WINSLEY still hold a two point lead over both Corsham Centre and Westbury Rangers A at the top of the Premier Division even after their game away to Maud Heath Sports was wiped out due to a waterlogged pitch at the Rec in Calne.
Corsham Centre moved to within touching distance of Winsley after they defeated North Wiltshire rivals Biddestone Social 5-1 to extend their unbeaten record to 82 matches.
Scott Lye opened the scoring for the defending champions after 25 minutes, but within two minutes Biddestone were level when Kevin Banks headed home a Kris Beasley cross.
Two goals in the closing stages of the first period knocked the wind out of Social as first Craig Gingell headed the Centre back in front and then Simon Gray gave them a two-goal cushion on the stroke of half-time.
Biddestone went down to 10 men in the 53rd minute when Ryan Trowbridge retired injured and with no substitutes at their disposal they played the remainder of the game a man short. Any hopes they may have had of taking anything from the game ended when Gingell rose superbly to head home his second goal of the game and the Centre's fourth.
Tim Jefferies completed the scoring in the 78th minute from a pass from Jamie Moss.
Westbury Rangers A are level on points with the Centre in second spot after the defeated Dog and Fox Ashley 2-1.
Goalkeeper Lewis Porter was in outstanding producing for Rangers, making a number of fine stops at crucial times.
Jamie Burbedge cancelled out Marc Lanfear's first half opener for Rangers but it was Paul Beavers who struck the winner 10 minutes from time. Rangers will take heart from the victory and will go into their new year's showdown with Corsham Centre knowing that a win would see them top the table at the start of 2007.
Trowbridge Harriers and Holt may be struggling at the foot of the table but when the teams met at Southwick they produced an entertaining but bizarre 5-5 stalemate that saw Harriers finish the game with just seven players after having had four sent off.
Along with the four red cards there were a number of yellow ones which left both teams lacking any Christmas spirit ahead of their mini-break over the festive period.
Harriers looked to be in total control after goals from Lee Frisby, Mickey Spong and John Baker put them 3-0 up. A crude challenge from Naseem Abourachid led to his dismissal which allowed Holt hit back to trail by the odd goal at the interval thanks to a double from Jack Holdway.
Holt substitute Andrew Bradford was booked after his very first touch of the ball for not giving his name to the referee before coming on.
Holt equalised at the start of the second half when Andy Cryer's chip over the keeper made it 3-3. John Baker regained the lead for the Harriers only for Olly Gee to bring Holt back level once more. A 30 yard drive from Mickey Spong swung the game back in Harriers' favour before Neil Grant made it 5-5.
Harriers had Cameron Henley, Sacha Morgan and two goal hero John Baker dismissed.
Ten man Box Rovers eased their relegation fears with a 6-4 success at Bradford News, whose manager Colin Lewis had to officiate.
Rovers took full advantage of poor defending from the newsmen as Liam Fullam netted a brace and Tom Smith once to put Rovers 3-0 up going into the second half. Bradford dug deep at the start of the second half and goals from Jason Povey and Russell Francis cut the deficit to one. Tom Smith completed a hat-trick with two further goals and although another goal from Francis and one from Jamie Davies gave Bradford hope of getting something from the game it was not to be as Luke Wolf completed Rovers' half dozen with a goal in injury time.
Division One
WITH the top three sides in cup action fourth placed Foresters Arms missed out on the chance to top the table when they suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat away to Christian Malford, who claimed victory thanks to a determined rearguard action which saw them defend their 2-1 half-time lead to shock title chasing Foresters who had three players sent off in the last five minutes as their frustration with the referee boiled over.
Malford started very brightly playing some nice passing football on the heavy pitch at Seagry. They took the lead after five minutes when Foresters failed to clear Jamie Munn's goal bound header and Richard Bruce got the faintest of touches to steer the ball home.
Malford's forwards clearly had the advantage of pace at this stage and after 12 minutes went 2-0 in front when Aaron Merryweather appeared to beat Foresters' offside trap and played a nice ball to Richard Bruce who after beating a defender gave Merryweather an easy chance to slot the ball home.
Foresters, who had not been happy with some decisions, came more into the game, forcing Malford goalkeeper Tom Collings to make one excellent save.
Malford remained lively on the break, missing two good chances before Foresters' increasing pressure began to tell. After 42 minutes Steve Peglar's run caused panic and from the loose ball Leon Ireland volleyed home.
Malford were forced into substituting a forward at half-time due to injury and were soon put under pressure by Foresters. Further injuries to Malford players brought on two more substitutes and these fresh legs seemed to strengthen the defence as they were forced into a rearguard action.
Although the Malford goalkeeper was forced into one double save the better chances fell to Malford at the other end as Foresters pressed forward and were caught on the break. Richard Bruce missed three chances with only goalkeeper Dan Neale to beat - hitting the keeper twice and putting one past the post.
At the other end Foresters' attacks seemed to break down with the final ball or shots went well wide. With time running out Foresters' frustrations boiled over and they finished with eight men after three dismissals in the last five minutes which saw Tom Robinson, Ricky Noonan and Dan Neale all red carded.
Chippenham Police moved out of the bottom two for the first time this season after they beat Chippenham Sports and Social Club for the second time this campaign to leave the losers two points adrift from Hullavington at the foot of the table.
On a day of poor discipline the Sports finished with just nine players after Mark Clarke and Jamaine Brown were sent off.
Mark Barnett's own goal got the Police off to great start and when John Hapson and James Parfitt trebled their advantage before half-time the Sports looked down and out. Despite losing Clarke and Brown the Sports rallied, with Shane Bell scoring from the penalty spot after he had been bought down.
