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.

Faringdon Town had been on a miserable run in the league that had seen them fail to win in eight games. Five of the seven defeats in that run had been by a one goal margin, the other two by a two-goal margin, so whilst competitive in all the games they had been on the wrong end of the final result and had slipped down the table. Building on a big win in midweek in the Faringdon Memorial Trophy over Highworth Town Reserves they finally put that run of games without a win behind them with a come from behind win against one of the sides who are very much in a relegation battle, that side being Wroughton. It started well for the home side Wroughton, Jono Peachey-Score capitalising on indecision from Faringdon keeper Jack Gibson to get on the end of a Jonny Davoille ball into the box to head the hosts ahead six minutes into the game. Five minutes later, Aiden Miller pulled the visitors level with a shot from inside the box after the Wroughton keeper failed to hold onto a shot on goal. Ten minutes later Faringdon went in front for the first time in the game, Daniel Loyden firing into the far top corner of the net after the ball fell to him on the edge of the box following a flick on from Kyle Bowyer. After half-time, Faringdon remained in the ascendancy and were awarded a hotly contested penalty. After a bit of a delay which saw one player sent to the sin bin and the Wroughton manager booked Miller calmly put the penalty away to make it 3-1 to the visitors which was how it finished.  With those three vital points, Faringdon Town have moved eight points above the relegation zone, while Wroughton remain inside by two points, but have several games in hand, one of which is this coming Wednesday away at Trowbridge Town. Your Sport Swindon were at the game at Wroughton, and subscribers can view highlights and an interview with Wroughton manager Glenn Horsell by clicking on the Your Sport Swindon logo below.

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

For once all the scheduled games in Division One were not impacted by the weather, the only scheduled game not to go ahead being the Bradford Town Reserves v Purton Kingsdown game postponed due to the Bradford Town first team having a home semi-final game in the Western League’s Les Phillips Cup.

The five games played in Division One provided plenty of goals, with 35 goals scored across the games. Biggest winners of the day were Bishops Cannings who hit ten against an out of sorts Stratton side. When Stratton went 1-0 up within the first 30 seconds few thanks to a Ramon Faruq goal few would have predicted such a heavy defeat for Stratton though. Leading scorer Szymon Raczek had Bishops Cannings back level on eight minutes and seven minutes later Bishops Cannings went ahead for the first time with a goal from Ethan Howard. From there on it became a one-sided affair as further goals from Oliver Barnes, Ben Haffenden, Thomas Buckle and a second for Howard saw the home side lead 6-1 at the break. There was no let-up in the second half with both Howard and Raczek scoring two more each, Raczek to complete a hat-tricks and Howard to take his total for the game to four. There was also a consolation goal for Stratton, with Faruq getting his second of the game as it finished 10-2.

Despite winning, with just four games to go, Bishops Cannings are very unlikely to catch league leaders Fairford Town Reserves who maintained their ten-point lead at the top of the table as they completed a quick-fire double over Pewsey Vale Development. Last week it had been a narrow 1-0 win, but the return fixture saw the leaders find their scoring boots, running out comfortable 5-1 winners. The goals were shared around the team with Oliver Bradbury, Aston Garland, Draen Regis, Max Scholefield and Joseph Gargett all finding the back of the net, Kendonn John with the Pewsey Vale goal. Whilst Fairford have that large lead at the top and just three games for them to play they will be mindful that both Malmesbury Vics Development and Bradford Town Reserves, with games in hand, can still move to within two points of them if one of them wins all their games in hand. However, with Fairford set to host Malmesbury in a few weeks’ time and with Malmesbury also still to play Bradford Town Reserves in the final run in the title is very much in Fairford’s own hands.

With Marlborough Town involved in that Fountain Trophies cup game, Malmesbury Vics Development had the chance to move to within a point of third placed Marlborough if they could beat Redhouse. With the Flying Monk still not quite recovered from the wet period, the game was switched to the 3G pitch at the Sir William Romney School in Tetbury that had been used successfully by their women's side. Whilst Redhouse are used to playing on the 3G at Moredon the Malmesbury side also took a liking to the surface and the two sides served up nine goals between them. In a dominant first half showing Malmesbury led 6-1 at the break, two goals for Sam Parker with one apiece for Jacob Pinnell, Reuben Allaway, Joe Tranter and Joe Liddington, the division’s leading scorer Cameron Shrubb with the Redhouse goal. Credit to Redhouse who came back in the second half with Shrubb scoring two more to complete his hat-trick, and take his adjusted total for the season to 30, as the visitors had the consolation of winning the second half 2-0 as it finished 6-3 to the home side.

In the week, bottom of the table Faringdon Town Development had a change of manager with Lee Chamberlain taking over in the dugout. However, it was not to be a winning start for the new man in charge as visitors Great Western returned to Swindon with all three points following a 3-2 win. Great Western’s leading scorer Ethan Miller did the damage scoring a hat-trick, Taylor Hall getting both the Faringdon goals.  

After multiple postponements due to the weather, Kintbury Rangers Reserves finally got to play on home turf for the first time since October but unfortunately for them it was not to be a winning return as goals from Kai Richardson and Luke Saunders secured a 2-1 away win for visitors Shrivenham Development, Alistair Thorp with the Kintbury goal. 

Kick-off Times and Registration Deadline

Clubs are reminded that from next Saturday all kick-off times for weekend games revert to 3PM. Clubs are also reminded that the registration and transfer deadline for the 2025-26 Season is 31st March..

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