Chippenham Sunday League, November 12 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Chippenham Sunday League, November 12

7:46am Monday 13th November 2006 in Football By Gazette Sport Reporter

Knockout Cup

The second round of the Eric Hughes Memorial Knockout cup, sponsored by presstoprint was dominated by sides from the premier division with no fewer than nine of the twelve top flight clubs battling it out for a place in the final 16 of the competition, but they didn't have everything there own way as a number of big guns were sent packing by teams from lower divisions. It was not only the premiership sides that suffered elimination by supposed lesser opposition as there were shocks all round.

With last seasons cup winners Foresters Arms (formerly Parsons Nose) already out of this knockout cup. Last seasons beaten finalists Biddestone Social must have fancied their chances of going all the way this time around, but their dreams of lifting the cup are in tatters as second division Ship FC caused one of the shocks of the day by beating their opponents 3-2. Biddestone were well below par having been let down by a number of players and with half a dozen key men missing through injury they managed to scrap a team together.

The Ship took full advantage of the situation and were 2-0 up within 15 minutes as Dave Percival's opener was added to by Scott Cunningham who stabbed the ball home from close range to make it 2-0. The Ship were reduced to 10 early in the second period when Dave Percival was sent off for dissent, and immediately Biddestone reduced the arrears with John O'Meara firing home a free kick. The injured Steve Casey bought the scored level on 71 minutes with a stunning strike from 40 yards. Cunningham won the game for The Ship with an equally as good goal when he volleyed home from 30 yards in the 81st minutes to give the visitors to Yatton Road their 3-2 success.

Third division Biddestone White Horse were among the sides who claimed a premier division scalp, when they upset the odds to write the head lines as they sent Bradford News out of the competition, the horse's winner in their 1-0 triumph came from Tamlyn Goodrich and was scored after just 2 minutes.

Losing finalists of two years ago Westbury Rangers A will have to wait until next season, if they are to have success in the cup, as their hopes of glory this term were ended by first division leaders North Star A, the top flight team went out after losing to Tommy Ludford's early strike which gave the Star a 1-0 win. Rangers had a Tim Coombes goal disallowed and they also had the chance to take the tie to extra time but Marc Lanfear made a hash of his penalty kick.

First division, Kings Arms (Trowbridge) put a recent run of poor form behind them as they overcame Box Rovers from the Premier division 2-0 to book their place in the final 16. The Arms who were without Booker Woodford, Adam Glover and star striker Scott Askew, saw Pete Spong take centre stage as his double saw the Arms home. The Arms keeper Ashley Haynes was another of the their heroes when he made a breathtaking save to deny Rovers and equaliser not long after his team had gone ahead.

Sherston Town were the fifth Premier division team who suffered a defeat at the hands of supposed lesser opposition, Sherston lost 5-3 away to FC Colerne who finished the game with only nine players after injury forced both Brian Doyle and Dave Roderick out of the game. Ben Wright and Ben Newman had put Sherston 2-0 up before Brian Doyle and Jake Jefferies restored parity for Colerne, Colerne then lost Doyle but despite the handicap they went 3-2 in front with Jefferies second of the game. Jamie Bowler kept his purple patch in front of goal going with Colerne 4th and when Jefferies completed his hat trick with a 20 yard curler, Sherston knew they were heading out of the cup, even though Ed Wilkins clawed back a 3rd goal for Sherston and the hosts lost Roderick, it was a great day for the underdogs.

Fourth division, Churchill Arms lay claim to the biggest surprise of the round when they humiliated first division North Bradley with a 4-0 win, Bradley until recently had been sitting on top of their respective division. Bradley's manager Damon Berrelly claimed that his team were dreadful, but added that Churchill thoroughly deserved the win. Ryan Smith scored from the penalty spot to put Churchill 1-0 up and with Myles Hickton finally bringing his boots to a game for the first time this season, the rampant striker scored a fine treble to sink Bradley and give the hosts their famous win.

Prior to and after Jamie Mullens giving second division Rowde a 1-0 advantage over Dog & Fox Ashley, their keeper Ashley Robinson produced two fantastic saves to keep his team in the game, but Robinson was unable to keeper the Dog at bay for the remainder of the contest as they hit back to claim a 3-1 victory. Steve Roddy bought the premiership side level on 15 minutes and they took the lead on 51 minutes through Dom Khaekphoj who had come on as a second half substitute. Another replacement Dan Fowler wrapped up the win for the Dog when he hit the target in the 70th minute. Rowde had chances to get back in the game the best of which fell to Marcus Wallen who with only the keeper to beat shot straight at the Dog's Craig Guthrie.

