Winsley still setting the pace (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Winsley still setting the pace

5:50pm Tuesday 20th February 2007 in Football By Gazette Sport Reporter

WINSLEY extended their lead at the top of the Premier Division by defeating near neighbours Dog and Fox Ashley for the second time in 15 days.

Having won the reverse match 4-2 the pacesetters had to settle for a 2-1 success in the home clash, but at this stage of the season any kind win will do for Winsley as the villagers look to build a healthy gap between themselves and nearest challengers and defending champions Corsham Centre, who were without a game.

Out to avenge their previous loss, the game at Freshford was always going to be a tough game between two very competitive teams who were not prepared to settle for second best.

Winsley fielded a very strong side, while the Dog had many key players missing including their top striker Steve Roddy.

The game was a very tight affair for the first half hour and then it burst into life when Dan Cottrell raced through on Winsley's goal and did well to stay on his feet despite being fouled by Neil Kirkpatrick. He then rounded keeper Chris Birleson, who also clipped his heals. Cottrell then shot towards the empty net from six yards, only to find Birleson had recovered his ground and gratefully grabbed the ball.

From Birleson's punt upfield Paul Ranger crossed for Chris Tricker who volleyed into the roof of the net to give the hosts the lead, leaving Cotterell to rue his honesty in staying on his feet and to ponder how he has missed an open goal.

After 40 minutes Dan Kovacs doubled Winsley's lead when he headed home from a corner to make it 2-0.

The Dog and Fox started the second half much the brighter of the sides and dominated the half without threatening the Winsley goal. The best chance of the half fell to the Dog's Jamie Burbidge who shot well wide having evaded Winsley's back line. The Dog also had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down when the ball bounced up and struck Dean Ranger on the hand.

The Dog's Dan Fowler scored a deserved consolation goal with virtually the last kick of the game and they can count themselves unlucky not to have left with a point.

Biddestone Social and Westbury Rangers A remain in third and fourth places respectively after both teams picked up another two points to keep up the pressure on the two leading clubs.

Biddestone defeated Bradford News 3-0, which was a fine result especially after they had played the opening 33 minutes with just nine players as they were waiting for a car load of players to arrive.

While Biddestone were undermanned the newsmen had numerous chances to break the deadlock and they were made to pay for a series of misses as once Biddestone were back to full strength after 35 minutes it did not take long for the extra players to prove their worth.

Within three minutes Biddestone took the lead when Rob Pocock tapped home from close range after good work from Gary Banks. Biddestone doubled their lead after 50 minutes when a cushioned header from Danny Jones was met by Gary Banks who volleyed home number two.

Kris Beasley sealed the win 13 minutes from time with a well taken goal which saw him set off on a mazy run and beat a clutch of players before producing a clinical finish to help earn his team a fourth successive win.

Westbury Rangers A defeated Trowbridge Harriers 11-0 on the opening day of the season, and, once Harriers turned up with just 10 players at Meadow Lane for the reverse fixture, Rangers knew that the chances of bettering that scoreline were very good.

Bottom of the table Harriers, who were hindered even further by the loss of Neil Hanniford through injury, were always facing an uphill task.

Another problem for Harriers was the return of Rangers top striker Marc Lanfear, who netted six times in a 15-1 victory. Sam Gooding helped himself to four goals, Tim Summerfield added two and Ross Parker, Sam Tucker and Mark Young scored one each.

Phil Strange scored the consolation goal for the Harriers, his first goal for the club, when he beat Pete Ayton, who was on as a second half substitute to replace goalkeeper Lewis Porter.

With the Beeches, Shaw, unplayable, it meant another postponed match for Spencer Sports.

The Sports, who were due to meet Box Rovers, have not played since November 19 and having played just nine games to date it is looking likely that Tom Aust and his side are certain to have a number of midweek games come April.

Holt also missed out on a game when their home pitch was ruled out and even though they tried to reverse the contest to Maud Heath Sports it was a no-go as the pitch at the Rec in Calne was also waterlogged.