TROWBRIDGE Wanderers bounced back from their surprise loss against Bradford United with an emphatic 7-0 demolition of Castle Combe, who were outplayed by Dan Mercer’s side from kick-off to final whistle.

Combe, who were hoping to build on last week's success over Westbury Reserves, made a bright start.

But once Wanderers, who now have a four-point lead over Melksham Town Reserves at the top of the table, opened the scoring on 15 minutes through Jordan Pinder's smart turn and finish from an Adam Mercer corner, they never looked back.

A 20-minute spell saw them go four up, as a second from Pinder and a Sam Worsfold brace gave them a commanding 4-0 advantage at the break.

Worsfold's cross failed to find a final touch but it nestled in the bottom corner of the net to put Wanderer two up.

Worsfold added his second and his team's third after playing a one-two with Adam Mercer, his left foot curler finding the target. Combe were struggling to handle a rampaging Wanderers side who were winning everything at the back and in midfield with Otis Young and Craig Gornell always threat in front of goal.

But it was Pinder who closed out the first half scoring with a volley from another Adam Mercer corner.

Grant Price was denied his first Wanderers goal by a wonder save from Combe’s keeper Simon Parfitt and Young, Gornell and Adam Mercer all went close to adding a fifth.

But a 4-0 interval lead was nothing more than Dan Mercer’s side deserved.

Combe rallied in the second half and were awarded a penalty which Matt Hooper fired against the bar.

After that it was very much the same as Wanderers hit full stride in the final 25 minutes.

Sean Breeton came on to make his debut and looked lively and set up a few openings. He had a hand in goal number five when his slide rule pass to Gornell saw round the keeper to score a deserved goal.

Simon Parfitt scored the goal of the game as he stunned the keeper, his teammates and probably himself when instead of crossing from a free kick he curled a spectacular strike into the top corner.

Young was unlucky with a shot that brought another save out of the Combe keeper and denied the lively forward the goal his performance deserved.

Wanderers' seventh on a sunny afternoon really merely put the icing on the cake of a great team performance.

After a period of keep ball Adam Mercer slotted a killer ball to Dan Mercer who unselfishly laid it off to Gornall to stroke home for a goal that the move deserved.

Overall it was a great performance by Wanderers, who had Mark Reynolds standing in as goalkeeper.

He didn’t really have much to do and Grant Price playing in midfield again was probably the pick of the bunch for man of the match.

Bradford United 3 Seend United 1

AFTER claiming one of the shock results of last weekend by beating Trowbridge Wanderers to claim their first win of the season, Bradford United produced another inspired performance to beat Seend United 3-1.

Bradford’s win was inspired by Paul Ranger, who had a hand in all three of his team’s goals, which were scored by Nick Gerrish after Seend had taken the lead.

Bradford fell behind to a Carl Harfield goal but were pegged back when Ranger set up Gerrish for his first of the afternoon.

With the teams level after 45 minutes the first goal of the second half was always going to be vital and with the industrious Ranger pulling the strings in the heart of Bradford’s midfield his excellent ball found Gerrish who fired Bradford ahead.

Victory for the Culver Close side was sealed when the Ranger-Gerrish combination proved a hit a third time as they killed the game off and gave Bradford a deserved 3-1 success.

Freshford United 3 Melksham Town Reserves 1

FOLLOWING two weeks of County Cup football, last season's Division One runners up Freshford United made a return to league action by hosting last term's Division One winners Melksham Town Reserves in what promised to be a mouthwatering fixture at Browns Park.

Melksham were without manager Steve Burns, who had been the driving force behind their triple winning campaign last term due to his escalation to acting first team manager after the recent resignation of first team boss Adam Young.

Andy Robbins stepped in to replace Burns, but his first match in charge ended in disappointment as his team were beaten 3-1 by a very good Freshford side who, despite falling behind, turned things around to claim a deserved win.

Rob Manning gave Melksham Reserves the lead before Freshford replied in style when Sam Elkins fired home a spectacular effort from 18 yards.

Freshford took the lead in the second half via Mark Birleson whose delightful lob put the hosts 2-1 ahead.

Birleson wrapped up the points for Freshford with an awe-inspiring strike that saw him cut inside from the left-hand side before curling home a right footed stunner to hand Hughie Fulton’s side their deserved but hard fought 3-1 triumph.

Westbury United Reserves 4 Broughton Gifford 3

BOTH Westbury United Reserves and Broughton Gifford are to be congratulated for getting their match at Meadow Lane played after the original match referee failed to turn up for the game.

With Peter Clark taking over in the middle, the match preceded with Westbury going on to claim a nailbiting 4-3 success over a Broughton side, who played their part in what was a very sporting and entertaining contest.

Goals from Dan Cox and Phil Hampson put Westbury two goals to the good before Broughton got themselves back in the game with Jamie Lardner reducing the deficit from the penalty spot.

Westbury then upped a gear and extended their lead thanks to goals Ashley Easton and a second from Hampson.

Back came Broughton and an tremendous 25-yard strike from Lardner set up a pulsating second that saw Broughton probably come out on top, but all they had to show for their efforts was another delightful finish this time from Tom Hammerton, who lobbed Westbury keeper Leo Whitehead to narrow the gap to the odd goal.

But Broughton, who deserved a draw from the game, came up just short as Westbury held out for a 4-3 win.

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