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KNOCKOUT CUP SEMI-FINAL: Westbury Rangers A have kept alive their hopes of ending their 35 year wait to lift the press to print sponsored Eric Hughes Memorial Knockout Cup after they defeated premier division rivals Dog & Fox Ashley to set up a meeting with second division Crown Cosmos at Chippenham Town's Hardenhuish Park on Sunday April 20.

The match played in glorious sunshine but at a very damp Melksham Town FC in front of healthy crowd of over 100 supporters and although the football might not have lived up to pre match expectations they certainly got value for money as the game needed extra time and a penalty shoot out before Rangers progress to their second final in four seasons. After 120 gruelling minutes the score was tied at one apiece before Rangers triumphed 4-2 on penalties.

Westbury manager Shaun Gardiner was forced into making a couple of changes after he lost Paul Beavers and Dave Whyte through injury and although it was the Dog & Fox who applied the early pressure to Nathan Taylor's goal it was Rangers who slowly started to gain the upper hand as the first period progressed. Nick Mead's timely challenged denied the Dog's Mark Gerrish the chance of an opener in the first five minutes and although the Dog played a the long ball over the top on a slippery surface Rangers well able to deal with any threat. In the 10th minute Rangers Tim Combes and Marc Lanfear combined to cause the Dog a few problems with Lanfear falling to teat the Dog's keeper Graig Guthrie with his final effort. Two minutes later keeper Guthrie produced a fine save to deny Nathan Hallett from long range. The Dog started to come to terms with the tricky conditions and only excellent work from Nick Mead saw him covering well for Ranger's shaky defence. The second half of the first period belonged to Rangers with the odd attack from the Dog and on 26 minutes Nathan Hallett went close to breaking the deadlock with a diving header that just missed the target. Minutes later Hallett shot across the face of goal and had one of the incoming Rangers players been able to apply a final touch Rangers would have been ahead. With half time approaching Rangers were in the driving seat but any clear cut chances were at a premium and both teams were more than happy to leave the field for their half time cup of tea with the scoreline goalless.

Rangers were quickest out of the blocks at the start of the second half and Sam Gooding couldn't believe his luck when his header on 48 minutes rebounded off the bar to Marc Lanfear who was denied by a great stop from keeper Guthrie. Guthrie was called into action again on 55 minutes when he tipped Mark Young's long range strike over the bar. At this juncture the Dog & Fox were content to soak up the pressure and hit Rangers on the break but they were almost caught out in the 65 minute when Mark Young's 35 yard shot sailed inches over the bar. Rangers finally broke down a stubborn Dog defence on 74 minutes, having been award a free kick 20 yards from goal, Pete Ayton tried his luck and his low strike saw keeper Guthrie fail to hold onto the slippery ball that squirmed under his body an into the net. Ricky Trott went close to squaring thing up for the Dog in the 81st and with time running out it was looking as if it was job done for Rangers but with two minutes of normal time remaining Mark Gerrish shot from 12 yards and the ball took an eternity to cross the line to give the Dog the equaliser and take the game to extra time.

Chances were few and far between in the extra half hour, with Rangers Sam Gooding having their best opportunity to scored a winner in the very first minute of added time and Marc Lanfear having their last in the dying moments as both teams were resigned to the dreaded penalty shoot out. Pete Ayton was first up for Rangers and he calmly slotted passed Craig Guthrie to make it 1-0, Ricky Trott's spot kick sailed wide of the target. Rangers took a 2-0 lead when Chris Story made no mistake from the spot. Mark Gerrish stepped up to take the Dog's second penalty and like Trott before him he sent his effort wide of the mark. Nick Mead saw his effort saved by Guthrie and when Steve Roddy fired his effort home the Dog were back in the contest. Sam Tucker made no mistake with Rangers fourth and Steve Latham kept the Dog in the game when he drilled home the Dog's second successful kick. All the pressure was on the Dog's keeper Guthrie to save Matty Smith's penalty but Smith made certain that the Dog didn't have to take their fifth spot kick as his effort from 12 yards hit the back of the net to scenes of jubilation from the rest of his Rangers team mates and supporters. Rangers know that they are just 90 minutes away from lifting the Knockout Cup for the first ever time but they will be well aware their opponents Crown Cosmos who were last terms beaten finalists pose a serious threat to their hopes and they will have to raise their game if they are going to end their 35 year wait for cup glory.