First division, Semington Rovers overcame a potential banana skin when they beat third division AFC Pilot 2-0, Stuart Barber scored a goal in each half to give Rovers a win over the Pilot who had switched the game to Rovers home ground.

After a goalless first half first division Kingfisher got the better of division four side AFC Melksham to run out 3-1 winners, Luke Stoneham put Fisher 1-0 and Nick Still made it 2-0. Will Symons halved the deficit when his lightning striker from 40 yards made it 2-1. Kingfisher's all important third goal arrived in the 92nd minute and was scored by Paul Maddox after he was set up by in from Marcus Young.

Third division, Wheatsheaf can't seem to buy a win in the league, but they can seem to do no wrong in the cup competitions. Wheatsheaf traveled to Biddestone Arms who were 14 places above them in league standings, and current form suggested a home win, but not for the first time this season Wheatsheaf ignored the form book and emerged triumphant from a thrilling game between two evenly matched teams that was credit to the league and those who took part in it including referee Kevin Purbrick who had a fine match in the middle. Wheatsheaf's 2-1 win came after Andy Law had put the ahead in the 51st minute when he drove home from 25 yards. Biddestone's Andy Davis squared things up in the 60th minutes and Wheatsheaf's winner was far from pretty, but they gratefully accepted it when in the 67th minute Adi King's shot was put into his own net by the unlucky Jamie Gale.

Cooper Avon will have bragging rites over their local rivals Pig & Whistle United for the rest of the season at least, third division high flyers Cooper roasted the Pig from the division above, by a margin of three goals as the tyremen won 5-2. United who had caused the shock of the previous round when they sent Holt packing fell behind to a Paul McCarty wonder strike who drilled home from 35 yards to open the scoring against his former teammates. Cooper's old timer and workhorse Shane Thornton, hit all of his teams other 4 goals. Nathan Mantle replied with both goals for the losers.

Third division leaders The Southgate Inn needed extra time before disposing of stable mates Sir Audley's Arms. After 90 minutes the score was three apiece, but the added time saw Southgate run in four goals to the Arms one to leave them as 7-4 winners. Nick Taylor three, David Lloyd 2, and singles from Nathan Sheridan and Andy Davis accounted for Southgate's 7 while Andy Breeze scored 2 goals on his debut for the Arms and Kieran Smith and Craig Manley added the others.

Top flight clubs Spencer Sports and Maud Heath Sports both narrowly avoided an early exit at the hands of opponents who were believed to be inferior, both Little George and White Hart Combe both narrowly lost out but gave a fine account of themselves before doing so.

Spencer Sports hosted division four leaders Little George and although they won 3-1 things could have been different had the George not hit the woodwork on at least 6 occasions. James Eatough's sublime strike put Spencer 1 up, Ben Grinham scored a fortuitous second for the hosts before Ashley Groves made it 3-0. In between the goals the George were creating opportunities but being denied by the bar or the post. Nat Auckland finally found the net for the George with a late but deserved consolation.

Maud Heath left it late before seeing off White Hart Combe, with Adie Simpkins 94th minute deflected shot giving them a 3-2 victory over their third division opponents. James Hearsay scored for Combe from the spot to give the lead which wiped out by John Freegard's leveler for the Sports. Matthew Waite them put the Sports in front before James Stone drew Combe level after a great build up led to him making it 2-2. With the game heading for extra time, Combe suffered heartache as Simpkins shot was deflected in to give Sports their win.

The free scoring British Lion OC visited Division Three Chippenham United RAOB in what many thought would be a comfortable win for the Division Two side and they were proved right as the Lion hit 10 unanswered goals to run out easy winners. However, for most of the first half this was anything but the case, as United gallantly held the Lion and created a few chances of their own. In fact, it was RAOB who had the ball in the net first after only four minutes. A long throw ended up at the feet of Desmound Green who gleefully shot home only to see referee Derek Taylor disallow his effort for a foul.

Ten minutes later, Green had second goal' disallowed following a quick freekick. The home side was disrupting the Lion's passing game and it was 24 minutes before they had a meaningful shot on goal. Although John Stockman sweetly hit Andrew Webster's cross, John Stack threw himself in to block the strike. Against the run of play, the Lion took the lead two minutes later.

