After weeks of rain and postponements the sun finally shone on the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League on the afternoon of the Fountain Trophies Senior Knockout Cup Final which was once again being staged at its spiritual home of the Southbank Ground at Corsham. The two finalists served up an epic final that saw eight goals, a sending off, multiple bookings and some excellent football being played by the two sides and ended with the underdogs Larkhall Athletic Development picking up their fourth Premier Division scalp in this season’s competition, as they added Devizes Town to the list that already included Premier Division champions Trowbridge Town, Blunsdon and Stratton Juniors.

There was to be a stunning start to the final with the opening goal coming in the first 30 seconds of the match. A ball clipped over the top saw Billy Gleed outpace the Larkhall defence and fire into the net past Alfie Kelsey in the Larkhall goal. Four minutes later a similar move almost resulted in Devizes doubling their lead, Jamie Walters with the ball of over the top of the Larkhall back line saw Gleed once again in on goal but this time his shot went wide of the post much to relief of the Larkhall camp. Having only just escaped going further behind after a blistering opening five minutes from Devizes, the young Larkhall side, who had looked shell shocked up to that point, were finally able to settle their nerves thanks to a stunning strike from Henry Welles from the edge of the 18-yard box in their first attack of any note. Welles picking up the ball on the right-hand side and hitting a shot into the far bottom corner of the net giving Devizes keeper Jack Cross no chance. Shortly afterwards Devizes’ James Cox became the first player to be booked by referee Luke Fabry for a foul, there were to be plenty more during the afternoon. 

With parity restored Larkhall grew into the game and went in front for the first time on eleven minutes, a ball to the far post looked like it was going to elude everyone and go out for a goal kick but somehow Swaby stretched to get on the end of the cross and was able to put it back across the six-yard box to the surprise of Cross and his defence, where Larkhall’s leading scorer and captain Charlie Saunders was on hand to head it into an empty net for 2-1 to Larkhall. Shortly afterwards Saunders became the second player to find his way into Luke Fabry’s notebook for a mistimed tackle as both sides continued to battle for every loose ball.  Larkhall went close to extending their lead just before the half hour mark, Swaby getting on the end of another cross to the far post with a header which was goal bound, but this time his effort was well saved by Cross in the Devizes goal. Much of Devizes threat in that opening half hour had come from the blistering pace of Billy Gleed but Devizes suffered a blow when the pacey striker, who has had limited game time of late, was forced to come off injured. Devizes pushed for an equaliser as they look to level things up before the half time break. Three minutes before half time Jack Baker fed Derek Wheeler but his powerfully hit shot went into the side netting. Having just created that chance Baker became the next player to find his way into the book for another mistimed challenge. With the game moving into injury time Devizes were awarded a free kick midway in their opponent’s half on the right-hand side. Full-back Jordan Croad took the free kick and his cross into the box somehow eluded everyone and ended up in the back of the net for 2-2 and the teams turned round with all still to play for in what had been an enthralling end-to-end half of football with each loose ball fiercely contested.

The second half started in a similar vein to that opening 45 minutes with every ball being fiercely contested. However, the first two bookings of the second half were not for mistimed tackles but for shirt pulls. Devizes Jack Coward was booked for such an offence on 49 minutes. Having seen the referee issue a yellow card for a shirt pull, Larkhall’s James Payton obviously wasn’t paying too much attention as he quickly followed into the referee’s book for a similar offence just two minutes later with the Devizes player not really going anywhere, a needless booking as the card count continued to rise. Larkhall Athletic restored their lead just before the hour mark and it was no surprise that it was Thierry Swaby, who had been causing problems to the Devizes defence all afternoon, who inflicted the damage. Following a through ball which split the Devizes defence, Swaby found himself clear of the last defender with just keeper Cross between him and the goal, he cooly rounded the keeper to fire into an empty net to make it 3-2 to Larkhall.

Whilst the game was delivering plenty of goals, the card count also continued to rise with the latest booking being that of Devizes Town manager Thomas North, whose vocal outburst towards referee Luke Fabry, following a coming together of a couple of players in midfield, saw North see yellow. Moments later the colour of the card went from yellow to red as a late challenge by Devizes' Wheeler on Larkhall keeper Kelsey saw the Devizes number nine dismissed and his side having to play the last half-an-hour with just ten men.

Larkhall quickly took advantage of their numerical advantage, a cross into the box found the head of Thierry Swaby whose header came back off the crossbar, falling right at the feet of Ben Whitson who reacted quickly to fire the ball into the net for 4-2. Larkhall continued to press for more goals and twenty minutes from time Charlie Saunders waved his way around a couple of Devizes defenders but his shot at the end of his mazy run went just wide of the far post. 

