MELKSHAM Town A remain one point clear at the top of Division Three after sharing a 1-1 draw with their nearest rivals FC Box Steam Brewery at Bobbin Lane, Westwood, in a match that was fiercely contested but was a credit to both teams and grass roots football.

With both teams failing to take their chances in an end to end first half the deadlock was broken by Jason Povey who headed home a Nick Gleeson cross to put the Brewery Boys’ one up on 65 minutes.

Although Melksham were unable to make inroads into Box’s lead, they responded well to Povey’s opening goal, but had to wait until the 85th minute before James Eatough pegged the hosts back shortly before the end to earn Melksham what was a deserved point from a match that neither team deserved to lose.

Bratton brought the curtain down on their league campaign with a 3-2 triumph over a FC Trowbridge side who they had beaten 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller back in October.

The return match for the teams was just as entertaining at the first with Luke Mead and Tim Beecham putting Bratton 2-0 up before Trowbridge staged something of a comeback.

Ali Ferris halved the deficit only for Alex Clarke to restore Bratton’s two-goal cushion when he put them 3-1 up from the penalty spot.

Conor Green gave Trowbridge a fighting chance of getting something from the game, and although Bratton endured a nervy final few minutes they were able to hang on and claim their fifth win of the season.

Potterne may have only beaten Hilperton United Reserves 4-1, but Craig Campbell’s side were huge winners on a day that saw the top two battle it out together in a 1-1 draw, meaning that Potterne are now in the driving seat to finish as champions as they have games in hand on both Melksham and Box Steam Brewery.

Steven House gave Potterne a half-time lead, Ashley Huntley doubled their advantage and further goals from House and Wayne House made it 4-0 before Bradley King-Taylor bagged a late reply for Hilperton.

When The Stiffs and Aces met at Clarendon Academy back in November their match was abandoned with Aces winning 2-1 on 68 minutes following an injury to the hosts' Jason Harvey.

Since then Aces have beaten Ade Giles' side 7-0 and they followed that win up with a 6-1 triumph in a game that saw the hosts do really well for in the first 40 minutes before having the stuffing knocked out of them just before the break.

The Stiffs probably had the better of the first half chances the best of which fell to Dave Carroll, who should have really scored to give his team the lead.

His miss was to prove decisive as goals from Mike Baldwin and Tom Pang gave Aces a 2-0 interval lead.

The second period saw Aces on top, substitute Jason Wilcox headed his team into a 3-0 lead and made it 4-0 with a left footed strike.

Stiffs replied with a rare Adam Freeland goal before Wilcox bagged a right-footed effort to complete the perfect hat-trick for 5-1.

Greg Richardson had the final say for Aces when he fired home their sixth of the afternoon that gave him his 14th of the season.

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