WG PARR TROPHY SEMI-FINAL Atworth United and Coyote switched their Westernsport Trophies sponsored WG Parr Trophy semi-final clash to the home of Atworth late on Sunday morning after Coyote's pitch in Southwick was deemed unplayable. With Potterne awaiting the winners of the all-first division showdown and with everything play for, bright sun and a near perfect playing surface greeted both sides as they took to the pitch come the final whistle Chris Carr Coyote side who were in the competition for the first time since they joined the league in 2003 had book their place in the final courtesy of a fine 4-1 success.

Coyote put out a strong line up full of attacking intention and after only five minutes Jason Povey was brought down in the box by Atworth's Ross Menghini and referee Neil Hickton had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Up stepped Nathan Flower and his kick was touched onto the inside of the post by Atworth's keeper Joe Menghini before running away to safety. Coyote continued to enjoy most of the possession and the home side were grateful for a fine clearing header from Phil Strange to deny the ever dangerous Scott Askew a scoring opportunity.

Whilst not enjoying much possession Atworth continued to battle away and some clever interplay between Sean Fordham and Ross Menghini resulted in the latter firing a shot over from 20 yards on 25 minutes. This brought the home side to life and after Atworth's Jack Adcock won a corner they took the lead when an in swinging corner from Ian Jeffery was touched on by Paul Burns for central defender Laurence Brill to ram home the loose ball to give Atworth the lead. Moments later Atworth were denied what they considered to be a blatant penalty when Sean Fordham was man handled to the ground but referee Hickton must have been unsighted. For the last five minutes of the half Coyote pressed forward and Phil Strange found himself in the notebook for a mistimed challenge as the pressure mounted.

Atworth keeper Joe Menghini denied Coyote an equaliser on a couple of occasions notably with a flying to keep out a Matt Minnis shot and a brave one on one to deny the same player. However Coyote were rewarded for their pressure seconds before the break when they pounced upon some dallying in the midfield and the pacy Minnis gleefully slammed in an equaliser to take the teams into the break at one apiece Early in the second period Coyote manager Chris Carr introduced Tarick Yachou to the play and Coyote began to dominate. Scott Askew side footed over from a save from Menghini and Askew could have done better with a header. The turning point came after 65 minutes when after a stunning save from Menghini, a Minnis cross could only be helped into his own net by the unlucky Phil Strange under pressure from Askew which put the visitors 2-1 ahead. Atworth tried to break down a strong defence marshalled by Darren Jones and Jason Povey and both Jack Adcock and Ross Menghini were unlucky with half chances. As Atworth pushed forward their lack of pace was exposed at the back and yet again Joe Menghini saved well from substitute Ali Jaffari, but had no chance after 75 minutes when Minnis latched on to a through ball and calmly slotted home the his second of the game and Coyote's third. Stuart Greener revelled in the extra space as Atworth sacrificed the midfield in a bid to get back into the game and he deservedly notched Coyote's fourth after another run by Minnis and was unlucky not to add a fifth but he was denied by another save from the impressive keeper Menghini. Coyote ran out deserved winners and look forward to meeting Potterne in the final at Corsham Town's Southbank Ground on Sunday 13th whilst Atworth are left to try and pick up their league from for the last few matches.

