THE RACE for the Wiltshire League Premier Division title took an interesting twist on Saturday as leaders Wroughton dropped points following a 1-1 draw at home to Ludgershall Sports.

Shane Hibbert had put Wroughton ahead at Weir Field, but Sports battled back and earned a share of the spoils courtesy of Luke Pagett’s strike.

Kintbury Rangers took full advantage by thrashing Football ID 6-1 on the road to cut the gap to Wroughton to eight points, and they can climb above them should they win all three of their games in hand.

First-half goals from Alex Smith (2), Shaun Thorp and Fabio Pinto put Kintbury into a commanding 4-1 half-time lead, and they added further goals from Tom Mahoney and Chris Cox after the break.

Melksham Town Reserves suffered a slip-up in the quest to finish best of the rest in third after they were held to 3-3 draw at home by Cricklade Town.

Things could have been much worse for Melksham, though, had they not scored a last-minute penalty to snatch a share of the spoils.

Doug Dickson, Will Thomson and Will Jacomb netted for the hosts as Cricklade replied through Max Scholefield, Dan Bond and Kris Redford.

That result has allowed fourth-placed Shrewton United to move within a point of Melksham with a game in hand after they thumped bottom side Pewsey Vale Development 4-1.

Pewsey actually opened the scoring through Taylor Edwards, but Jaden Hier swiftly levelled for Shrewton before further goals from Charlie Utterson, Charlie Jackson and Steven Holvey made the points safe.

Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development were the biggest winners on the day as they roared to a 9-2 success at home to Marlborough Town.

Ryan Withers and Nick Mason both got braces in the first half, while one for Rob Lincoln put Bassett 5-1 up at the break.

Withers duly completed his hat-trick after the break, and two further goals from Lincoln saw him bag a treble himself before Carl Shepherd completed the scoring for Bassett. Marlborough’s consolations came from Cian Cabell and Aaron Presley.

Purton were also in impressive form as they easily saw off Devizes Town Reserves 6-1, with Will Backhouse and Daren Regis both bagging braces. Chris Avery and Steve Keir got Purton’s other two goals.

The final game of the weekend saw Trowbridge Town claim a 2-2 draw away at Malmesbury Victoria Development.

Malmesbury led 2-0 at the break thanks to goals from Gareth Jones and Harrison Archer, but Trowbridge battled back in the second half and efforts from Jordan Gullis and Josh Howlett earned them a point.