Rovers stopped in their tracks

Andy Wilkins' first goal for Rovers saw them take an early lead, which was wiped out by Ed Wilkins.

Wicks then left the bench with 15 minutes remaining and had an immediate impact as he put Sherston 2-1 up. Almost immediately Sam Sibbick equalised for Rovers and with time running out Wicks hit the winner which was given by the Box linesman who adjudged that the ball had just crossed the line.

Westbury Rangers were unable to take advantage of Corsham Centre's involvement in the FA Sunday Cup. A win for Rangers over Dog and Fox Ashley would have seen them reclaim top spot, but they missed out on the chance when they could only manage a 1-1 draw.

An action packed game saw the football flow from end to end, with the Dog having the best chance in the first period to take the lead through Dan Cottrell who missed what looked to be a sitter. Rangers should have made the breakthrough at the start of the second half but with the goal at his mercy Andy Chantry hit the bar.

Cottrell made amends for his first half howler when he put the Dog ahead on 52 minutes but team-mates Steve Roddy and Nathan Gant wasted opportunities to put the game beyond Rangers and they were made to pay for their misses when Sam Tucker equalised in the 73rd minute to earn them a share of the honours.

Rangers suffered a blow when promising youngster Matthew Mead went to hospital after the game with a suspected broken foot.

Winsley maintained their excellent start to the season. Their 5-1 success against near neighbours Bradford News was their fourth triumph to date and their second against the newsmen.

Winsley gave a debut to Frome Town's Simon Keates and it was his second half goal that put the villages one up after a goal-less first period. Neil Kirkpatrick doubled the score from the penalty spot and Jamie Higdon made it 3-0 with his first touch after coming on as a substitute. Dan Kovacs added number four and a well worked free kick between Paul and Dean Ranger saw Dean score an exquisite fifth. Jason Povey scored a late consolation for the newsmen.

Biddestone Social heaped more misery on bottom club Trowbridge Harriers, whose 8-1 defeat means that they have now conceded 34 goals in just four games. Harriers were four down within 19 minutes to a Ryan Trowbridge effort, an own goal and tap-ins from Gary Banks and John O'Meara. Kevin Ball pulled a goal back for Harriers just before half-time, but it proved to be only a consolation as four further goals from Gary Banks in the second half took his tally for the game to five and Biddestone's to eight.

Spencer Sports were also in fine form in front of goal as they defeated Maud Heath Sports 8-1. James Eatough and Dan King both stuck twice and Ralph Plummer, Barry Holloway, with his first goal of the season, debutant Nick Ridout and old timer Paul Eames completed the romp as Spencer Sports responded in fine style after suffering two recent defeats at the hands of leaders Corsham Centre. Matthew Waite was on target for Maud Heath.

Division One

ON a day of shock results, FC Colerne emerged as new leaders after they beat Kings Arms 6-2 and previous pacesetters North Bradley lost for the first time this term when the crashed 4-1 away to Christian Malford.

Kings Arms were missing a host of keys players for their trip to Colerne which included a number of defenders and striker Scott Askew, whose 10 goals had helped his team into second spot.

Colerne were equal to everything that the Arms threw at them and led 5-0, with goals from Jason Smith and Jamie Bowler, who both hit doubles, after Gordon Allen had put the hosts ahead. Nick Gleeson pulled a goal back from the penalty spot prior to Charlie Spirrell scoring Colerne's sixth. Dean Murden replied with another late consolation for the Arms who had Richard Gray sent off for two book able offences.

Christian Malford welcomed back former goalkeeper Ben Munns from Premier Division Sherston Town as well as several players from injury to face previously unbeaten leaders North Bradley at their Seagry home pitch.

Bradley began to dominate the game after early attacks from Malford came to nothing. Long throws from Craig Brown constantly worried the Malford defence and Bradley forwards Stuart Powell, Andy Colebrook and Chris Farrell missed chances. Against the run of play a Bradley defensive error allowed Ben Munns, playing in a midfield role, to get free and lob the goalkeeper to give Malford the lead after 21 minutes.

That stung Bradley into action and three minutes later they were level when Andy Colebrook bundled the ball home from a corner. Bradley then pounded the Malford goal but a combination of saves from goalkeeper Stuart Godwin, last ditch defending and glaring misses from the Bradley forwards kept the scores level at half-time.

