Review of Season 2025-26

 Ladies Divisions

The second season for the Ladies Premier Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League was to once again prove to be a problematical one. The season started with eleven sides but was to finish with just nine teams in the final league table with both Trowbridge Wanderers and then Barford Hornets pulling out of the league during the season. In reality, the season finished with just eight teams, as Highworth Town failed to fulfil their final four fixtures but were not expunged due to a quirk in the FA standard rules.



Attempts were made to get all games played, through the use of fines/points deductions as in other divisions, but once April arrived, with Highworth having played so few games, the Discipline Committee started awarding games, commencing with games postponed by Highworth against Keynsham Town and Calne Town. Highworth then played a game against Purton Kingsdown after those two games had been awarded and standard FA rules state that those first two awarded games then counted as ‘played games’ for the purposes of assessing against the 75% threshold when looking at whether a team’s record should be expunged. Highworth then advised they would not fulfil their final four games, making six awarded games in total but as they were at the 75% level they remained in the league table with the points being awarded in those four final games. Luckily this did not impact the battle for honours and promotion to Tier 6.

As was the case last season, this was the worst performing division of the seven across the league in terms of playing games, with an extremely high ratio of postponed games to scheduled games of 37.7%, with county cups having only a minimal impact on this figure. In total there were 19 Rule 20E charges raised on clubs (up from 14 last season), mainly Highworth Town (eight), Barford Hornets (six) and Swindon Supermarine (two). As noted last season there needs to be a change in attitude from certain clubs to playing the leading sides, as once again it was the top two, this time Keynsham Town A and FC Abbey Meads, who tended to see games called off against them. The level of Rule 20E charges would have been higher if pressure had not been put on certain clubs to fulfil fixtures and hopefully new Ladies Secretary Freddie Fraser will suffer a lower number of postponements due to teams being unable to raise a side next season in the top Ladies division. FC Abbey Meads, with their 3G facility, were the only team in the division not to postpone a game all season.

Some of the teams just got on with playing their games, most notably Marlborough Town, Melksham Town and Calne Town, who had all played half of their fixtures by the turn of the year. Indeed, by being ahead with their games played, Marlborough Town were to head the division for much of the season only to be eventually overtaken by Keynsham Town A and FC Abbey Meads.

Keynsham Town and FC Abbey Meads, who met on the opening day of the season, always looked to be the likely contenders for honours. Keynsham won that opening day fixture 3-1 and, a win by the same score in the return fixture at the beginning of the new calendar year effectively was the difference between the two sides at the top of the table come the end of the season. Keynsham proceeded to win all of their other games whilst those two defeats at the hands of Keynsham were the only defeats that FC Abbey Meads suffered all season. FC Abbey Meads only other dropped points were against Marlborough Town, who they drew 2-2 with at the end of January. Whilst Keynsham won all 16 of their league games, they were to suffer a three-point deduction for failing to fulfil a fixture and finished five points clear of runners-up FC Abbey Meads in the end. Both Keynsham Town and FC Abbey Meads have applied for promotion to Tier 6 and hopefully both will be successful with their applications.

Despite leading the table for most of the season, Marlborough Town had to settle for third place after an excellent first season in the Premier Division after last season’s Division 1 title success. They won ten of their 16 fixtures, finishing eight points behind FC Abbey Meads. Melksham Town also won ten games to finish in fourth place, four points behind Marlborough Town having also suffered a points deduction.

Purton Kingsdown were competitive throughout the season, achieving a fifth-place finish. They failed to get a point against the top four but remained unbeaten against the four sides below them in the table winning seven of the eight games against those sides and drawing just the one game.

Westbury Ladies had a much better season, justifying their request to stay in the Premier Division at the start of the season. They were also unbeaten against the three sides below them in the table, winning five of those six games, and also picked up draws against both Melksham Town and Purton Kingsdown and only suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat at home against eventual champions Keynsham Town.

Calne Town had also requested to stay in the Premier Division at the start of the season, and they also justified that decision finishing well clear of the relegation positions on 12 points. Swindon Supermarine struggled on occasions to field a side and suffered heavy defeats at the hands of all the top five. They picked up a six-point deduction along the way for failing to raise a team on two occasions. They improved as the season went on though, picking up two wins and two draws in the games that were not expunged, having also won and drawn with Barford Hornets before they were excluded.

