Action from the Fountain Trophies Cup game between Trowbridge Town

& KIngsdown (picture courtesy of Martin Pearce)

Fountain Trophies Senior Cup

There was one outstanding Second Round game in the Fountain Trophies Cup with Trowbridge Town hosting Kingsdown once again after the first game had been abandoned in extra-time due to a serious injury suffered by Kingsdown player Aiden Miller with his side leading 1-0 at the time of the injury. Having been given a second chance, Trowbridge took full advantage, two goals from Simon Millard seeing them lead 2-0 at the break. Millard then went from scorer to provider, setting up Dan Plank for a third Trowbridge Town goal. They made sure there would be no late comeback from Kingsdown when George Bendle added a fourth ten minutes from time as Ryan Baggs side made it through to Round 3 at the second attempt. Trowbridge Town now will be away to league leaders Kintbury Rangers in that 3^rd Round, the game set to take place next Saturday replacing the scheduled league game between the two sides.

More of Martin Pearce's excellent photos can be seen on the League's Facebook Group page.

Last season’s cup winners Larkhall Athletic Development had a tricky looking away tie at Calne Town Reserves but, despite not being at full strength, had enough to secure the win. A first for the club from Percy Winter set Larkhall on their way, with Angus Williamson adding a second to ensure the cup holders safe passage into the quarter finals. Last season they had been the side from Division One causing the cup upsets but this time round roles will be reversed as they have been drawn away to Division One leaders Faringdon Town in the quarter final in what looks to be a fascinating tie between two sides having successful seasons.

Faringdon Town made it through to the last eight having been involved in the one all Division One tie in the Cup Third Round with the league leaders at home to Purton. When the two sides had met in the league back in August Faringdon had edged it by the odd goal in five in a tight contest. The home side got off to a good start in the second meeting of the season, a throw in was flicked on in the penalty area by Luke Davenport and was met with his head by Adam Sly to make it 1-0 to Faringdon with just nine minutes on the clock. It got even better five minutes later, a Harry Timbrell ball found Kyle Bowyer whose left foot strike found the back of the net for 2-0. There was no letting up from the home side, a Liam Hares header from a corner on 20 minutes put the home side 3-0 up and then just two minutes later it was 4-0, Jamie Tuck with his ninth of the campaign. Still Faringdon kept pressing and with just 25 minutes gone it was five, Kyle Bowyer with his second of the game. The first real chance of the half for the visitors came on 35 minutes when player manager Matt Bennett hit the post with a shot but his side went into the half time break trailing by those five goals conceded in the opening 25 minutes. Any chance of Purton getting back into the game was effectively ended within three minutes of the restart, Kyle Bowyer completing his hat-trick after closing down a Jon Beeden back pass and seeing the keeper’s attempted clearance rebound off him into the net for 6-0. Bowyer went close again four minutes later, his volley coming back off the crossbar, but it was not long before he was once again on the score sheet, smashing in his fourth of the game to make it 7-0. Purton finally got one of their own, Alex Hammond with the goal with half-an-hour still to go but, in reality, it was nothing more than a consolation goal. Shortly after Faringdon were reduced to ten men when Liam Hares was dismissed for a foul on former Chippenham Town and Swindon Supermarine forward David Pratt. Two minutes later another foul on Pratt, this time by keeper Jack Gibson saw a penalty awarded to Purton. Pratt took the penalty himself and reduced the deficit. Purton sought to take advantage of the extra man and put the Faringdon goal under siege but could not find a way through as it finished 7-2 to the Division One leaders who will now be home to the current cup holders Larkhall Athletic Development in the quarter final. Your Sport Swindon were at the game with their cameras and subscribers can view highlights of the game by clicking on the link below or the link from the Your Sport Swindon page of the website where you can also access all other games covered by Your Sport Swindon this season. 

On their day Wroughton are a match for any side in the Premier Division and were looking to build on last week’s impressive win at Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development which had been built on a solid defensive display. Once again Chris Flanagan’s side kept a clean sheet away at Odd Down (Bath) Development in their Fountain Trophies Cup tie. In Jonathan Peachey-Score and Aaron Maximen Wroughton they possess the fire power up front to get goals each week which means if they can keep a clean sheet, they are likely to come away with a victory in a game. Both were once again amongst the goals in their cup tie at Odd Down, Peachey-Score hitting a hat-trick taking his total for the season to 20, with Maximen getting just the one in a 5-0 win, the other Wroughton goal coming from midfielder Jonny Davoille. Wroughton will now be away to either Melksham Town Reserves or Bratton in the quarter final.