Just as it looked like Larkhall might run away with it, Devizes were given a lifeline. A superb pass from midfield from Jamie Walters put Logan Anning clear of the Larkhall defence down the left flank and his powerfully hit shot gave Kelsey in the Larkhall goal no chance and the deficit was now just the one goal. It was really end-to-end now as the game opened up with both sides sitting deep creating lots of space in the midfield and chances for further goals. From one Larkhall attack a ball into Swaby saw him running powerfully at the Devizes defence and there were strong appeals for a free-kick or possible penalty from the Larkhall bench as Swaby was sent tumbling right on the edge of the box. The appeals were waved away by referee Fabry much to Swaby’s consternation.  Devizes substitute Sam Tallis shortly after became the latest player to see a yellow card for a late tackle from behind which on another day may well have seen a different colour issued.

The game was effectively put beyond Devizes ten minutes from time, Charlie Saunders defence splitting ball finding Swaby once again clear of the Devizes defence and he made no mistake for his second of the game to make it 5-3 to Larkhall. Larkhall saw out those final ten minutes without any real scares at the back and it was they who went closest to adding to their tally, a free kick from Swaby going just over the bar.

The final whistle was the cue for wild celebrations amongst the Larkhall players, management and supporters, the final score of Devizes Town 3 Larkhall Athletic Development 5 meant Larkhall had completed that fourth win over Premier Division opposition in lifting the cup and they are certainly looking like they will be a force to reckon with next season in the Premier Division. The cup and individual mementoes were presented by League Chairman John Gingell and Registration Secretary Brian Busson.  A big thank you to Corsham Town for hosting the final once again and their support on the afternoon, the 27th occasion in the last 28 finals of the Senior Cup competition that the final has been held at Corsham. A big thank you also to Paul Sebastianelli of Fountain Trophies who were sponsoring the Senior Cup for the sixth successive season after 24 seasons of sponsoring the league’s Junior Cup competition.

Congratulations to Larkhall Athletic Development on wiining the Fountain Trophies Cup to add to their Division One league title. Commisserations to Devizes Town on the defeat, but they had certainly played their part in an excellent entertaining final, as they had also done in finishing runners-up in the epic Premier Division title race.

Final Score: Larkhall Athletic Development 5 Devizes Town 3

Man of the Match: Thierry Swaby

Click on picture below to view PDF of the Cup Final Programme

As well as the Cup Final there was one league game played on Saturday with both Frome Collegians and bottom of the table Stratton Juniors becoming the latest sides to complete all their fixtures for the season. Frome went into the game knowing that a win would guarantee a fourth-place finish and once they got themselves in front there was only ever going to be one winner. In the end, despite some positive play from the visitors, Frome secured a comfortable 9-1 win. Star of the show was leading scorer Jack Newman who helped himself to four more goals taking his final tally for the season to 28 in all competitions. The other five goals were shared amongst the team with one goal for Max Walker-Wiltshire, Max Biddescombe, James Hounsell, George Holland and Aaron Baines. The consolation goal for Stratton came from Corey Cullen who, despite his sides season of struggle has scored 20 goals and sits in fifth place in the goal scorer’s chart.

Two other sides, Malmesbury Victoria Development and Shrewton United had finished their fixtures in midweek both playing on Monday and then playing each other on Thursday night. On Bank Holiday Monday Malmesbury had ended Frome Collegians aspirations of finishing in third spot in the table. It was all square at half time, Kyle Witt having put Malmesbury ahead but Jack Newman having brought Frome back level. However, three unanswered Malmesbury goals after the break saw them secure the three points, two more goals for Joe Tranter who moved onto eleven for the season, with the score being rounded off by a goal from Reuban Badman three minutes from time. 

The same afternoon Shrewton United were away to Wroughton who were looking to end their torrid run of form since their defeat in the Wiltshire County FA’s Senior Cup Final. They were into Monday’s encounter not having won in nine games, but that depressing run was finally ended with a narrow 3-2 win. The Premier Division's leading scorer Jonathan Peachey-Score put home side Wroughton ahead with his 36th of the campaign, but Lewis Cross restored parity with his second of the season for Shrewton. Dave Harmer restored Wroughton’s lead and then a ninth of the season from Sam Long increased Wroughton's lead further. Shrewton pulled one back through Lewis Woodhead but were unable to find an equaliser. The only blemish on the afternoon for Wroughton was the red card for leading scorer Jonathan Peachey-Score.

On Thursday night the curse of the wet weather that has blighted the final weeks of the season returned with a heavy downpour just before kick-off in the game between Malmesbury Vics Development and Shrewton United on an already sodden pitch. If this had been earlier in the season the game is unlikely to have gone ahead, but credit to both sides for getting the game played given we are now in mid-May and the league season was supposed to have ended on the 6^th of May. Two goals from Dale Richards, with further goals from Sam Jenner, Harrison Archer and Andy Baker saw Malmesbury end their season on a winning note, 5-1 the final score, Dan Gardner with the consolation goal for Shrewton.

After Saturday’s game at Frome, there is now just one fixture to play in the Premier Division, with Odd Down (Bath) Development needing to defeat Wroughton to ensure they finish above Marlborough Town in the battle to avoid relegation. Given what rides on the game, and the problems with Wroughton being able to raise a side for the scheduled date, we are grateful for the co-operation of Odd Down in delaying their pitch maintenance to ensure that the game gets played.

13 May 2023