Trowbridge Wanderers had withdrawn from the league after four games, whilst Barford Hornets completed eleven games before their season was brought to a premature end and their record expunged.

FA Cup

Two sides from the Premier Division, Marlborough Town and Highworth Town, entered the FA Cup and but both went out in their first game in this prestigious national competition. Newly promoted Marlborough Town made their debut in the Women’s FA Cup in the Preliminary Round and they went mightily close to progressing to the next round as they drew 2-2 with Yateley United from the Thames Valley Counties League, meaning penalties were needed to settle matters. Unfortunately for Marlborough it was Yateley who held their nerve in the spot kick contest, winning 4-2 to progress to the First Qualifying Round, with Marlborough Town picking up £150 from the FA prize fund by way on consolation.

Highworth Town meanwhile had a bye to the First Qualifying Round but were well beaten by  Ashridge Park, yet another side from Division One of the Thames Valley Counties Women's League Division One, going down 10-0 but received £450 from the FA prize fund, a useful amount of money for club funds.

League Cup

Sunday 12^th April saw the second Ladies League Cup Final under the administration of the Wiltshire Senior League. The final again took place at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground, home of Royal Wootton Bassett Town FC. The healthy crowd of 96 paying customers were to witness an excellent sporting contest between FC Abbey Meads and Melksham Town, with the gate money of £480 donated to the Against Breast Cancer charity.

FC Abbey Meads had reached the final having been involved in every round of the competition. They were the only Premier Division side included in the Preliminary Round where they had a big win over Division One side Purton Kingsdown Reserves. The First Round saw them drawn away to last season’s finalists Highworth Town but with Highworth unable to raise a side they were given a free passage into the next round. Their opponents at the Quarter Final stage were Division One side Salisbury who they defeated 6-1 to make it through to the last four where they were drawn at home to Purton Kingsdown, whose reserve side they had already knocked out. Having already beaten Purton Kingsdown in the league at home they completed a league and cup double to make it through to the final with a 4-1 win.  

Meanwhile opponents Melksham Town’s route to the final saw them given a bye in the Preliminary Round. They opened their cup campaign with a 4-2 win over fellow Premier Division side Westbury Ladies in the First Round. In the Quarter Final they were involved in a close encounter with FC Chippenham who were going well in Division One and would eventually be crowned Division One champions. When Melksham had played them in the County Cup earlier in the season, they had comfortably won 12-0, but when they met for a second time in the League Cup it was a much closer affair. Melksham eventually won by the odd goal with a 3-2 win to set up a semi-final with unbeaten Keynsham Town. Keynsham won the semi-final 4-0 but unfortunately for them they played an ineligible player resulting in their expulsion from the competition, with Melksham going through to the final.

A dominant 5–0 display from FC Abbey Meads saw them lift the cup, capping off a strong cup campaign and a memorable day for the squad and supporters. Chloe Neate opened the scoring on 17 minutes, and Michelle Rich then doubled FC Abbey Meads lead to give them a 2-0 half time lead. When leading scorer Hayley Huckin then added a third five minutes into the second half it was effectively game over. Two further goals rounded off an excellent performance from the FC Abbey Meads with both Rich and Huckin getting their second goals of the game. Credit to Melksham Town who kept battling away and played their part in an excellent second Ladies League Cup Final at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground. 

 Ladies

Division One

Whilst the Ladies Premier Division was once again problematical, there were no such issues with Division One for the second season running. All 110 league fixtures were played by the 3^rd May deadline agreed at the AGM, no games were awarded in the division, with the only points deductions suffered being for a postponement on the opening day of the season. Once again, in contrast to the Ladies Premier Division, the attitude to playing league games in this division was spot on. The pro-active sourcing of 3G pitches to ensure games went ahead was very much appreciated. Unfortunately, two games were abandoned in the division, one due to a serious injury and the other due to a pitch invasion from local youths at Staverton Rangers. One team, Marlborough Town Reserves, did not postpone a single game during the season.