PREMIER DIVISION Biddestone Social remain the side to beat at the top of the Robson Taylor, Chippenham League Premier Division, as they stretched their winning run to 12 matches with a commanding 7-3 success away at Holt who they struggled to beat 2-1 just over a month ago. An amazing first half saw seven goals scored with the first coming in the second minute when Biddestone took the lead through Gary Banks who was played in by the alert Jamie Lyons, whose quickly taken free kick caught Holt out and led to Banks scoring his first of five. Holt replied on eight minutes when goalkeeper Nick Corbett saw his massive clearance up field beat his opposite number Dan Lardner who had lost the toss of a coin to end up with the goalkeepers gloves for the day. Biddestone regained the lead on 12 minutes, another good ball from Lyons picked out Banks who raced clear from the halfway and coolly slotted beyond Corbett to make it 2-1. Banks scored his third in the 17th minutes when he chased down Rob Pocock's long ball before finishing well to make it 3-1. Steve Casey set up Banks for his fourth in the 26th minute before Holt staged a mini revival. Nick Ross reduced the arrears when he headed home their second in the 33rd minutes and two minutes before the interval Ronnie Frost narrowed the gap to the odd goal to give the hosts hope of getting back on level terms. At half time Biddestone's keeper Lardner was reminded by his players that he was allowed to use his hands when playing in goal as up to that point he put on a master class of how to keep the ball out with just his feet as he choose to act as a last defender rather that a keeper. It was important that if Holt were to have any chance of causing an upset they would need to scored the first goal in the second period but that honour fell to Gary Banks who notched his fifth of the game in the 66th minute and with went any hope that Holt had of winning the game. Banks scored when he latched onto substitute John O'Meara's flick on and 10 minutes later Banks turned provider for Biddy's sixth when he cross to O'Meara who turned the ball home to make it 6-3. It was left to the ever-energetic Jamie Lyons to complete the scoring in the 89th minute when he drilled the ball home from 10 yards following a goalmouth scramble.

Defending champions Corsham Centre A had to call on Ben Moore and Tim Jefferies to help them field a side away at FC Colerne and with the inclusion of those two players Pete Ralph was able to put out a strong team for what was a potential banana skin to their hopes of lifting the title for a third successive season. The Centre were very dominant for most of the first half playing with the slope and they had numerous chances to opening the scoring with the best falling to Simon Gray on 10 minutes when he lost his marker but hammered his shot against the bar. The Centre went ahead on 20 minutes when Colerne born and bred Ben Moore returned to his former stomping ground to hand Centre the lead that their dominance deserved. The Centre doubled their lead in the 30th minute when a glorious through ball from Dan Young saw him pick out Liam Ralph's who chipped home number two. When half time came Colerne were glad for a break and a team talk to regroup and the half time chat seemed to work as Colerne dominated for long periods and should have pulled one back on 50 minutes when they were awarded a penalty. Charlie Spirrell hit the ball low to the keepers left but Nick Gingell pulled off a great save to allow the Centre to stay two goal ahead. The game flowed from end to end and both teams had chances with Matty Campbell having two great opportunities for the hosts and should have reduced arrears when he hit the ball just wide of the post when only the keeper to beat. Colerne probably deserved a point on the second half showing and had they put their chances away then the result could have been very different.

Bradford News remain in the bottom two after they crashed to a 6-3 loss away at Semington Rovers but had they had better finishing it could have been the newsmen who were celebrating victory rather than Rovers. Bradford had the better of the early chances and should have scored through Matty Gurke and Mark Maguire before Rovers bagged three goals in a crazy 25 minute spell that saw poor defending from Bradford allow Rovers to take a 3-0 lead. Stuart Barber scored Rovers opener on four minutes when he turned and finished well after being set up by strike partner Kelvin Lockwood. Barber and he made it 2-0 in the sixth minutes after a good assist from Liam Richards. Lockwood headed home Rovers third before Tom Downing poked home for Bradford to leave them trailing 3-1 at the break. Matty Gurke went close for Bradford when he hit the post but he eventually found the target to narrow Rovers advantage to the odd goal. Bradford were then hit with the sucker punch as another lapse in concentration at the back allowed Rovers in to make it 4-2 with Lockwood stabbing home his second of the game. Stuart Barber sealed a fantastic hat trick when he squeezed the ball home from an almost impossible angle to make it 5-3 and although Danny Hurkett scored a stunning third for the newsmen it was just another consolation before Kelvin Lockwood completed the second hat trick of the morning when he scored his third of the match 10 minutes from time and for Rovers it was their first win in five outings and should have secured them a top half of the table finish.

Both Maud Heath Sports and North Star A who can ill afford to have matches postponed at this stage of proceedings had to sit out another blank weekend. Both of the Calne based sides who are fighting a relegation battle were due to be away from home, but bottom of the table North Star who have not kicked a ball in March missed out when their opponents Box Rovers couldn't use their pitch at the Recreation Ground, in the village as it was under water. Maud Heath who are just above the drop zone were due to travel to The Beeches, Shaw to take on an inform Miller Sports side who were bidding to extend their unbeaten run to six matches, but for a sixth time this term the hosts have been forced to postpone a home fixture due to an unplayable pitch.

9:52am Monday 31st March 2008

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