Ashton move up with surprise away victory

Ashton, who were missing a number of key players, surprised themselves as they came away from Upper Seagry with a deserved 3-1 win. Lee Hayward (2) and Adam Sheppard scored for the winners with Chris Pitman replying for Malford.

Despite their match away at Somerford being postponed due to a frozen pitch, Corsham Centre remain top of the Division Two table with a infinitely better goal difference than North Star, who crushed Roadrunners FC 9-1 to move level at the summit with the Centre, who have two games in hand.

Somerford's manager Gary Chandler did everything possible to get the game played but was finally beaten by the heavy overnight frost which led to his side postponing their first game at home since they entered the league in 2001.

Despite the goal avalanche North Star A still remain 17 goals adrift of their championship chasing rivals. Unbelievably the Star were only 1-0 up at half-time, but whatever they had in their half-time cup of tea seemed to work wonders as they came out in the second half with all guns blazing.

Pete Thornton was the Star's first half scorer and in the second half, a treble from Tommy Ludford, taking his tally for the season to 20, Mark Sharrett (2), Paul Taylor, Simon Gardner and Michael Palfrey completed the scoring.

After losing heavily last weekend, Sutton Benger restricted Holt's hotshots to four goals against a defence that had leaked 21 goals in their previous three games. Nick Corbett, who followed up to tap home after Tom Pang had a penalty saved, put Holt ahead and Neil Grant skipped around four players before unleashing a 30 yard net buster to make it 2-0.

Paulin Mbekop tapped home their third and Shaun Adams made it 4-0 before Ian Dawkins struck Benger's late consolation.

Premier Division

CALNE Town are still winless after 20 matches.

Even though they took the lead against All Cannings through a Mark Ogilvie penalty they were unable to hold out for that illusive first victory as Cannings hit back to win 2-1. This after Richard Chaffey had a second effort for Calne ruled out for offside.

Richard Holman made it 1-1 and Cannings' winner was a magnificent effort from Bobby Wadcock whose strike from 20 yards was worthy of winning any game.

Dog and Fox Ashley were without manager Ian Pryer for their all important clash with The Duke Corsham.

With Matt Cottrell and Adam Bishop taking over the reins for the day Pryer's days as manager may be numbered as The Dog dominated their rivals with a rampant first half display that saw them batter the reigning champions into submission as they built up an emphatic 6-0 lead by the break.

The Duke's normally reliable goalkeeper Craig Chaplin had a day to forget. He was at fault for the Dog's first goal which came courtesy of Nick Quinton's effort from the halfway line after eight minutes. Two minutes later Steve Roddy made it 2-0 and soon after Mark Robinson added number three. Steve Roddy took the score to six before the interval with three more goals. The Duke fell further behind shortly after the restart to a controversial penalty which was converted by Roddy to take his tally for the game to five.

The Duke finally started to push forward and penned The Dog in their own half for long periods and the heavy pressure finally paid off and when Darren Hughes drove home from six yards. Another controversial penalty decision led to Chris Jones confidently converting from 12 yards for another consolation goal for the Duke.

Bradford News had to settle for a point from their 1-1 draw with Box Rovers, who played the whole match with only 10 players. Despite being undermanned Rovers were dominate throughout and were unlucky not to get a win from the game. Stuart Tutty scored for Rovers.

West Lavington defeated Hullavington 3-0 and look on course for a top five finish in their first term in the top flight. Jamie Bayes lobbed Lavington in front and Simon Drewitt and Darren Thorpe sealed the win with second half efforts.

Division One

LEADERS Biddestone Social are closing in on a second consecutive promotion after their 4-0 victory over Colerne FC moved them eight and 10 points clear of their nearest rivals, Maud Heath Sports and Trowbridge Harriers who also had impressive wins to maintain their own push for silverware.

Steve Healy, who is staring to rediscover his scoring touch, gave Biddestone a 41st minute advantage over Colerne. Jamie Lyons doubled the gap from the penalty spot after 58 minutes and when Healy carved open Colerne's defence seven minutes later Biddestone were well on their way to win number 15 of the season. Lyons wrapped things up with his second seven minutes from time.

