Bromham drop vital point (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Bromham drop vital point

5:42pm Tuesday 20th February 2007 in Football By Gazette Sport Reporter

PACESETTERS Bromham (Sunday) dropped what could prove to be a costly point when they could manage only a 3-3 draw with lowly placed Churchill Arms, a result that saw the Arms extend their unbeaten run to four matches.

Freddie Paget and Jim Sandiford put Bromham two goals ahead prior to Myles Hickton pulling a goal back for the Churchill. Sean Kingsbury netted a third for Bromham and with a 3-1 lead it looked as if they would go onto to complete a league double over their rivals.

With the first half drawing to a close Churchill clawed their way back into the game again when Robin Gorham struck to make it 2-3. Churchill captain Alex Duncan then proved that he was the man to leads the club when he netted their equaliser to earn a share of the spoils.

AFC Bell narrowed the margin at the top to just two points after the battled hard to overcome Wanderers who led 2-0 at one stage before Bell fought back to win 3-2.

Wanderers went in front after six minutes through Domonic Shepherd after good work from Ian Saunderson and Carl Mackness created the opening.

The second goal came after 35 minutes and again Shepherd was the scorer, after more good build up play from Craig Harman and Dylan Turner set up the productive marksman.

Bell were on level terms before the break. Their first goal arrived after 40 minutes when Gareth Veitch got on the end of a corner to reduce the arrears and they equalised in the 43rd minutes when Chris Underwood's blistering 35 yard strike gave Wanderers keeper Scott Carrick no chance.

Bell's winner came 20 minutes from time and was scored by Jonathan Couch and it could prove to be an all important goal as at one stage Bell would have been happy to settle for a point but instead they managed to snatch another vital win in their quest for promotion in their first season.

AFC Melksham were without top scorer Luke Ballinger for their trip to Trowbridge Town Supporters' Club, who, without regular goalkeeper Robbie Newton, put up little resistance as Melksham hit nine goals without reply thanks to a hat trick of hat tricks.

Wayne Bailey opened the scoring after 17 minutes and his goal was quickly followed by goals from Andy Harrison and Gareth Evans who scored in the 19th and 23rd minutes respectively.

Harrison added another before the interval to give Melksham a 4-0 interval lead.

Bailey was next to find the target ahead of Evans and with the three players on two goals apiece the race was on to see who could score the first treble. That honour went to Harrison who sealed his tree timer in the 80th minute. Evans was next when he scored his third on 85 minutes and Bailey, who started it all off, completed things with his hat-trick goal two minutes from time.

Old Road Tavern came from two goals down to earn a deserved 2-2 draw with the Rising Sun FC who led 2-0 at the break, thanks to a double from Chris Burgess. One came from the penalty spot and this was after the Old Road had Craig Llewellyn sent off for allegedly spitting at the match referee.

The second half saw Old Road stage a great fight back, with Robbie Burton scoring before he was also shown the red card and then Ryan Tyrell brought the scores level after his shot deflected in off Chris Burgess.

Chippenham West End Club and Corsham United also had to settle for a share of the spoils as Corsham overturned a two-goal deficit to earn a 2-2 draw.

James Mulhall's deflected effort for West End was doubled by Josh David, whose stunning free kick from 25 yards doubled the lead in the second half. Aaron Jones responded for Corsham but it looked as it would only be a consolation until Chris Light conjured up an equalising goal deep into injury time to earn Corsham their first point in five games.

The Crown FC were looking forward to playing their first match at Green Lane, Devizes, since early December and after a late inspection the pitch was passed fit to use, however the hosts were left frustrated and without a game when opponents North Star B, who the Crown had beaten 3-2 only eight days earlier, called at the 11th hour due to a lack of players.