North Wiltshire Veterans' Division

Once again there was a full schedule of six games played in the North Wiltshire Veterans’ Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League, by far the best of any of the seven divisions across the four categories within the league in terms of getting games played.

The action got underway on Monday night at Moredon, and it saw FS Stratton continue their recent excellent run, goals from Luke Jones and Luke McQuillan giving them a narrow 2-1 victory over Swindon Rovers. That is the fourth straight victory for FS Stratton and the win saw them climb to seventh place in the table, their highest position of the season, Lee Wilson with the Swindon Rovers reply.

Stablemates Stratton were in action the following night when they met bottom of the table AFC Swindon and it was to prove to be a good week for the Stratton club as goals from Liam Butcher, Nial Francis and Jason Tatum saw Stratton win 3-0 to move above Swindon Rovers into eighth place.

The same night Penhill United entertained Purton Kingsdown looking to maintain their push for league honours. It was not to be a good night for them though as their 12-game unbeaten run finally came to an end, two goals from Aaron Maximen and one from Rory Sproule giving Purton Kingsdown a 3-2 win. On target for Penhill were Jake Johnson and Harry Etheridge.

On Wednesday night Cricklade Town moved to within two points of league leaders Nationwide with a 4-2 home win over ExIntel at the Corinium Stadium. Two more goals for Adam Smith saw him move onto 11 goals for the season with Sam Collier and a first of the season from Ben Snook getting the other two Cricklade goals, Ashley Stevens and Craige Roberts with the two ExIntel goals.

The same night Royal Wootton Bassett Town’s recent poor run continued as they fell to a 2-1 defeat away to Chiseldon, that is now four games since Royal Wootton Bassett Town last tasted victory. Adam O’Keeffe was the star of the show for Chiseldon, getting both their goals to move onto eight for the season, Martin Ohrland with the Royal Wootton Bassett Town goal.

The final game of the week was the big one on Thursday night, with league leaders Nationwide taking on third placed Redhouse. A close encounter was anticipated, and it proved to be just that as the two sides fought out a 2-2 draw and had to settle for a point apiece. On target for the league leaders were Adam Devine and Adam Rudman with Dave Pratt getting both the Redhouse goals to join Rudman on 15 goals for the season. The point for Nationwide saw them increase their lead at the top over Cricklade Town to three points, with Redhouse now two points adrift of Cricklade Town and still five points behind the league leaders with all of the top three sides having six league games to play.

Mid Wiltshire Division

There were just three games played in the Mid Wiltshire Division, and they saw the teams just below Devizes Town in the table all close in on the league leaders. On Monday night a solitary goal from Chris Steele was enough to give Warminster Town all three points against Trowbridge Town Tigers as they moved into fourth place in the table, 12 points behind Devizes with a game in hand. Warminster have seven games left to play, six of which will be at home, including games against the three teams above them in the table, and they are expected to still have a big say in the destination of league honours in the Mid Wiltshire Division this season.

On Wednesday night third placed Durrington moved to within four points of leaders Devizes with a 2-0 home win over Calne Town with both goals coming in the second half after the teams turned around at the break with the game still without a goal. The deadlock was broken seven minutes into the second half, player-manager Jesse Walters giving his side the lead. Shaune Smith then added a second to make sure of the three points for Durrington seven minutes from time. With just three games to play Durrington have probably dropped too many points already to be considered as contenders for honours this season,  but with the other three sides in the top four still to play they could also have a big say in the final destination of league honours this season were they to take points off one or more of the other leading sides.

The final game in the division was on Friday night and it saw Melksham Town move to within three points of the leaders thanks to a 3-0 win away against BIshops Cannings, with both Devizes and Melksham having now played ten games with six still to play. This was another game where all the goals were scored in the second half. Wayne Wheeler broke the deadlock with his first goal for his new club after starting the season with Westbury United. Two further goals from the division’s leading scorer Gary Higdon took him onto 23 for the season as Melksham registered their ninth win in ten games. In those final six games for Melksham, they have to play Warminster Town twice and both Durrington and Devizes Town once and with Devizes also having Warminster to play twice as well as those games against Durrington and Melksham the title race is certainly going to get interesting in the closing weeks of the season.