From an early stage it became clear that the title race was going to be between two sides FC Chippenham and Salisbury. The previous season FC Chippenham had pulled out of the Premier Division after suffering a run of heavy defeats but had regrouped over the summer and have bounced back achieving promotion back to the Premier Division at the first attempt, along with securing the Division One league title. They opened the season with back-to-back wins but, as noted above, suffered a heavy defeat in the Wiltshire FA County Cup at the hands of Melksham Town, losing 12-0 to their Premier Division opponents highlighting the gulf in standard between the two divisions at that stage of the season. However, come the end of the season, they would run the same opponents close in that League Cup encounter. They bounced back quickly from this defeat winning their next six games including wins in both the League Cup and the County FA Plate competition for teams knocked out of the First Round of the main County Cup.

They were to suffer their one and only league defeat of the season on Sunday 23^rd November, going down 2-0 away at Salisbury, their main rivals for the title. They then went another six-game winning run and come the start of March it was clear it was out of them and Salisbury for the title. The winning run was finally ended in the League Cup with that narrow 3-2 defeat at the hands of Melksham Town, but the result demonstrating the improvement made since the start of the season. They followed that result with two dropped points following a 2-2 draw against Blunsdon ahead of the return game with Salisbury. FC Chippenham well and truly avenged that earlier defeat at the hands of Salisbury by trouncing them 11-2 in a one-sided affair to put themselves in pole position for the title. The goals then kept following as they won 11-0 against Ferndale Rodbourne, 14-0 at Purton Kingsdown Reserves and then 17-0 against Stratton in a game played at Green Lane ahead of the County FA Plate Cup Final as FC Chippenham played catch up with their league fixtures due to their cup runs. That was 53 goals in four league games as they went three points clear of Salisbury at the top of the table with both teams having three games to play. Before those final three games they met Staverton Rangers in the final of the Wiltshire FA County Cup Plate competition, winning 5-0 at Melksham. A big win over Durrington the following week meant that they went into their midweek league game with Staverton Rangers knowing that a win would see them crowned as champions. A 7-1 away win confirmed that league title with promotion to the Premier Division having been confirmed a few weeks earlier.

Credit to Salisbury for their involvement in the title race all season, pushing FC Chippenham all the way until the final weeks of the season, but after that heavy defeat by FC Chippenham they dropped points in games against both Malmesbury Vics and Staverton Rangers to finish the season eight points adrift of FC Chippenham in the end, but eight points clear themselves of the third placed side Malmesbury.

Malmesbury Vics who finished third will join FC Chippenham and Salisbury in being promoted to the Premier Division, Malmesbury winning 12 and drawing three of their 20 league fixtures. With the winter months throwing up the normal flooding challenges at Malmesbury, pro-active use of pitches at the Red Bull and utilising a 3G pitch in Tetbury meant Malmesbury never got behind with their fixtures.

Blunsdon had last season finished in sixth place with just four wins from their 16 fixtures, but a dramatic improvement saw them win ten in the current season, drawing six and only losing four times all season. They managed to take points off both the top two and, but for a surprise defeat at the hands of Stratton in their penultimate game of the season and a draw with Bishops Cannings in their final outing, they could well have pipped Malmesbury Vics for that third spot.

A tremendous second half of the season saw Marlborough Town Reserves finish in fifth spot, their results after Christmas in seeing them defeat both Salisbury and Malmesbury Vics and push the champions FC Chippenham all the way in their final game of the season.

Bishops Cannings had a good first season in Ladies football winning more than they lost to finish in mid-table.

Staverton Rangers, in their second season, had a much better season than in 2024-25, avoiding defeat in half of their league fixtures to secure seventh spot, winning nine, and also reaching the final of the Plate County Cup, losing 5-0 in the final to eventual Division One champions FC Chippenham.

Stratton, playing their first season of Ladies football, finished in eighth spot and their five wins included that 1-0 win over Blunsdon, part of a three-game unbeaten run to conclude the season which bodes well for next season.

After finishing bottom last season with just the one win all season, Ferndale Rodbourne showed excellent improvement winning five this season as they accumulated 16 points from their 20 league fixtures to finish in ninth spot. They are one of a number of sides in the division showing excellent improvement in results as the season has progressed.

Purton Kingsdown Res won three times this season, the same as last season, as they finished in tenth spot in the table. Five of their defeats were by two goals or fewer, but they unfortunately suffered some heavy defeats along the way, particularly at the start of the season.

The final place was occupied by Durrington who, despite finishing bottom of the table, ended the season on a high as they won their first game in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League, defeating Purton Kingsdown 4-2 in their final game of the season, a result which again bodes well for next season.

19 May 2026