Wiltshire FA Veterans' County Cup

It was the First Round of the Wiltshire F.A.’s Veterans’ County Cup last week with five First Round ties taking place.

Monday night saw two all Mid-Wiltshire Veterans’ Division ties and both games would prove to be tight affairs. At Melksham Town the visitors were Calne Town and a solitary goal from Melksham’s Lee Morgan would be all that separated the two sides come the end of the evening. Melksham will now be away to another Mid Wiltshire Division side in the next round in the shape of Barford Hornets.

It was an even closer game between Trowbridge Town Tigers and Warminster Town with two teams all square at 1-1 come the end of normal time, Clifford Sakyi with the Trowbridge goal. In the resulting penalty shootout, it was Warminster Town who held their nerve to win 6-5 on penalties to progress to the Second Round where they will be away to fellow Mid Wiltshire Division side Westbury United.

The other three ties all involved sides from the North Wiltshire Division and there were to be a couple of surprise results. On Tuesday night at Moredon, AFC Swindon, who have yet to win in the league were 3-1 winners against Swindon Rovers. First half goals from Jason Cobb and Phil Tearle saw AFC Swindon lead 2-0 at the break and a second from Tearle five minutes into the second half effectively sealed the win for AFC Swindon. Swindon Rovers did pull one back from Andrew Waller ten minutes from time, but it was too little too late as AFC Swindon went through to the next round. AFC Swindon will be away to County Cup holders Cricklade Town in the Second Round.

The following night at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground Royal Wootton Bassett Town were home to FS Stratton who they had beaten 1-0 in the league two weeks ago, with FS Stratton another side yet to win in the league this season, in fact they have yet to register a point in the four league games they have played. However, they were to avenge that earlier defeat thanks to a solitary goal from Tom Brown that saw them through to the last 16 of the County Cup competition.

A tough draw in the next round sees FS Stratton at home to North Wiltshire Division league leaders Redhouse who were involved in the final game of the week in the County Cup on Thursday night at Moredon. It was the tie of the round with two teams at the top end of the North Wiltshire Veterans’ Division, Nationwide and Redhouse up against each other. A tight affair was predicted, and it proved to be just that, goals from Michael Jones and David Pratt giving Redhouse a narrow 2-1 win.

The remaining ties in the Second Round of the Veterans' County Cup see a big local derby game between Devizes Town and Bishops Cannings which is scheduled to take place at Green Lane. ExIntel are home to Stratton in an all-North Wiltshire Division tie, with the final tie being the only inter-divisional game as Purton Kingsdown host Durrington, in what looks on paper to be the tie of the round.

Mid Wiltshire Division

As a result of the County Cup there was a limited schedule of league games with just two games played in the Mid Wilts Division, with Westbury United also calling off for the third time this season due to being unable to raise a side, the latest victims of their late postponement being Durrington. With Westbury already deducted six points and fined another deduction and fine will result from this latest postponement.

The two games that did get played saw Radstock Town and Devizes Town consolidate their positions at the top end of the table. A hat-trick from Jack Broadway and one from Steve Gilham saw Radstock Town win 4-2 at home against Bishops Cannings, Adam Bewley with both goals for Bishops Cannings. The win for Radstock saw them move up to third place in the table.

The week in the Veterans’ divisions was concluded on Friday night as Devizes Town registered the biggest win so far this season in either Veterans’ division with a 12-0 home win over Barford Hornets at Green Lane. Chris Allen led the way helping himself to four goals, Mark Dolman and Daniel Sloan both bagged a brace with further goals from Jonathan Scott, Ryan Banks, Ashley Lock and Liam Brown. David Giles was at the game with his camera and more of his excellent photos can be found on the League Facebook Group Page.

North Wiltshire Division

Two or three games, depending on your point of view, were played this week in the North Wiltshire Division. On Monday night Stratton and Chiseldon met for the second time this season in the league and the first meeting the previous week had been a tight affair that had been settled by the odd goal in Stratton's favour, Stratton winning 2-1. However, Chiseldon were to quickly avenge that defeat in another tight game which saw the two sides share seven goals but on this occasion it was to be Chisledon who edged it by the odd goal. On target for Chiseldon in the 4-3 win were Adam O’Keeffe. Tom Chaston, Daryl Herring and Mark Gulliver.

On Tuesday night Cricklade Town were looking to move back top of the table when they met ExIntel at New College but things did not go to plan for last season’s champions as they fell to their second defeat of the season, an early goal from Alex Rudd eight minutes into the game being enough to give ExIntel the three points which saw them move to within two points of their beaten opponents with two games in hand.

The final game league game was on Wednesday night at Moredon when Purton Kingsdown entertained Penhill United. Unfortunately, there was no appointed league referee for the game and, whilst the two sides played a game with a neutral spectator taking charge of the match, there is currently a dispute between the two sides as to whether they agreed for the official to referee the league game or a friendly. The game that was played saw Purton Kingsdown win 2-0 thanks to goals from James Tinsley and Joshua Paddon. The League Management Committee now need to decide whether the result stands or whether disciplinary action needs to be taken against the team causing any postponement and not following the protocol set out in the league rules regarding postponed games. Clubs are reminded of the provisions of Rule 23(B) as to what needs to happen where there is no match official and also the provisions of Rule 20 (E) regarding what happens when a game is postponed.