GOATACRE captain Ed Wilkins is thankful to the Wiltshire cricket family for their support during his side’s ill-fated bid to reach the home of cricket.

The Goats came close to emulating their famous 1988 and 1990 cup-winning predecessors in reaching the final of the National Village Cup at Lord’s by taking their semi-final clash at Foxton to the final over on Sunday but their day ultimately ended in agony as they fell five runs short.

And despite suffering the heartbreak of defeat by a whisker in Cambridgeshire, Wilkins was taken aback by the level of support from other teams around the county.

“We had a lot of messages on Twitter from other teams –even teams in our league like Potterne – and it was nice to read those,” said Wilkins.

“I live in Malmesbury so a few of the guys from there made the trip up to watch us and I think there was someone from Spye Park too.

“We took a full coach and we didn’t know about this before but there were a lot of cars that came up too so I think we had more fans there than us – we had something like 150 people up there.”

After Foxton posted 245-8 thanks to Cei Sanderson’s 103, Wilkins set about inspiring a heroic run chase with a knock of 115 from 93 balls.

Toby Horton (44) and Giorgio Rigali (18) both provided support before the skipper’s wicket was the last of the visitors’ eight to fall but despite the Goats battling back to leave themselves needing 15 from the last two overs, and later six from the final ball, it wasn’t to be their day.

A hurting Wilkins was harsh in his assessment of his own innings as he was left to reflect on what might have been.

He said: “All it needed was one less hit from them or one more boundary from us – it all came down to fine margins.

“A lot of people have been saying what a good knock mine was but I could have and maybe should have won it for us – that’s how I feel.

“I’m still really proud to captain this club.

“We’ve had a great year in the competition but I’m not sure if it’s worse to go out in the first round rather than coming so close in the semi-finals.

“We’ve won a lot of games this year and the quarter-final (a 98-run victory at home to Roche Old Boys on August 2) was absolutely amazing to be a part of.

“I’m sure that things will sink in soon but at the moment, we’re just gutted to have come so close.”