Premier Division

A slight relent in the weather and some hard work by the club groundsmen meant that only two fixtures were lost to waterlogged pitches on Saturday in the men’s divisions, the Premier Division fixture between Down Ampney and Melksham Town Reserves and the Division One game between Malmesbury Vics Development and Marlborough Town.

In the Premier Division, congratulations must go to Calne Town Reserves who recorded only their second league win of the season, two goals from Darcy Garner securing a 2-0 defeat of Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves. After going close in recent weeks manager Dan Carey will be delighted his side finally secured that second league win which should give them confidence going into next week’s Fountain Trophies Cup Quarter Final tie with Shrivenham. Calne Town Reserves remain eight points adrift at the bottom of the table but with eight games still to play there is still hope that they can bridge the gap.

In midweek Pewsey Vale had pushed Step 6 side Warminster Town all the way in their Wiltshire FA County Cup semi-final, going down by just the one goal against their Western League opponents. The only goal of the game came three minutes before the break, Tyson Pollard the scorer. Warminster had the ball in the net again just after the hour mark, but the goal was disallowed by an assistant’s flag for offside. The closing stages saw Pewsey Vale push hard for an equaliser, but the Warminster defence managed to keep them at bay to ensure their place in the final. Congratulations to Warminster Town on making the final where they will meet the winners of the Devizes Town v Malmesbury Victoria game which is set to take place this coming Tuesday. Congratulations also to Pewsey on going so close to making the final and being the League’s final representative in this season’s competition. Full details of this season's Wiltshire Senior Cup competition so far is shown below:

Pewsey Vale were back in action on Saturday when they visited relegation threatened Wroughton and they were to suffer their second defeat of the week as they went down by the odd goal in a seven-goal game. Nick Craft led the way for Wroughton scoring twice with further goals from Omaree Cox and Joe Herbert in the 4-3 win which saw Wroughton close the gap to the teams just above them in the table with three vital points. On target for Pewsey Vale were James Guthrie, Connor Marsden and Andy Rossiter. Wroughton are now just one point behind Down Ampney and two points behind Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves with four games in hand over Down Ampney and seven in hand over Bemerton.

Park United sit just two points above Bemerton and have also been sucked into the relegation battle after four straight defeats. Their last win came at home against title contenders Larkhall Athletic Development, but after that excellent result they had lost to Wroughton, Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development and Shrivenham ahead of Saturday’s visit from Letcombe. Letcombe themselves came into the game on the back of two straight defeats, against Larkhall Athletic Development and Melksham Town Reserves, but they returned to winning ways with an impressive away performance to complete a league double over Park thanks to a 5-2 win. Star of the show for Letcombe was Jordan Davies who helped himself to a hat-trick with Kian Durkin scoring on his season debut and an 18^th goal of the season from Oscar Griffiths with the other Letcombe goal, Rhys Talmash and Max Wyatt with the two Park goals.

At the other end of the table, Shrewton Utd  extended their lead at the top to seven points after a 3-1 home win over Faringdon Town.  With several key players missing manager George Plank was forced into donning his boots but it was another Plank who was the star of the show as Tom Plank helped himself to a hat-trick to take his adjusted total for the season to 16. The opener came on seven minutes, Plank firing home from 30 yards from a free kick He then doubled Shrewton’s lead on the stroke of half time, capitalising on a defensive mix up to score his second of the game. The second half saw Charlie Utterson hit the post for Shrewton before Plank was given the chance to complete his hat-trick when Shrewton were awarded a penalty 14 minutes from time following a foul on Plank himself. He made no mistake from 12 yards to put Shrewton 3-0 up. Faringdon did manage to bag a last-minute consolation goal through Ray Lovell but by then the points were already won by the home side.  With eight games to go Shrewton remain in control of their own destiny but have some tricky looking games in those final fixtures, with nearest rivals Larkhall Athletic Development and Swindon Supermarine Dev still to play, along with games against Shrivenham, Melksham Town Reserves and Letcombe who are going well at the top end of the table.

Tom Plank whose hat-trick against Faringdon Town saw Shrewton Utd move 7 points clear at the top of the table

Second in the table Larkhall Athletic Development were without a game this week which meant Swindon Supermarine Development  had the chance to move level on points with Larkhall if they could secure a win at home against near neighbours Shrivenham. Just four miles separates the two clubs, and it was to prove to be an entertaining local derby with three sending’s off, although never a dirty game, and plenty of chances at both ends. Shrivenham had the better of the early exchanges and went close to going in front when Marshall Thompson found himself in the clear but a tremendous late intervention from Tom Lane prevented Thompson from getting a shot in on goal. Alfie Barker then had a golden chance to put the visitors Shrivenham ahead when he found himself clean through on goal with just Supermarine keeper Rhys Simpkins to beat, but an excellent save from point blank range by Simpkins denied the Shrivenham striker. Despite that early pressure it would be the home side Supermarine who got themselves in front with a well worked team goal, a neat one-two between Sam Sanger and Tom Phillips followed by a great ball into the six-yard box from Sanger found Tom Pitt with an open goal one yard out and he had a simple tap in to make it 1-0 to Swindon Supermarine. Shrivenham went close to an equaliser when Chris Rivers fired just over with a shot from distance and then again when Dylan Boulton saw his powerful strike from the edge of the box turned over by Simpkins who was having an excellent game in the Supermarine goal. Shrivenham then had another great chance to get an equaliser, a powerful run down the right from Josh McGory ended with a shot towards the near post that was saved with his feet by Simpkins with the ball falling kindly to Kieran Sutton who was following up with Simpkins then pulling off another great save from point-blank range to deny Sutton and it remained just that one goal in it at the break. There was to be drama ten minutes into the second half when both sides were reduced to ten men, an altercation between Shrivenham’s Alfie Barker and Swindon Supermarine’s Tom Phillips seeing both players sent off. Ten minutes later Shrivenham would be reduced to nine men with Kieran Sutton becoming the third player to see red for something he said to the referee. All three players will now miss next week’s Fountain Trophies Cup games for their respective sides. Despite chances at both ends there was to be no further goals as Swindon Supermarine held out for the three points to move level on points with Larkhall, with keeper Simpkins getting the man-of-the-match award for all those saves that kept Shrivenham out in that first half. Highlights from the game can be viewed on Swindon Supermarine Youth TV.

Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development in fifth place closed the gap to Shrivenham to three points returning home from the Red House with a point following a 3-3 draw against Purton Kingsdown in another local derby encounter. Tyler Wilkinson scored twice for Purton Kingsdown with Louis O’Shea getting their other goal, Joe McGrogan, Alfie Cook and Liam Lye-Owens scoring for the visitors.

Tyler Wilkinson who scored twice for Purton Kingsdown in their 3-3 draw with RWBT Dev

Trowbridge Town finally got to play on home turf for the first time in six weeks’ when they entertained Devizes Town Reserves who started the day two points and two places below Trowbridge in the table.  It was to prove to be a close encounter. Devizes led 1-0 at the break thanks to a goal from Joe Beaven on 21 minutes. They then doubled their lead within five minutes of the restart from the penalty spot, Eoin O’Grady putting the penalty away to give Devizes Town Reserves a 2-0 lead. Trowbridge were quick to respond though and reduced the deficit back to one goal five minutes later, Olly Sterling sending in a low cross that was chested down by Lenny Gale and fired home by Josh Ferguson for 2-1. Those Trowbridge celebrations did not last long though as three minutes later Devizes restored their two-goal advantage, Fin Palmer getting a third Devizes goal to make it 3-1. It remained that way until six minutes from time when Trowbridge pulled one back thanks to an own goal from a corner. Trowbridge continued to push for an equaliser, but the Devizes defence held firm and made sure they did not concede again to claim three vital points. The win for Devizes saw them continue their climb up the table moving above their beaten opponents and also Faringdon Town to occupy tenth spot in the table.. Alwyn Bodman was at the game with his camera and more of his pictures from the game can be found on the League Facebook Group Page.

More action from Devizes Town Res 3-2 win over Trowbridge

(pictures courtesy of Alwyn Bodman)

Division One

It is as you were at the top of Division One after this weekend’s round of games with Fairford Town Reserves still ten points clear at the top of the table but with both Malmesbury Victoria Development and Bradford Town Reserves both capable of moving to within two points of the leaders if they win all of their five games in hand Fairford know there is still work to be done if they are to be crowned as champions this season. They were made to work hard for all three points against a determined Pewsey Vale Development side, in the end a goal from Max Scholefield was enough to give Fairford all three points to maintain that ten-point gap at the top of the table. The two sides are set to meet again next Saturday in the reverse fixture with just three more games to come after that for Fairford. The destiny of the title is in their own hands, win all four of their remaining games and they will be champions, but they still have an encounter with Malmesbury to come next month.  

The gap at the top of the table remained ten points after Bishops Cannings secured a comfortable 6-0 home win over Shrivenham Development on the 3G at Green Lane. A blistering first half performance saw them lead 4-0 at the break. Ethan Howard set them on their way with his 16^th goal of the season on 18 minutes. Two goals from leading scorer Szymon Raczek in the space of four minutes put Bishops Cannings 3-0 up before a Shrivenham own goal six minutes before the break compounded a miserable first half for the visitors. When Samuel Jones added a fifth four minutes into the second half there was no coming back for Shrivenham and a sixth from Bailey Penney rounded off a good afternoon for the team in second place in the table. Bishops Cannings are now three points ahead of Marlborough Town with both teams having five games to play with both susceptible to being caught by both Malmesbury Vics and Bradford Town Reserves who both have games in hand.

Bradford Town Reserves moved up to fifth place in the table with a 7-2 away win over bottom side Faringdon Town Development. Bradford Town Reserves led 4-1 at the break thanks to goals from Oli Walsh, Max Ball, Lewis Wayman and Josh Hampton and a second half hat-trick from leading scorer Kieran Balchin, with his hat-trick goal coming from the penalty spot, completed a good afternoon for his side. With seven of their nine remaining games at home Bradford Town Reserves remain very much in the race for honours but have some tough fixtures still to come with Marlborough to play twice and games also coming up against Bishops Cannings and Malmesbury Vics.

The final two games in the division on Saturday were both Swindon derby encounters. At Kingsdown School Purton Kingsdown Reserves were home to Great Western and the two sides provided an entertaining encounter with eight goals on the 3G, Purton Kingsdown taking all three points courtesy of a 5-3 win. There were two goals for Elijah Dadey and one apiece for Taylor Burt, Roberto Cinquegrani and Gregor Thompson with the Great Western reply coming through Levi Dunn, Ethan Miller with his 15^th of the season and Jamie Wright. Your Sport Swindon were at this game with their camera and subscribers can view highlights by clicking on the Your Sport Swindon below.

The other Swindon derby saw Redhouse make it three straight wins with a narrow 1-0 away win at Stratton to remain three points behind Purton Kingsdown Reserves in seventh place, Tyler Smith getting the only goal of the game early in the first half. Your Sport Swindon were again at this game with their camera and subscribers can view highlights by clicking on the Your Sport Swindon logo below.

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