After their midweek heroics in the Wiltshire Senior Cup with that stunning 6-2 victory over Uhlsport Hellenic League side Calne Town, Amesbury Town were looking to keep their campaign alive on a third front when they entertained Salisbury Development in another Fountain Trophies Cup tie. Salisbury came into the game on the back of two excellent results, a 2-2 draw with Wroughton which had been followed by an impressive 5-0 home win over Shrivenham last week. A goal from Ally McCracken gave Amesbury a 1-0 half time lead but Salisbury were very much in the tie at half time with just the one goal between the teams at the break. However, Salisbury had suffered a major setback with their goalkeeper picking up a serious leg injury. All at the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League wish him a speedy recovering from his injury. Josh Moore had scored two in that midweek win for Amesbury, including a stunning overhead kick, and once again he was amongst the goals in this League cup tie. He doubled Amesbury’s lead from the penalty spot after Lee Morris had been brought down by the stand-in keeper before adding a third to put his side in command of the tie. Skipper Jack Vallis rounded off another good afternoon for his Amesbury side heading in a Kieron LeBrun corner for Amesbury’s fourth. Amesbury will now be away to Pewsey Vale in a tasty looking quarter final tie, with Pewsey being one of just two sides to lower Amesbury’s colours so far this season.

Pewsey Vale had a comfortable passage into the last eight to set up that tie with Amesbury with a convincing 6-0 home win over Division One side Cricklade Town. Pewsey manager Craig Kent would no doubt have enjoyed the victory over his former club. Two goals for Andy Rossiter in this one, with further goals from Jude Crawley, Ben England, Connor Marsden and Brandon Lee-Vincent.

The final Third Round Fountain Trophies Cup tie saw Ludgershall Sports entertain Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development. When the two sides had met in the league back at the start of September Royal Wootton Bassett had won 4-1 and in the second meeting of the season there were once again plenty of goals. It was 3-3 at the end of 90 minutes necessitating extra time. Royal Wootton Bassett went in front in the extra period only then to concede a last-minute equaliser meaning penalty kicks were needed to settle matters. Ludgershall Sports eventually won the penalty shootout 6-5, Julius Quayson-Otoo with the winning penalty, to make it through to the last eight where they will be away to the winner of the Kintbury Rangers versus Trowbridge Town tie. On target for Ludgershall Sports in open play were Luke Holden with a hat-trick, as he moved on 15 for the season, and Aaron Joseph. The four Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development scorers were Mani Mesas with two, leading scorer Nathanial Bell from the penalty spot and Afonso Ferreira.

Premier Division

Just two games were played in the Premier Division with league leaders Kintbury Rangers the only one of the top four sides not in cup action. They travelled to Shrewton United knowing that they were in for a much tougher afternoon than when the two sides had met earlier in the season. Back in August Kintbury had won 10-3 at the Recreation Ground but since that game Shrewton are a much-improved side and a tougher match was predicted by Kintbury manager Danny Langford and it proved to be just that. Leading scorer George Armstrong gave Kintbury the lead with half an hour gone but Aiden Compton levelled matters up for Shrewton scoring from a free kick from outside the area as the sides went into the interval with all still to play for. The league leaders upped their game after the break and two more goals from Armstrong to complete his hat-trick saw Kintbury secure a hard fought 3-1 win which sent them four points clear at the top of the table and ensures that, even though they will be in cup action next week, they will retain leadership of the Premier Division come five o’clock next Saturday no matter how their nearest rivals get on in their respective league fixtures.

The other game played in the Premier Division saw Melksham Town Reserves make it two wins in the week, following their midweek success over Trowbridge Town in the Wiltshire Senior Cup with a 5-2 victory over Malmesbury Vics Development. Star of the show was Tom Dowell who helped himself to four goals, Kegan Smart with the other Melksham goal. On target for the visitors were Matt Jones and a fourth of the season from Luke Corbiere. Credit to Malmesbury for ensuring the game went ahead by bringing at least one player out of retirement to fulfill the fixture despite something of an injury crisis. 