The start of the second half was much more even with Malford increasingly on the attack. Bradley were still however worrying the Malford defence and would rue yet more missed chances. A substitution by Malford after 60 minutes, bringing on new signing Aaron Merryweather gave Malford more impetus. The substitute began to worry the Bradley defence with his turns and runs down the right hand side.

Malford began to believe they had a chance to win and after 81 minutes Merryweather was brought down in the area when goalbound. Chris Pitman gave Bradley keeper Mark Binns no chance with a well taken penalty to put the hosts 2-1 up. Four minutes later Malford scored again when Richard Bruce turned home a Chris Pitman pass. Although Malford began to dominate, Bradley still pressed and in the last minute had a penalty claim denied by the referee when Matt Thompson's tackle denied Colebrook a certain goal.

With Bradley still protesting, the ball went down the right to Merryweather who after beating a defender put in a pin point cross and , with two Malford forwards waiting unmarked, Bradley's defender Leigh Trainer tried to intercept the cross but deflected the ball into his own net. The final whistle blew shortly afterwards to leave Malford with a welcome 4-1 win after two heavy defeats.

North Star A swapped places with Semington Rovers in the table after the Star's 3-0 home win moved them up into third spot and dropped Rovers down to fifth. The Star worked hard for each other and could have recorded a bigger winning margin as goals from Darren Legg, Mark Sharrett and Pete Thornton saw the Calne-based outfit remain unbeaten in four outings.

Atworth United gained their first league win of the season with a well-earned 2-1 victory over Chippenham Sports and Social Club at Sutton Benger.

The teams went in goal-less at half-time and the game came to life in a hectic second half which saw Atworth's Scott Boyd latch onto a misplaced back pass after 60 minutes to put the away side one up.

Chippenham levelled from the penalty spot after 80 minutes through Shane Bell. The incident that led up to the spot kick resulted in Chippenham's Alan Banks being sent off and a booking for Atworth player-manager Steve Archard.

Despite being down to 10 men Chippenham continued to press and only some fine defending by Glenn Young kept the home side at bay. With five minutes left Atworth's Alex Davies was brought down and up stepped the outstanding Ian Jeffery and the 16-year-old coolly sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot kick to bring Atworth a much needed two points.

Potterne's third win in as many matches has moved them into midtable after a poor start had seen them languishing in the bottom two for the first three weeks. Potterne welcomed Foresters Arms and after falling behind to a Steve Pegler goal after six minutes they hit back to claim a 3-1 victory as they inflicted on Arms a third successive defeat that leaves them just clear of the drop zone.

Jonathan Emm scored all three goals for the winners and a special mention goes to the stand-in referee, Foresters' Richard Grieshaber, who took over at the last minute and had an excellent game in the middle.

Kingfisher took the honours against Hullavington with a 3-2 win. Marcus Young, back to something like his best form, put Kingfisher in to the lead which was cancelled out by George Crotty. Luke Stoneham's bullet-header restored the lead for Kingfisher and another Young effort gave the visitors a 3-1 half-time advantage. Craig Samuels pulled another goal back for Hullavington in the second half and although the villagers pressed hard for an equaliser they found Kingfisher goalkeeper Mark Bolton in impressive form as he produced a string of outstanding saves to secure his side their win.

Division Two

THE top three teams are starting to open up a substantial gap over the rest of the division, as all three sides have yet to drop a point this season.

Leaders Rowde made it six wins on the bounce as they beat Biddestone Arms 7-2. Rowde had one of those days in front of the target when everything they did seemed to end up in the back of the net, while opponents Biddestone squandered many chances.

Rowde's Ray King had an excellent first game for the club. He put the home team one up, and although Andy Davis dragged Biddestone level, King hit a further two goals to seal a great three-timer on his debut. Nathan Emm added two, with Jamie Mullens and Ray Clements scoring the others, but the goal of the game came from Biddestone's Jack Goodship who rifled home from 40 yards.

It was derby time at Green Lane as British Lion OC took on Devizes rivals The Crown Devizes and it was the Lion who roared to a fifth successive victory with a 4-1 scoreline.

AFC Calne overcame an early setback as they fought back from a goal down to beat Sutton Benger 4-1 and preserve their 100 per cent start to the campaign. Calne trailed to a Nick Slade goal but led 2-1 at the interval, thanks to goals from Aaron Clegg and Ryan Kelleher. Kelleher added his second with Richard Sheffield completing the scoring before the winners had Paul Green sent off after picking up a second yellow card.