Chippenham Sports and Social Club started their game against Maud Heath Sports and were soon trailing 3-0 but they hit back and started to gain the upper hand and dragged themselves back into the game with goals from James Pope and Gary Blackwood to trail by the odd goal.

The Sports eventually got up to full strength at the start of the second half and despite Chris Lloyd adding a third for the Chippenham side Maud Heath went on to win 8-3. Simon Hillier and Justin King helped themselves to hat-tricks and Alistair Duncan and an own goal made up the tally.

Trowbridge Harriers' 4-1 defeat of Chippenham Police, coupled with West End Wanderers' 3-1 win over Semington Rovers, means that the Police are staring relegation in the face. Simon Robinson, Darren Law and Matty Hobbs had put the Harriers in command before the Harriers swapped keeper Andy Cooper with Ryan Mortimer and Mortimer's first action was to pick the ball out off the net after Julian Kirby struck to reduce the arrears. Andy Cooper then restored the three goal cushion when he applied a telling finish to a Paul Edwards' cross.

Although West End are still in the bottom two they have games in hand on the Police and have the players capable of lifting them to safety, as was shown in their 3-1 win over Semington Rovers.

Division Three

PARSONS Nose joined Four Seasons at the top as their 2-0 victory over Potterne saw them extend their unbeaten run to 17 matches.

In a closely contested affair Wayne Bailey scored his 28th and 29th goals of the campaign to earn the Melksham side their win. Bailey's first arrived midway through the first period and he made the game safe with his second six minutes from time.

Bradstone Rovers gained a vital two points from their 4-1 win against Sir Audley's Arms and in doing so took a massive step in their hopes of pulling clear of the relegation zone. Kieron McLaughlin, Aaron Clegg, Ryan Kelleher and Alan Eades shared Rovers' goals and Steve Mallard netted the Arms' consolation.

Trowbridge Town Supporters' Club were another of the bottom sides who picked up an important win to edge clear of a relegation dog fight. They beat Pig and Whistle United 5-2.

Cooper-Avon lost Shane Thornton with a suspected broken ankle after just five minutes in their match with Old Lane United who went onto win 4-1.

Kelvin Page, who has filled the void left by United's injured striker Alan Davies, notched a brace with Luke Stoneham and Dave Sett adding singles. Cooper's consolation came from Aaron Thornton who is hoping to follow in his father Shane's footsteps who in his golden days was the tyremen's top scorer on more than one occasion.

Hare and Hounds and Westbury Rangers B drew 2-2. The Hounds totally dominated the first half but they only had a Mark Valdrey goal to show for their efforts as they went in leading at the break. Shane Rendell hit back for Rangers to tie the score and although Matthew Benson restored the Hounds' lead Rendell was on hand to pounce on a defensive error to earn Rangers their draw.

Division Four

AFTER a number of close calls in recent weeks that has seen Classic FC play badly but somehow come away with points, their luck finally ran out as White Horse FC came from behind to snatch a 3-2 win.

Marcus Hussey and Pete Brock scored for Classic FC.

Anthony Brown hit the only goal of the game for Fascia Graphics in their penultimate league match of the season as they defeated KSM 1-0.

Pack Horse Rangers and Old Road Tavern battled out a seven goal thriller which eventually went the way of the Tavern who, despite taking a fifth minute lead through a 25 yard strike from Gavin Aplin, found themselves trailing 3-1 to goals from Dan Pickford, Shahram Hematti and Phil Clark before hitting three late goals to seal an amazing 4-3 victory.

The Tavern turned the game with a cheeky goal from John Chivers when he applied his backside to a Simon Palmer free kick 19 minutes from time. Aplin crashed home another 20 yarder to bring the scores level. Simon Palmer won it for the Tavern when he rifled home a stunning free kick from 25 yards out with just five minutes remaining.