Trowbridge Town 1,

Corsham Town 5

TROWBRIDGE, playing their first match since October 21, found their Screwfix Direct League First Division opponents too strong in this Wiltshire Senior Cup tie.

The home side found it very difficult to find their rhythm and it came as no surprise when the visitors took the lead after 17 minutes, Corsham player-manager. Rob Humphries producing the required finish.

The first real chance for Trowbridge came after 20 minutes when Andy Doel met a good cross only for the Corsham goalkeeper to save comfortably.

Seven minutes late Chris Henry ran through well and looked certain to net the equaliser but the ball went agonisingly wide of the left hand post.

Trowbridge then had Mark Conners dismissed for a second bookable offence, making the already difficult task much harder.

On the stroke of half-time Corsham scored their second through Chris Weekes from close range after a fumble by Trowbridge goalkeeper Chris Vaughan.

The second half started brightly when Andy Doel forced an early corner that was easily dealt with by the solid Corsham defence.

Corsham went further ahead in the 56th minute through Chris Weekes. Despite the 3-0 deficit, Trowbridge were not quite finished and created a number of chances, most of them well saved by Craig Chaplin in the Corsham goal.

The home supporters finally had something to cheer about in the 62nd minute when Neil Kirkpatrick headed home from a corner to make it 1-3.

Any celebrations were short lived though when Corsham wrapped the game up with two late goals, the fourth a fine solo effort by Simon Bray and the final goal by James Griffen.

Trowbridge manager Alan Roberts said: "We were up against it from the moment we got there. We had a lot of injuries, with Shanley, Smith and Tricker out, and it didn't help when we went down to 10 men."

There has been a little confusion over the sending off of Conners. Some spectators say that they saw the referee pull out a red card on the player, but Roberts says that he did not see the red, and thinks it may have been a second yellow, after an earlier bookable offence.

"Realistically on Saturday there was no way we could have beaten them. We had a few chances, with one-on-ones with the keeper, but nothing came of it. We're now looking for a good centre forward, because we need a finisher."

Corsham assistant manager Mark Godley said: "We had a game plan and stuck with it for the full 90 minutes. I thought Trowbridge were a bit physical at times and it was quite an open game.

"I thought James Griffen was outstanding and I was particularly pleased for him when he scored, because he missed a penalty in our recent league match at Torrington and was very down about that."

Man of the match: James Griffen (Corsham Town).