Fascia Graphics' wait for their first victory of the campaign is over as Mark Smith ended his goal famine with three of Fascia's goals in their 6-1 victory at home to The Horse and Groom. As well as Smith's hat-trick, Reece Allison netted a double and Gary Rouse once, Dean Connolly was on target for the Horse who defeat saw them slump to the foot of the table.

Southwick Sports and The Ship battled out an eight goal thriller which the Ship eventually won 5-3. Dave Appleyard opened the scoring for the Ship with his first goal of the season and Carl Davies claimed Southwick's equaliser, although it owed much to The Ship's goalkeeper Like Mayne's misfortune as he helped the ball into the net.

Davies' second goal of the game put Southwick ahead but a stunning 30 yard strike from Dave Percival made it 2-2 before Shaun Percival hit the target to give the Ship a 3-2 advantage at the break. A second half double from Lee Hayward wrapped up the win up for The Ship even though Darren Jones scored a third for Southwick.

Pig and Whistle United were in the goals against White Horse, whose 8-3 defeat means they have conceded 39 goals to date. White Horse were only 3-2 down at the break but succumbed to United's second half onslaught. Dave Jenkins scored four for United, Aaron Richardson grabbed three and Kai Miller a single. John Restel, Andy Field and Simon Bagnell were the Horse's hit men.

Division Three

THE Southgate Inn defeated Sir Audley's Arms 4-0 to continue their supremacy at the top of the table.

Last season's player of the season David Lloyd took his goal tally to date to 11 with all four of Southgate's goals.

Blue Circle took until March to record four wins in the 2005/06 season, but four wins from their first five outings of this term has shot the cement-boys into second spot.

Blue Circle rose from fourth to second after they beat Corsham Park Rangers 4-2. For Rangers it was their third lost on the trot which has seen them fall to midtable after a promising start.

Neil Watts opened the scoring for Circle after 22 minutes and Martin Hemmens added number two early in the second half. Kevin Streeter headed Rangers back into the contest after 58 minutes but 10 minutes later Dan Cox added a third for Circle when he converted from the penalty spot after Hemmens had been bought down.

Simon Young reduced the gap once more for Rangers when he hit the target after 80 minutes, but any hopes they might have had of staging a fight back were dashed when Steve North sealed the win for the cement-boys with goal number four in the 84th minute.

AFC Pilot got back to winning ways with a comfortable 4-1 win over Chippenham United RAOB.

After a slow start Pilot began to click into gear and after 22 minutes a free-kick from Matty Gurke, celebrating his return to the side, was turned in by Lee Jackson.

Ten minutes later a flick on from Chris Bishop was met by Tony Couch whose 20 yard shot grazed the crossbar. A minute later, a through ball from Sean Mear was slotted home from Greg Wilmot to make it 2-0 at half-time.

In the second half Pilot again took time to get going but the introduction of Ben Whitehouse injected some much needed pace and he was bundled over in the box to give Pilot a penalty. The spot kick was stroked home confidently by Lee Jackson for his second goal. Mark James converted a Greg Wilmot cross to make it 4-0, but Pilot's hopes of keeping a clean sheet ended when Chris Trowbridge finished off a scrappy goalmouth scramble to give United their consolation goal.

Phil Clarke scored both goals for Pack Horse Rangers in their 2-0 success away to Biddestone White Horse. His first came in the first half, after he was set up by Glyn Pascoe, and the second arrived midway through the second period when he produced a delightful chip from a tight angle to seal both points for a Horse side who looked to have found their feet at last.

Somerford FC produced one of the results of the day as they turned the form book on its head to beat Wheatsheaf FC.

The bottom club had suffered four defeats on the spin and up against third placed Wheatsheaf they were tipped to crash to a fifth straight defeat. But the villagers had other ideas and came up trumps with a 4-2 triumph.

Alex Whitehall struck a treble for Somerford with debutant Phil Conrath adding the fourth in his first game since his move from AFC Pilot. Terry Cox and Chris Long (penalty) replied for Wheatsheaf.

White Hart Combe also chalked up their first win of the season, a resounding 6-3 home victory over Westbury Rangers B, who had gone into the game on the back of a confidence-boosting 9-1 win over Somerford. James Stone hit four goals for Combe and Glyn Stutt and Lee Fernandez added one each to make up the half dozen. Alex Clarke, Neil Gordon and Simon Angell, on his debut, found the net for he losers.

