FC Chippenham into second place in the table ahead of the cup final against their rivals for that second place. The cup final was played at Royal Wootton Bassett Town. On a warm Friday evening, the game drew a big crowd with 126 paying customers accompanied by a sizeable number of concessions, both young and old. The large crowd would witness an entertaining final that was a lot closer than the final score 3-0 in Swindon Supermarine’s favour would suggest.

U18 Floodlight Division League Cup Winners Season 2024-25 Swindon Supermarine

Despite that defeat in the cup final FC Chippenham were still favourites to pip Swindon Supermarine to runners-up spot. Despite trailing Swindon Supermarine by two points, they had two games in hand the first of which was played on Tuesday 6th May when they travelled to Calne Town. When the two sides had met in Swindon at the beginning of February it had finished 0-0 and another close game between the two sides saw a repeat of that score line as FC Chippenham moved to within a point of Swindon Supermarine but now with just the one game in hand.

The two rivals for runners-up spot were both in action on Thursday 8^th May with FC Chippenham home to Kintbury Rangers in a game hastily re-arranged by the two teams after Melksham Town called off their scheduled game on Friday night due to being unable to raise a side for a second time. The game was played on the grass pitch at Stanley Park with an early kick-off and FC Chippenham were rewarded for their pro-activity in scheduling the game at such short notice with a hard fought 3-2 win. The victory saw them move two points clear of Swindon Supermarine ahead of their rivals for second place playing their game later that evening against champions Radstock Town. Champions Radstock were looking to get the win which would give them a perfect league campaign and end Swindon Supermarine's hopes of second spot. However, in a game staged on the 3G pitch at Cirencester Town, cup winners Swindon Supermarine were to deny them that perfect record as they scored five unanswered goals to become the first and only team to defeat Radstock in the league all season and keep their runners-up hopes alive. The game was not played in the best spirit with both teams having a player sent off and three players booked.

The last game in the Under 18 Floodlight Division was finally played, eleven days after the scheduled end date for the season.  Despite exam season commencing, thankfully the game against Melksham Town was staged at the third attempt on Tuesday 13th May, avoiding the need for the runners-up spot to be decided in the committee room rather than on the pitch. The game was again played on grass at Stanley Park and saw FC Chippenham win 4-1 to secure that runners-up spot as they finished the season two points clear of Swindon Supermarine but 13 points adrift of champions Radstock Town. Congratulations to Radstock Town on their title, FC Chippenham on claiming runners-up and Swindon Supermarine for going close to honours in the league and also winning that entertaining cup final.

Calne Town and Devizes Town shared fourth spot, eleven points behind third placed Swindon Supermarine. Bishops Cannings were in sixth place. Eight points behind their near neighbours Devizes Town and Calne Town, but one point above Amesbury Town. Wims 11 finished in eighth place two points behind Amesbury Town, with Kintbury Rangers one point behind and Melksham Town two points further back in tenth place. Westbury United finished the season on six points.

Overall, a much more satisfactory U18 season than the previous one, despite the late finish, with all games played. The only real disappointment over the season was not being able to report on goal scorers and to report properly on games. Having not reported any names all season and kept them out of our cup final programmes (including the U18 match officials), it was irritating in the extreme to receive an email from the Wilts FA after the Cup Final programme had gone to print stating that they may have incorrectly interpreted the FA guidance and that it was just FA Full-Time that cannot include the players’ names. Too late for our U18 programme unfortunately. The Wilts FA themselves had not produced programmes for their own cup finals because of their earlier interpretation and the North Wilts & District League had also followed the guidance in their cup finals. Very disappointing and hopefully next season normality can return, and we will be seeking formal final confirmation that we can now report on games ahead of the new season.

4 June 2025