Centre half Dave Crawford powerfully headed up field to Rob Drown who in turn allowed Stockman to measure his through ball to Tom Evans. The pacey striker calmly slotting his shot past Stuart Davis. The goal seemed to take the wind out of United and they went further behind on 32 minutes. The outstanding Shane Holloway clipped in a cross and Evans slid the ball home from cross range. All of United's good work in the first period was undone within the first twenty minutes of the second half.

On 50 minutes Davis couldn't hold Andy Stonestreet's shot, Evans squared the loose ball to allow Webster to bundle home. Two minutes later, Duncan Biggin's header found Webster on the halfway line. As the runners pulled the RAOB defence open, the burly targetman stuck his head down and superbly finished from 15 yards. Within three minutes it was 5-0.

Crawford and Biggin were both denied by Davis but the resulting Mikey O'Donnell corner curled straight in to the net. Stockman then rattled the United bar with a header and the Lion now threatened to run riot. On the hour, Webster was pulled down in the penalty area and O'Donnell calmly despatched the spot kick. Six became seven on 64 minutes as Mark Hulland's through ball allowed Stonestreet to blast home from 15 yards.

Stonestreet became provider a minute later when his measured cross gave Luke Enderby a simple tap in at the back post. As the half progressed Webster missed two gilt-edged chances to claim a hat-trick, Stockman volleyed over from close range and Hulland curiously missed an open goal when Webster's long ball bounced over keeper Davis. The Lion finished off in style in the dying minutes.

With four minutes left Stonestreet scored his second and the Lion's ninth when he crashed home a loose ball from inside the six yard box. Enderby made it ten in the last minute when a deft touch and shimmy allowed him space to sweetly curl a left foot shot round Davis from the edge of the penalty area.

Premier Division

The only game in the Auto Business Solutions ltd, sponsored Chippenham League, Premier Division saw leaders Winsley stretch their winning run to seven matches as they beat basement club Trowbridge Harriers 5-3 to open up a 4 point lead over second placed Corsham Centre who were in Wiltshire Cup action.

Winsley led 5-0 at the interval thanks to a goal apiece from Paul Ranger and Guy Rowley and Simon Keates hat trick. With everyone expecting the floodgates to open in the second half and Winsley to hit the goal trail again, however they were wrong as Harriers staged a great fight back with John Baker making 5-1 before he added another from the penalty spot to reduce the deficit even further and when Naseem Abourachid cup the gap to two, Harriers sensed a possible upset, but it was not to be as the scoring stopped there and although their performance's have improved in recent weeks Harriers were still left winless after playing 8 games to date.

Division One

On a day of shocks, Chippenham Police beat mid table Potterne FC to claim their first Division One win of the campaign, sporting a brand new kit the boys in blue chalked up their first points of the season with an excellent team performance against the villagers that earned them a 3-2 triumph. It looked as if it was going to be the same old story when Potterne went one up early on through Jamie Bayes. The Police were level shortly after when Jason Roberts curled home a beauty to make it 1-1.

The Police went ahead when a pin point cross by James Parfitt on the left was met with a superb diving header by the red hot Roberts for his second of the game. It was all one way traffic and just before the break and the Police added a third when James Parfitt danced through several Potterne defenders before smashing the ball into the net. Potterne came out fighting in the second half and Martin Notman made several excellent saves in the Police goal to deny the village side. On 60 minutes Jamie Bayes converted from the penalty spot to set up an anxious finish for the Police, but they held on for a well deserved victory.

Foresters Arms 5-1 victory over strugglers Chippenham Sports & Social Club, moved them into the top half of the table, Josh Robinson and Wayne Bailey put Foresters in charge prior to Steve Shipway clawing a goal back for the Sports before the interval. Steve Pegler restored Foresters 2 goal cushion ahead of Robinson making it 4-1 with his second of the game. Simion Allison's first goal for the victors completed the scoring as they made it 3 wins on the bounce after a run of 3 losses.

Atworth United returned to winning ways with a comfortable 4-1 win away at Hullavington. The visitors took the lead after 5 minutes when Scott Boyd crashed home a shot from 15 yards after some fine set up play from midfield maestro Brian Wiltshire. Boyd doubled the lead on the half hour mark when he latched onto a clearance and blasted a 20 yarder past the unsighted home keeper.