Division One

There were four league games played in Division One this weekend with Devizes Town Reserves the highest placed team in league action. They climbed one place in the table into third spot, displacing Purton, following a 4-0 away win at Kintbury Rangers Development. Leading 1-0 at the break they added three more in the second half to run out comfortable winners in the end. On target for Devizes were Eoin O’Grady, Oli Barnes, Harvey Swain and Liam Moffatt. That is now five straight wins in the league for Devizes who are starting to look like they will feature heavily in the battle for promotion come the end of the season

There was a high scoring game at The Ian Richardson Football Ground where Stratton Juniors had made the short journey out of town to Shrivenham. Whilst Stratton Juniors scored three goals they conceded double that number to the young Shrivenham Development side who moved up a couple of places in the table as a result of their win. The goals were shared around the team with Darren Quegan, Matt Slevin, Brad Hirst, Kieran Sutton, James Hirst and Max McCrae all getting one goal apiece, whilst for Stratton there was a 17^th of the season from Corey Cullen plus further goals from Max Wills and Jack Stradling. Cullen has scored all but eight of Stratton’s 25 goals in the league so far this season and whilst with him in their side they don’t have trouble finding the net, their defensive problems now see them having conceded the second highest number of goals of any side in the division.

There was another high scoring game at Lambourn where Bishops Cannings were Lambourn Sports visitors with the two sides sharing seven goals with the visitors eventually edging it by the odd goal. Leading 3-1 at the break thanks to a hat-trick from Szymon Raczek, Bishops Cannings then allowed Lambourn back in the game to level matters up at 3-3. Just as it looked like the two sides would have to settle for a point apiece, Bishops Cannings restored their lead late on, Will Musgrove with what turned out to be the winning goal to secure his sides’ third win of the season which saw them move above Kingsdown Development in the table. On target for Lambourn were Alfie Broadbank, Scott Garrett and Dillon Gibbs.

It was a tight affair in the final league game of the weekend on the 3G at Kingsdown where Kingsdown Development entertained Pewsey Vale Development with the teams turning round at half time with the game still without a goal. The goal finally came in the second half and it went the way of Pewsey, young Ollie Morris with his first of the season to ensure his side returned South with all three points in the bag.

Unfortunately, Wroughton advised the league on Friday that they were withdrawing their Development team from the league with immediate effect due to a lack of commitment from the players. It is disappointing to lose a team that had played nearly half their fixtures already, but we understand that the effort to field a second team was proving more and more difficult for the club as the season progressed. As a result there has been quite a bit of surgery done on the Division One fixtures with more to come as games are moved from midweek and brought forward to optimise the number of games each week and also deal with the impact of games in the Wiltshire Junior Cup.

Wiltshire Junior Cup

On the subject of the Wiltshire Junior Cup the two outstanding games from Round Two were finally played this weekend at the fourth attempt and it saw both Bratton and Marlborough Town progress to the Third Round (last 16 of the cup competition). Bratton travelled into Swindon for their game against Swindon & District League side Shield & Dagger. In difficult conditions, a goal from Brandon Thompson eight minutes before the break saw Bratton lead 1-0 at half time. A ninth of the season from Joe Moloney doubled Bratton’s lead early in the second half but Shield & Dagger pulled one back to make it 2-1. A third from Jack Hayward on the hour mark restored Bratton’s two goal advantage before a fourth goal from leading scorer Jack Booth 20 minutes from time ensured Bratton’s progress into that Third Round where they will be home to fellow Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League Division One side Kingsdown Development next Saturday.

Marlborough Town join them in that Third Round after a comfortable home win over Trowbridge & District League side Trowbridge Town Tigers, 5-0 the final score in this one. Two more goals for Jake Farrell that fired him to the top of the Division’s goal scorers table, with further goals from Dan Burke, Luke Little and Harry Womersley. Marlborough will also be at home next week in the Third Round where their opponents will be Sherston Town, a side who have won nine of their ten league fixtures in Division 2 of the Stroud & District League this season. In total six teams from the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League will be involved in next week's Third Round.

25 November 2023