HELLENIC LEAGUE: PEWSEY Vale chairman Rob Thompson is confident the club's Recreation Ground home will be fit for Hellenic League Premier Division football for next season after victory over Shrivenham on Tuesday night all but guaranteed them runners-up spot in Division One West.

Goals from Tony Dyer, Tom Ritchie and Martin Churchward gave Don Rogers' men the points against their Wiltshire rivals and kept Pewsey in second spot, three points ahead of third placed Ardley United.

Pewsey's goal difference is 14 goals better than their only rivals, but a point against struggling Old Woodstock tonight would guarantee Premier Division football before the second and third placed sides meet in the final game of the season on Saturday.

Although Pewsey look certainties to join champions Hook Norton in the higher league next term, chairman Thompson will not be celebrating until the job is complete.

He said: "We had a couple of drinks afterwards, but we will be having a lot more on Thursday if we get another point. We're in a very strong position, but stranger things have happened. There is no doubt in the minds of Don Rogers and Colin Moyles that we have done it, but the problem is Ardley are playing us.

"It would take a major slip up on our part for it not to happen, but we want a point from our game in hand to make sure."

Manager Rogers is also anxious that his side make absolutely sure of second spot this evening. He said: "We're almost there, about as close as you can get.

"My aim at the start of the season was to get us promoted and we really go going at Christmas when I had the likes of Craig Wall available for the first time. We went three months where we won virtually every game and that put us in a good position. We just want to sew it up now.

"We are at full strength for tonight's game and we will be sensible. We've got to be absolutely shocking in the last two games not to do it now and I can't really see any problem at all."

Just 18 months ago, Pewsey were 12 points adrift at the foot of the Screwfix Direct League First Division and staring Wiltshire League football firmly in the face. But the arrival of Swindon Town legend Rogers sparked a remarkable turnaround in fortunes.

They won 13 and drew three of their final 14 games last term to finish in a comfortable mid-table position in the First Division, and have been among the frontrunners in the Hellenic League Division One West ever since transferring across the non-league pyramid in the summer.

Thompson has been delighted with the strides made over the past year-and-a-half. He said: "Don Rogers has done a tremendous job for us.

"There were a few doubters when he took over and brought players from outside the area in, but look at the results. We were nine points adrift at the bottom of the table, but we survived comfortably and then moved to the Hellenic League as it represented our best chance of Premier football.

"It is a massive turnaround and there is a lot of talk now that players from the area who have left the club for better things might come back."

But the hard work is about to begin for Thompson.

The club need to make £50,000 of improvements to the Recreation Ground, including the installation of new floodlights, 50 extra seats and hard standing around the pitch.

Pewsey have received the backing of the parish council to make the improvements and are expected to hear the outcome of their application for a £100,000 football foundation grant on May 29.

Should it prove successful, the club would then have until August 1 to make the vital adjustments.

Tonight's game kicks off at 6.30pm.