On the hour mark the lively Jack Adcock picked up a through ball from the impressive Paul Burns to hit a shot across the keeper and into the far corner. To their credit Hullavington did not give up and Atworth were reliant upon some fine defending by Ross Menghini and Alex Davies to keep the visitors at bay before the home side pulled back a goal via Andy Newbury. In the last few minutes United's dead ball expert Laurence Brill found the tireless Ashley Wheeler who scored an emphatic volley from a five yards to cap a solid away performance.

Division Two

AFC Calne dropped from the top Division Three down to third spot without kicking a ball following the withdrawal of Fascia Graphics, Rowde FC were another team who lost out with Fascia leaving the league. Both teams had gained maximum points from their encounters with Fascia and have had them removed from their playing record, which resulted in British Lion OC taking over at the summit.

Calne may have been on a low on hearing the news ahead of their clash with The Crown Devizes, and after taking maximum points from their previous seven games Calne were looking to extend their winning sequence but the Devizes side who have found some good form of late continued their good run by inflicting Calne with their first loss of the season, by virtue of their 2-0 victory. After a goalless first half the Crown had to wait until the 80th minute before forcing a breakthrough which came when Chris Quinton netted, the game was made safe 5 minute when Niall MacLean added a second for the Crown who made it 3 wins on the spin.

The Horse & Groom were unable to repeat the form of last week which had seen them pick up their first win of the season when they beat Biddestone Arms. The Horse hosted Southwick Sports and slipped to a 2-1 defeat, Jamie Alford's opener for Southwick was cancelled out by Tom Hanks equaliser for the Groom, Lee Ashman struck Southwick's second and all import goal to give them their first win in 4 outings.

FC Bradford may have come away from the Cement Works, Westbury with two points in the bag after beating White Horse FC 5-1 but a break in to their hosts changing rooms left a number of their players without their mobile phones, and a large amount of money. A spokesperson for the league, said this is the second time in recent weeks that a club has reported theft from changing rooms, in the past we have placed warnings on newsletters and advised clubs to lock valuables in their cars prior to kick off, or give them to a responsible person to look after during the game.

He said: "It's not a nice thing to happen to anyone, but having been warned in the past they only have themselves to blame for not listening to the advice that had been given to them."

It should be seen as a warning to other clubs, but no doubt it will happen again in the future. On the field of play Bradford welcomed back Robin Walker to the club and he played a massive part in their victory, Walker may hot have got on the score sheet but he played a part in four of Bradford's goals. Sam Jordan and Ashley Stiles first half goals were added to in the second period by Jason Harford who scored a splendid treble for the winners. Chris Sims replied with a last minute consolation for the Horse.

Division Three

Blue Circle (Sunday) returned to winning ways in Division Three as they claimed their first success in three games with a win away at Somerford. Steve Martin scored a brace for the cement boys in their 6-2 victory with the other four goals being shared by Andy Craig, Neil Watts, Martin Hemmens and Russell Dyer. Scott Hatton and Ryan Jenkins replied for the losers.

Westbury Rangers B, defeated Pack Horse Rangers 1-0 with Neil Gordon scoring the all important winner.

Division Four

The Crown FC were the highest league scorers of the day, the Division four side beat Corsham United 10-1 to maintain their climb up the table, Dean Potter took his tally for the season to 17 with another 4 goals, strike partner Nick Buckle added a brace, with Ashley Edwards scoring 2 and Alex Peacop and Ashley Holt making up the 10. Aaron Jones was on target with United's consolation.

Trowbridge Town Supporters Club were outplayed by opponents Chippenham West End Club for long periods of the game but still managed to return to Trowbridge with a win to their names after they scored the only goal of the game on 23 minutes when Peter Barby chipped over West End's advancing keeper to give them a 1-0 victory.

The Supporters' club manager Kevin Williams gave debut's to 15 year old pairing Richard Coleman and Sayed Kazemi and the not so young Neil Taylor came on to bring some experience to the Town's defence and Williams was impressed by all their contributions.

Old Road Tavern and North Star B battled out a very sporting game, which the Star won 2-0 thanks to goals from Matt Treacy and Ben Stone who sealed the win with his effort with the very last kick of the game.

Bottom of the table Rising Sun are starting to find the net on a regular basis, but their problem now is how to keep the ball away from their own end, the Riser scored 3 times against Wanderers but still fell to a 6-3 loss. Domonic Shepherd scored the first two goals for Wanderers having been set up by Dylan Turner on both occasions, Darren Folkard's 25 yard screamer made it 2-1 at the break, but shortly after the restart Wanderers were well in command as Dylan Turner fired home Nick Tate's long throw. Shepherd completed his hat trick after receiving the perfect pass from Craig Harman and he added his 4th and Wanderers 5th before the Riser scored two goals of their own courtesy of Steven Foord and Chris Burgess to bring a respectability to the scoreline. Wanderers 6th was scored by Carl Mackness.

