Cricklade Town Champions of Division One who will go for the treble next Saturday (picture courtesy of the Wilts FA)

Premier Division

There were just four games this week to complete the season in the Premier Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League with Malmesbury Victoria Development  involved in two of those four games. In midweek on Wednesday night, they entertained Park United who were playing their final game of the season. Malmesbury had lost 4-3 at home to Shrewton United last Saturday and they were to again be on the wrong side of a seven-goal game as they fell to another 4-3 defeat. Park United went 1-0 up before being pegged back by a penalty but added two more before the break to lead 3-1 at the interval. Whilst Malmesbury were to have the better of things in the second half a fourth goal for Park meant they ended the season on a winning note. On target for Park were Corey Harbour-Burgess, Jamie Norman, Ben Pring and substitute Adam Mitchell. The win for Park saw them climb above Calne Town Reserves to finish their first season in the Premier Division in eleventh spot.

Malmesbury Vics Dev were back in action on Saturday for their final game of what has been a very difficult season for the club with their pitch issues which saw them unable to play home games until the turn of the calendar year. To their credit, despite the adversity, they completed their fixtures playing 15 of their 32 league fixtures over the whole season in midweek. Their final game of the season saw them entertain the side two places above them in the table, Salisbury Development. It was to be a winning end to the season for Malmesbury as they took their points tally into double figures courtesy of a 3-0 win, Charlie Evatt and Jake Pinnell amongst the goals. Unfortunately for Malmesbury they will be relegated along with Faringdon Town and both sides will look to rebuild next season in Division One. 

With honours settled and the relegation positions already determined, the focus on Saturday was the battle for third place between Kingsdown  and Pewsey Vale who met at Pewsey Recreation Ground. Goals from Aiden Miller and Antonio Gerrish secured a 2-0 away win for Kingsdown which confirmed their third-place finish in what has been a good second season for the club in the Premier Division, with the club also set to move to their new ground at Purton at the end of the season. Kingsdown finished ten points behind second placed Letcombe, but four points clear of Saturday’s beaten opponents Pewsey Vale.

The final game on Saturday in the Premier Division was down in Salisbury where Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves warmed up for next week’s Fountain Trophies Cup Final against Cricklade Town with an impressive 8-1 win over Wroughton, their third straight win in the league. The game was played on the 3G at Sarum due to the Bemerton ground being unavailable. Hayden Wells and Thomas-James Finn both scored twice with further goals from Ethan Trigwell, Kye McLeod, Jayden Stokes and Tom Feest, Kassa Anderson with the solitary reply for Wroughton.

Bemerton's Tony Smith was at the game with his camera and more of his excellent pictures can be found on his website at efc.smugmug.com

The Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League Premier Division was one of just three of the 50 National League System feeder leagues across the whole country who started the season with 18 clubs, noting that all three leagues lost one team over the course of the season, in our case Blunsdon after they had played 22 games. A big thank you to all the clubs for their co-operation in ensuring that all the games were played by the 3^rd May deadline set by the FA at Wembley, it was particularly pleasing to be able to complete the season without multiple 6:30PM kick-offs in April in the Premier Division.

Division One

Whilst there had not been a need for a plethora of early midweek kick-offs in the Premier Division unfortunately these could not be avoided in Division One with Cricklade Town, Bratton, Kintbury Rangers Development and Down Ampney all going deep into their respective county cup competitions with both Cricklade Town and Kintbury Rangers Development winning their county cups.  

On Tuesday night Cricklade Town made the short trip into Swindon to play Stratton Juniors, and a powerful performance saw them score 11 unanswered goals to effectively secure the league title, even though title rivals Devizes Town Reserves were also winning. After their latest success, Cricklade would need to lose by more than 32 goals in their final game on Saturday to be denied the title. Ryan Latham led the way in their emphatic 11-0 win over Stratton notching a hat-trick, Alfie Presley, Callum Parsons and Ellis McSharry all scored twice with further goals from Levi Cox and Chris Jackson.

Devizes Town Reserves knew they needed to win in what was their final game of the season if they were to have any chance of denying Cricklade the title and whilst it was a lot closer in their game with Bratton, it was mission accomplished for Ray King’s side as they returned with all three points following a 3-1 win. Leading scorer Jordan Anning was once again amongst the goals, taking his total for the season to 36, with further goals from Harvey Swain and Oliver Norman, Joseph Moloney with the Bratton goal. The win for Devizes Town Reserves saw them end the season on 69 points with promotion back to the Premier Division secured but needing that unrealistic score line in Cricklade’s final game if they were to better their runners-up achievement.

Down Ampney maintained the gap to the top two with a hard fought 3-2 away win at Lambourn Sports thanks to goals from Connor Hibbs, George Bailey and Leon Morrison, Lewis Shaw scoring both of the Lambourn goals to take his tally for the season to 30.  

Kintbury Rangers Development, fielding a number of first team regulars who had secured the Premier Division title, ran out comfortable 10-2 winners over the young Pewsey Vale Development side. There were hat-tricks for both Kye Williams and George Armstrong, Bernardo Martinez bagged a brace with further goals from Jesse Bowers and Jamie Wallin.

After those midweek games, Saturday saw five fixtures to complete the season in Division One. Any doubts about Cricklade Town’s title success were removed as they confirmed themselves as champions with a come from behind win against Shrivenham Development. Kieran Sutton had given visitors Shrivenham a half time lead but player-manager Mani Roper, leading from the front, brought his side back level six minutes into the second half. Levi Cox then put Cricklade ahead for the first time in the game with his 24^th goal of the season to make it 2-1. Callum Parsons added a third for Cricklade 14 minutes from time and Adam Bright made sure of the points with a fourth Cricklade goal seven minutes from time as they ran out 4-1 winners to go into next week’s cup final, like cup final opponents Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves, on the back of three straight wins in the league. Cricklade have finished the season on 72 points, three points clear of Devizes Town Reserves winning 24 of their 28 league fixtures in securing that league triumph. Having already secured the Wiltshire Junior Cup Cricklade Town will be looking to do the treble next Saturday by lifting the Fountain Trophies Cup.

Down Ampney  ended their season with a 7-3 defeat of Kingsdown Development. Star of the show was Charlie McCuish who helped himself to a hat-trick to finish the season on an impressive tally of 40 goals to end the season as the division’s top scorer. Also on target for Down Ampney were George Bailey, Harry Sealey, Harvey Coster and Paddy Cripps, the latter taking his own total for the season to 30. Third place is expected to be sufficient to give Down Ampney promotion to the Premier Division for next season.

Stratton Juniors picked up a vital point following their 3-3 draw at Kintbury Rangers Development, that point being sufficient to avoid the re-election process. Goals from Ben Wells, Nial Francis and Ogedi Uzokwe secured that point for Stratton, Neil Edwards, Jesse Bowers and Ben Wright with the three Kintbury goals. The point for Stratton Juniors saw them move above Pewsey Vale Development in the table.  

On the day that their first team was winning the Western League play-off to secure promotion to Step 5, Bradford Town Res completed their season with a 1-0 over Redhouse, a solitary goal from leading scorer Kieran Balchin late on, with his 18^th goal of the season, being the difference between the two sides.   

Lambourn Sports bounced back from that narrow midweek defeat at the hands of Down Ampney with a 2-1 win over Bratton in a game played on the 3G at New College with cricket taking place at Lambourn. Yet another goal for Lewis Shaw plus one from Joe Broadbank giving Lambourn the points, Brandon Thompson scoring for Bratton who end the season in sixth place.

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