Division Four

LITTLE George continue to top the table after they beat Corsham United 8-2, but the shock result of the day came from Bromham, who defeated AFC Melksham 2-0 which saw 20 goal Luke Ballinger fail to find the net for the first time this season.

Melksham had scored 37 times prior to their meeting with Bromham who went into the game on the back of a disappointing 4-3 loss to another top side, AFC Bell, who they believe they should have taken at least a point from.

With Melksham firing on all cylinders Bromham coach Ady Kember travelled up from Devon at 7:30am to help guide his young team and he was more than pleased with what he saw.

Bromham manager Clive Sandiford did not have a goalkeeper, so had to call on his son Rob to play between the posts and he kept a clean sheet to deny Melksham for the first time this season.

The first half saw Bromham go one up after Andy Bartlett finally scored after some great team work. The first 45 minutes also saw Bromham's Neil Goodship taken to hospital with a suspected broken ankle.

The second have saw Bromham go 2-0 up after good work from defender Steve Moxham, who took on a couple of players then threaded the ball through to 16-year-old Freddie Paget to score his sixth goal of the season. When Melksham did attack they found Bromham's defence in outstanding form to earn the villagers a famous win.

Little George's Tom Jones celebrated his 19th birthday in fine style with a hat-trick, one from the penalty spot, in his team's 8-2 win over Corsham United. Nat Auckland had opened the scoring for the George with a stunning left foot volley, Steve Healy headed home a second before Ben Husband sent another belter into the net from 20 yards.

Husband and Auckland each added to their earlier goals before Jones struck.

Dean Hodges scored both consolations for Corsham.

Two sublime long ranges strikes from Tristian Roberts put Chippenham West End 2-0 up against title challengers AFC Bell, who fought back to win 5-2.

The game turned in favour of Bell after West End had Richard Johnson sent off. Craig Townsend scored three times for Bell and Gareth Veitch and Zak Hartley, on his debut, were the other scorers.

The Crown FC staged a thrilling comeback to beat Trowbridge Town Supporters' Club 6-4 after they trailed 3-1 at the interval. The Crown's second half revival was led by former Town players Nick Buckle and Dean Potter who scored five goals between them to sink their former team-mates.

Simon Hussey floated home a free kick for the Town's opener, Jean-Claude Brown made it 2-0 when he fired low past keeper Clive Noyes and Mark Roach conceded a penalty which Peter Barby converted to make it 3-0.

The Crown finally woke from their slumber and started to get back into the game and with five minutes of the first half remaining Ashley Holt swung a ball into the area which Dean Potter deftly back heeled into the net to start the fight back.

An inspired double substitution saw player-manager Adam Bewley and James Collet - making his 50th appearance for the club - enter the fray.

Within five minutes of the restart Bewley picked out Jason Lucas unmarked at the far post and he fired home to reduced the gap. Crown's equaliser came controversially when Town's linesman flagged Bewley offside from a lofted John Hampshire pass. Bewley continued his run and appeared to handle the ball before he passed inside to Buckle whose stinging shot was pushed out by keeper Robbie Newton.

The resulting corner was taken by Bewley and turned in by Buckle.

The Crown appeared to be back in the game but the honeymoon lasted all of two minutes before Brown found himself with the task of slotting through Noyes' legs to regain the lead for the Town. Crown then came back all guns blazing and Dean Potter found himself through on goal a number of times but Newton saved spectacularly. Bewley then played Potter through and at the fourth time of asking he poked the ball round the oncoming Newton.

Potter was then involved in the goal that pushed Crown in the lead for the first time when he was fouled in the box and Buckle converted the penalty.

Potter's final goal and the goal that killed the game off came after a 1-2 with Bewley and brilliantly finished off to give the Crown a much needed victory.

Wanderers consolidated fourth place by beating North Star B 4-1. Craig Harman tapped home from a Nick Tate cross to put Wanderers ahead, but Paul Herring fashioned an equaliser for North Star.

Their joy was short lived as a carbon copy of Wanderers' opening goal saw Harman tuck away his second of the game. Harman made it 3-1 with another tap-in from a cross by Carl McNess. Steve Jack completed the scoring for Wanderers with another simple goal, when he applied the final touch to Dom Shepherd's pass.