The last game in the Under 18 Floodlight Division was finally played, eleven days after the scheduled end date for the season, with the Under 18 Division the only one of the seven divisions in the league which did not finish its fixtures by the deadline date agreed at last years’ AGM. In the end four league games ended up being played after the deadline with the destination of the runners-up spot not decided until the very final game played on 13^th May.

Since the last round-up there have been seven league games played plus the league cup final. In the league, on Monday 28^th April Wims 11 ended their season on a positive note, playing for the first time at their new ground of Faringdon Town. The Wims players certainly took to their new surroundings winning 6-2 against Amesbury Town to avenge the 2-0 defeat they had suffered at the beginning of November. Leading 3-1 at the break, Wims repeated the score line in the second half to record their seventh win of the season in their 20 league games to finish two points below Amesbury Town.

The same night Swindon Supermarine moved above cup final opponents FC Chippenham into second spot in the table in the battle for runners-up spot with a 3-1 win away at Westbury United.

Westbury United were back in action again on the Thursday of the same week with an away trip to Radstock Town for their final game of the season. The first 20 minutes saw Westbury holding the champions who were looking to maintain their 100% league record, Radstock finally breaking the deadlock on 23 minutes. Once that first one went in, the floodgates opened and Radstock added another five before half-time. The scoring continued after the break with Radstock adding ten further unanswered goals to win 16-0. Not the happiest of endings to their season for Westbury United.

The following night at the Sustain Stadium at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground, home of Royal Wootton Bassett Town FC, the fifth staging of a Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League U18 Floodlight Division League Cup Final took place, with the two teams battling out for runners-up behind Radstock Town, FC Chippenham and Swindon Supermarine, up against each other. With just eleven teams in the division this season it was interesting to note that both teams had to play three games to reach the final, neither side having the luxury of a bye in the first round. FC Chippenham’s path to the final had been far from easy with two of their games requiring penalties to settle matters. In the first round they drew 2-2 away at Kintbury Rangers at the end of 90 minutes, eventually progressing 6-5 on penalties. They had a somewhat more comfortable passage in the quarter final, winning 7-1 at home against Radstock Town’s conquerors Devizes Town to line up a semi final against Calne Town. As with the game against Kintbury, the two sides could not be separated at the end of 90 minutes, the 1-1 draw seeing penalties once again being needed to settle matters. Once again it was FC Chippenham who held their nerve to progress to the final, winning 4-1 on penalties. Swindon Supermarine had a much more comfortable pathway to the semi final stage, winning 4-0 at home against Westbury United in the first round before knocking out Amesbury Town on their own ground in the quarter final, 6-1 the score in that game to line up an all Swindon semi final against near neighbours Wims 11. The game between the two sides would prove to be a close affair and looked to be heading for penalties until Swindon Supermarine scored a late winner to run out 3-2 winners on the night to book their place in the final.

On a warm Friday evening, the game at Royal Wootton Bassett Town drew a sizeable 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 line would suggest. In a tight first half Swindon Supermarine had slightly the better of things. They went close to opening the scoring on 13 minutes with an effort that came back off the FC Chippenham crossbar but the game would remain without a goal until five minutes before the break.  It was to be Swindon Supermarine who finally got themselves in front, a dangerous ball into the box seeing the Supermarine striker nip in before the FC Chippenham keeper could reach the ball to give his side the lead at the break with all still to play for in the second half.

Whilst it had taken 40 minutes for that first goal of the game the second would come early in the second half and again it went the way of Swindon Supermarine as they doubled their lead within a minute of the restart. Despite falling two goals behind FC Chippenham continued to battle away and for long periods in the half they put the Swindon Supermarine defence under sustained pressure as they tried to get a foothold back in the game. They went close on several occasions but just couldn’t find a way through the resolute Swindon Supermarine defence. Any chance of getting back in the game was effectively ended when Swindon Supermarine added a third late on to make sure it would be they who ended the night victorious in what had been a good game between two very good sides played in the right spirit. Well done to both sides on a successful evening which eventually went the way of Swindon Supermarine, but FC Chippenham had certainly made them work hard for the victory in a cup final between two very good sides.

More pictures from the U18 Floodlight Division League Cup Final can be found on the League Facebook Group Page.

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

Despite that defeat in the cup final FC Chippenham were still favourites to pip Swindon Supermarine to runners-up spot behind Radstock Town. Despite trailing Swindon Supermarine by two points, they had two games in hand the first of which was played on Tuesday 6^th 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 the Thursday night 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. 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 Town were looking to get the win which would mean they had won all 20 of their league games for what would be 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 this 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, with the behaviour of Radstock supporters also seeing the match officials submit an extraordinary report to the Somerset FA.  A disappointing end for Radstock after an excellent season for their U18 side. The win for Swindon Supermarine saw them move back a point ahead of FC Chippenham with the Swindon side having now completed their fixtures and with FC Chippenham having the one game to hopefully play against Melksham Town.

Despite exam season commencing, thankfully the game against Melksham Town was staged at the third attempt a week later on Tuesday 13^th 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.

Overall a much more satisfactory U18 season than the previous one, despite the late finish, with all games played, even though one abandoned game ended up being decided in the Discipline Committee. The only other 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. 

17 May 2025