Bell cup the gap to one goal but it was the closest the Sports were to get before Tony Kerwick scored against his former club to seal the Police's 4-2 victory.
Hullavington's game with Kings Arms (Trowbridge) was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Division Two
WITH both British Lion OC and Rowde playing in the WG Parr Trophy, AFC Calne would have been expecting to return to the top of the table with what should have been a victory at home to Biddestone Arms, who had not won in three games.
But not for the first time this season Calne suffered a blow to their promotion hopes when they were defeated 1-0 by a Biddestone side who left it until the 80th minute to score the only goal of an uneventful game. Chris Mocham was on target with his first goal since September.
Trowbridge-based The Ship dropped what could prove to be a valuable point come May when they were held to a 1-1 home draw against The Crown Devizes, who took the lead in comical fashion. After goalkeeper Nathan Holloway's goal kick failed to make it out of the 18 yard box, the unfortunate Dave Appleyard picked the ball up to throw it back to the keeper but he was penalised for handball and the resulting penalty was converted by Chris Quinton to put The Crown one up.
The Ship, who were without Dave and Shaun Percival and a few other key players, had to call on Adam Sheppard to help them out and it was Sheppard who had a hand in the equaliser when his cross was rifled into his own net by Ian Brown as he made a mess of an attempted clearance.
Division Three
IT is starting to look as if the race for the title is going to be a two-horse race between The Southgate Inn and Cooper-Avon after both teams maintained their excellent records.
Southgate's 4-1 success over Biddestone White Horse was their ninth win on the bounce and on current form it is hard to see anyone beating the Devizes-based team. Nathan Sheridan, Julian Alexander, Stuart Skinner and Nick Lemon shared the winners' goals with Scott Fleming scoring for the losers.
Cooper-Avon had to come from behind twice to see off a brave challenge from White Hart Combe who felt very aggrieved by the nature of their 4-3 defeat.
James Stone had seen his opener for Combe wiped out by Shane Thornton's equaliser and when Graham Griffiths' shot took a wicked deflection to give the tyremen the lead Combe were deflated.
Combe started well in the second period and Rob Preston hit the target to tie the scores at 2-2. Lee Fernandez then put Combe back in front and they thought they had netted again through Chris Cox only for their celebrations to be cut short as the effort was ruled out for offside.
Simon Gillett dragged Cooper-Avon level from the penalty spot and Combe were far from happy when the same player drove home a second spot kick to give Cooper both points from a game that they did not look like winning.
Luke Gullick may have played his last game for the Sir Audley's Arms ahead of his move from Calne to Swindon Supermarine where he has been told to give up Sunday morning football, but if it is his final match he signed off in style with a hat-trick in a 7-0 victory against Chippenham United RAOB. Dave Nolan scored twice with Mark Nolan and goalkeeper Alan Davies (penalty) also on target.
Somerford's fourth win of the season has taken them just above the danger zone at the foot of the table but they have a long way to go before they can be certain of being safe for another season.
Somerford beat Corsham Park Rangers 2-1, with headers from Wayne Burry, who scored after six minutes, and Chris Yeo, whose header after 80 minutes won the game for the villagers after Kevin Hodkinson and levelled matters in the 77th minute.
Wheatsheaf's great revival continues to gather pace. Their 3-1 victory away at Stanley Park over Pack Horse Rangers was their fourth match in succession without defeat.
After a goal-less first half Wheatsheaf took the lead when Chris Long curled home a beauty from 18 yards after 50 minutes. Ten minutes later Pack Horse were on equal terms, with Phil Clark scoring. Wheatsheaf's Richard Boden won a penalty after 72 minutes which Chris Long took only to have it saved by goalkeeper Del Llewellyn, who could not prevent Rob Lymath from smashing home the rebound.
Wheatsheaf's third goal arrived seven minutes from time when Pack Horse failed to clear their lines from a corner and Richard Boden somehow volleyed the ball home from a tight angle. Pack Horse's Steve Ponting could have set up a tense finale but he missed a glorious chance with only the keeper to beat.
Division Four
BROMHAM (Sunday) extended their winning run to nine matches as they opened up a three-point lead over Little George at the top of the table.
Bromham did not have everything their own way against North Star B but a fourth successive clean sheet helped them to a 2-0 victory.
Bromham started well and had several chances to take the lead but they finally found a way through the Star's stubborn defence with a good move that saw Mark Bowden threading a ball to Chris Sampson who crossed to Jim Sandiford who found the net for his third goal of the season.
Bromham's star striker Freddie Paget missed from the penalty spot at the start of the second half but the game was killed when Chris Sampson scored his eighth goal of the season to make the points safe.
Chippenham West End Club were thankful to manager Tam Laidlaw who for a fourth time this season stepped in to referee a game at the last minute and he gave a fine performance in the 4-2 win over AFC Melksham.
A Luke Ballinger penalty saw Melksham take the lead, but Tom Highmore's stunning long range drive levelled things up. Carl Britton's first goal of the game allowed the West End to retake the lead, only for Andy Harrison to draw Melksham level for a second time. Britton's second of the match and a scrambled effort from substitute Tristan Roberts gave the West End one of the results of the day.
Corsham United claimed back-to-back victories for the first time since joining the league in September.
Corsham followed up last week's success over Old Road Tavern with a 3-1 victory at home to Trowbridge Town Supporters' Club who had beaten Corsham 4-0 on the opening day of the campaign. Aaron Jones made it six goals in his last six matches when he put Corsham in front. Goals from Dominic Reed and new signing Tony Druitt inside a minute early in the second half knocked the stuffing out of the Town and although Marc Sheppard grabbed a late consolation for Kevin Williams' side, they lacked the desire to win and the only shining light was 15-year-old Richard Coleman who had a fine match in defence.
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