Chippenham Sunday league

The Dog and Fox made early inroads into Cannings' defence and with only 90 seconds on the clock were almost gifted the perfect start. After a series of errors the ball fall to Adam Bishop whose tame effort from 18 yards flew into the arms of Cannings' goalkeeper Danny Appleton.

Cannings' first chance fell to Tony Greenidge in the seventh minute, but he was denied by Dog and Fox goalkeeper Gary Epps who saved bravely at the feet of the advancing forward.

With the first half drawing to a close Cannings were awarded a free kick and Stewart Beaven's 18 yard strike was spilled by goalkeeper Epps to the feet of Steve Bush who had the simplest of tap ins to put Cannings in front.

The Bradford side had a 10 minute period of pressure in the second half that saw both Andy Brooks and Nick Quinton waste good chances to equalise.

Cannings then broke away and the Dog's defence was cut apart as Martin Baker crossed to Richard Mansell who rolled the ball into the empty net to double the lead.

Cannings lost Bush in the 90th minute when he was dismissed for using foul and abusive language, from the resulting free kick the Dog's Matt Cottrell bundled the ball and the keeper over the line to reduce the arrears but the final whistle came too soon for the Bradford team who lacked the killer instinct that they had a few years ago.

All Cannings will meet either Biddestone Social Club or Box Rovers in the final.

Division One

FIRST Division Gladstone Liberal Club have become the fourth team this season to resign from the league.

Club secretary and team manager Ray Gainey was left with no other option than to pull the plug on the side who were tipped by many to be among the front runners for honours this term.

The Libs, who were last season's losing Knockout Cup finalists, have been plagued by a number of problems from the outset and despite the best efforts of both Gainey and club stalwart Bob Monteith they decided that enough was enough after last week's defeat against Maud Heath Sports when a number of players failed to turn up, and this included five players who were signed before the transfer deadline.

Gainey said: "It was a hard decision to take, but when your regular players were failing to show any interest we were left with no other option."

A missed penalty from West Lavington's Simon Drewitt proved costly as the leaders suffered their first defeat in 10 outings against a new-look Colerne side whose 2-1 victory saw them claim a third straight win.

Colerne went ahead through Andy Long and Jamie Bowler added a second which came after Drewitt had struck the upright with his spot kick.

Matt Nash pulled a goal back for Lavington in the second half but it proved only to be a consolation. Lavington remain five points clear of nearest rivals Terry's FC, who have three games in hand on the leaders. West End Wanderers and Colerne are both eight points behind Lavington but even with games in hand it is unlikely that either side will deny the long time leaders a top two finish.

Atworth United went down 3-2 at home to The George Lacock.

Division Two

THE first relegation issues of the season have been sorted out, with both Pig and Whistle United and Old Lane United being the unlucky teams who will be playing Third Division football next season.

Both teams looked doomed many weeks ago but Old Lane's 6-0 defeat against Biddestone Social Club and Pig and Whistle's 2-2 with neighbours Semington Rovers confirmed both clubs' fate.

With leaders Black Horse not playing Biddestone's 6-0 win over Old Lane United moved them to the top of the table for the first time this season.

Biddestone left it late before claiming their win and three goals in the final six minutes made the score line more convincing after they had wasted a host of earlier chances.

Luke Barrett, and James Tindell bagged first half goals for Biddestone with John O'Meara (70 minutes), Tindell (84 minutes) and a double from Neil Harlock (85 and 90 minutes) completing the Club's half dozen.

Semington Rovers had to settle for a point from their 2-2 draw with local rivals Pig and Whistle United.

Mark Burrell's 11th goal of the season 20 minutes from time was enough to give North Bradley a 1-0 victory over Wingfield.

Sutton Benger suffered a 4-1 defeat at home to Farmhouse FC, with the match being a lot closer than the score line suggests.

Once again Benger conceded soft goals and when they eventually made scoring chances of their own they found visitors' goalkeeper Adam Sheppard in fine form.

Tony Pritchard opened the scoring for Farmhouse in the 15th minute and goalkeeper Sheppard made it 2-0 from the penalty spot for his fourth goal in as many games.

Nick Slade got Benger back into the game with his 15th goal of the season but further goals from Marc Sheppard and Lee Hayward sealed Farmhouse's fifth win in six games. Paul Ford had a fantastic game for his team in midfield for Farmhouse.

Division Three

HOLT FC moved a step closer to Division Two but they were given an almighty scare by Hare and Hounds before running out 3-1 winners.

The runaway leaders scored twice in the last five minutes to deny the gutsy Hounds side a vital point as they search to move away from the drop zone. Neil Grant (2), and Tom Pang took their combined total to 61 goals for the campaign, with Paul Revening netting the Hounds' consolation.

The game between Sir Audley's Arms and Corsham Centre produced 11 goals, with Corsham's fitness proving to be the difference between the sides as the youngsters of Corsham prevailed with a 7-4 win.

Steve Mallard was first on the score sheet for the Arms, with John Horne (2) and Dave Bolland replying to put Corsham 3-1 ahead. Kieron Smith notched a hat-trick as the Arms retook the lead at 4-3 but after Ashley Rich tied the scores a 4-4, Corsham started to get on top as the Arms ran out of steam. John Horne completed his hat-trick to give Corsham the lead for the second time and Luke Denham and a second from Rich completed the scoring.

AFC Unicorn and Somerford FC battled out a goal-less first 45 minutes due mainly to the heroics of Somerford goalkeeper Paul Whitaker and the woodwork.

The second half went the way of the Unicorn who triumphed 5-2. They took the lead in the 50th minute when Chris Summerhill put through his own net after Stuart Thorburn had made a mess of his initial effort. A superb strike from Unicorn's Dean Fry made it 2-0 five minutes later and when Danny Box converted from the penalty spot after Fry had been bought down the game was all but over.

Fry produced another excellent finish to make it 4-0 before Unicorn took their foot of the gas a little and conceded two soft goals ,with Chris Yeo scoring both, to give Somerford a glimmer of hope of staging a fightback.

Any hopes they had of getting back into the game ended when Fry completed a fine personal performance with a hat-trick goal which came after Box had hit the post with another penalty.

Division Four

TROWBRIDGE Town Supporters' Club are starting to emerge as serious title contenders following their 5-1 demolition of leaders Four Seasons.

Gary Banks hit the Seasons' consolation when he bundled the ball over the line from Adam Smith's corner. Smith was later sent off.

For the first time in their short history Classic FC claimed a third win on the trot as goals from Pete Brock (2), Nick Still and Adam Scarlett helped them defeat Plough 4-2. Jason Harford and Wayne Duggan replied.

Jason Cole hit KSM's consolation as they were put to the sword by Bradstone Rovers, who ran out7-1 winners, with Alan Eades (3), Kieren McLaughlin (2), Jamie Dance and Celvin Dickenson sharing the goals.

This Sunday sees both semi-finals of the Rainbow Launderette sponsored WG Parr Trophy. Second Division Wingfield entertain Division Four leaders Four Seasons and Second Division North Bradley play hosts to Division One side Maud Heath Sports. Both games kick-off at 10.45 am.