Wiltshire Sunday Cup

Wiltshire Sunday Cup, holders Corsham Centre became the seventh side from the league to make the final 16 of the competition after seeing off a strong challenge from Swindon League Division One side AFC Gas. The Centre were in the ascendancy in the first half but were unable to find the target. Centre produced a spluttering second half display in the second half but did enough to seal a 3-2 victory. Ross Lye picked out Simon Gray who hit the net on 46 minutes and the Centre were soon two up after Scott Lye headed home an excellent Mathew Ralph cross.

The Gas pulled a goal back on 70 minutes, but Tim Jefferies hit what proved to be the winner from the penalty spot 10 minutes from time after the burly striker picked himself up to slot home after being bundled over in the area. Gas hit a second late on, but by then the Centre had done enough to claim victory and set up a third round visit to fellow league club AFC Melksham.

Results for November 12

Auto Business Solutions Ltd, Chippenham Sunday League: Premier Division, Trowbridge Harriers 3, Winsley 5; Division One, Chippenham Police 3, Potterne 3; Foresters Arms 5, Chippenham Sports & Social Club 1; Hullavington 1, Atworth United 4; Division Two, AFC Calne 0, The Crown Devizes 2; The Horse & Groom 1, Southwick Sports 2; White Horse 1, FC Bradford 5; Division Three, Somerford 2, Blue Circle (Sunday) 6; Westbury Rangers B 1, Pack Horse Rangers 0; Division Four, Chippenham West End Club 0, Trowbridge Town Supporters Club 1; Corsham United 1, The Crown FC 10; Old Road Tavern 0, North Star B 2; The Rising Sun 3, Wanderers 6; Eric Hughes Memorial Knockout Cup (sponsored by presstoprint) First Round, AFC Bell v Corsham Centre pp; AFC Pilot 0, Semington Rovers 2; Biddestone Arms 1, Wheatsheaf 2; Biddestone Social 2, The Ship 3; Bradford News 0, Biddestone White Horse 1; Chippenham United RAOB 0, British Lion OC 10; Churchill Arms 4, North Bradley 0; Cooper Avon 5, Pig & Whistle United 2; Dog & Fox Ashley 3, Rowde 1; FC Colerne 5, Sherston Town 3; Kingfisher 3, AFC Melksham 1; Kings Arms (Trowbridge) 2, Box Rovers 0; North Star A 1, Westbury Rangers A 0; Sir Audley's Arms 4, The Southgate Inn 7 aet; Spencer Sports 3, Little George 1; White Hart Combe 2, Maud Heath Sport 2.

Fixtures for November 19

Auto Business Solutions Ltd, Chippenham Sunday League: Premier Division, Bradford News v Trowbridge Harriers ; Corsham Centre v Box Rovers ; Holt v Sherston Town ; Maud Heath Sports v Dog & Fox Ashley ; Westbury Rangers A v Biddestone Social ; Winsley v Spencer Sports ; Division One, Atworth United v Kingfisher ; Chippenham Sports & Social Club v Chippenham Police ; Foresters v Kings Arms (Trowbridge) ; North Star A v FC Colerne ; Potterne v Christian Malford ; Semington Rovers v North Bradley ; Division Two, AFC Calne v FC Bradford ; Biddestone Arms v Pig & Whistle United pp ; Biddestone Arms v The Crown Devizes ; Rowde v The Horse & Groom ; Southwick Sports v British Lion OC ; Sutton Benger v White Horse ; The Ship v Fascia Graphics pp; Division Three, AFC Pilot v Cooper Avon ; Biddestone White Horse v Somerford ; Blue Circle (Sunday) v White Hart Combe ; Chippenham United RAOB v Westbury Rangers B ; Corsham Park Rangers v Wheatsheaf ; Pack Horse Rangers v Sir Audley's Arms ; Division Four, AFC Bell v North Star B ; AFC Melksham v Wanderers ; Bromham (Sunday) v Corsham United ; Chippenham West End Club v Churchill Arms ; The Crown v Old Road Tavern ; Trowbridge Town Supporters Club v Little George.