PREMIER DIVISION Bradford News defeated their fierce local rivals Dog & Fox Ashley 2-1 to claim their first victory of the season but unfortunately for Mark Hurkett's side the result still leaves them on the bottom of the Robson Taylor, Chippenham League, Premier division. Dog & Fox went into the game on the back of three wins and a draw while the newsmen had lost five on the spin and had been tipped to lose for a sixth time, however with local pride at stake the newsmen upper their game while the Dog never really left the starting blocks and were second best for most of the game. Both teams huffed and puffed their way through the first 45 minutes with nothing to show for their efforts. The deadlock was finally broken in the 60th minute when Harry Hamlin's shot crept under the body of the Dog's keeper Nick Quinton who should have really done a lot better to keep the ball out. Bradford News doubled their lead five minutes later thanks to a tremendous individual effort from Nathan Glass who picked the ball up midway into his own half before beating a few players and then rifling the ball home past a bemused Quinton who was inches away from keeping out the thunderous drive which swerved wickedly before ending up in the net. The Dog struck a consolation in injury time when Chris Maskrey reduced the arrears which set up a few anxious moments for the newsmen who from a similar position threw away a 2-1 goal lead and ended up losing. On this occasion Hurkett's side showed that they had leaned form last weeks mistakes as they held out to secure a deserved triumph which was their first over the Dog since October 2005.
Leaders, Westbury Rangers A threatened to destroy Semington Rovers who they were beating 4-0 with less than 20 minutes gone and at this stage Rangers were playing some fantastic football as they were cutting through Semington's defence at will and should have scored a lot more goals, but after 90 minutes all they had to show for their domination was a 5-1 success. Rangers took the lead through Chris Storey whose effort took a deflection before beating Semington's keeper Tom Wysocki. Matt Smith made it 2-0 and a second from Smith quickly followed as the scoreline advanced. Marc Lanfear added a fourth for Rangers and with the game already won Rangers should have gone on and scored a few more, but it was Semington who found the target with the fifth goal of the game which came early in the second half and was scored by Kelvin Lockwood. Mark Young completed the scoring for Rangers with their fifth midway through the second half.
For a second time in as many games Box Rovers have used up one of their nine lives as they came from two goals down to run out 3-2 victors. Against Westbury Rangers a fortnight ago they were trailing 3-1 with 15 minutes remaining before turning the game on its head to win 4-3 and against North Star A they had to dig deep once again to turn a what looked to be a lost cause into a winning one. After a goalless first 45 minutes North Star forced an opening and Pete Thornton, put a very depleted Star side ahead. Thornton gave the Star a two goal cushion and with time running out Rovers looked on course for a third loss of the season, but in the 77th minutes Jason Walsh halved the deficit and soon after the same player squared things up and at this stage Rovers would have been happy to settle for a share of the spoils, but they threw caution to the wind and came up trumps with Pete Tye scoring the all important winning goal five minutes from time to give Rovers their 3-2 success.
After four wins on the spin and proving a hard side to beat the wheels look to have fallen off the Holt bandwagon, as their 4-2 loss away at Miller Sports was their second defeat on the trot and gave Miller only their third win of the campaign. Matty Jenkins scored the opener for Miller when drilled home a stunning 40-yard strike, which was his first goal for three years. Lloyd Kettlety brought Holt level prior to the interval but less than five minutes after the restart Holt found themselves 3-1 down as Ralph Plummer made it 2-1when he headed home a Barry Holloway corner and then a fantastic 25 yard free kick from Ashley Groves put Miller in charge of the game at 3-1. Holt were given a lifeline when former player Graham Pearce diverted Alan Fodder's wayward shot past the unlucky Tim Knight in Miller's goal, had Pearce not intervened Fodder's shot would probably of struck the corner flag. Miller made the game safe thanks to a second of the game from Ashley Groves who knocked the ball after good after a fine run and cross from Royston Aust.
FC Colerne went in to their match away at Winsley missing four key players, but they managed to produce a great defensive performance to claim a 1-0 victory over their guests. Winsley had most of the play in the early stages but they were unable to find a way through Colerne's resolute defensive, however Colerne looked dangerous on the break with Ross Hall being denied by a great save for Adam Shepperd. Colerne took the lead in the 25th minute when Ryan Wilcox closed down Neil Kirkpatrick who made a hash of a clearance, which allowed Wilcox to send a cross to Craig Aitchison who passed the ball in to the far top corner from 20 yards, despite the best efforts of Andy Backman on the goal line who could only head Aitchison's goal bound effort into the net. The Colerne keeper Ian Hudd was called upon to make some good saves to help preserve his teams slender lead. The second half saw both teams push forward looking for further goals and both defences looked vulnerable at times but Colerne's repelled everything that Winsley threw at them. When Mark Kibby was upended in the penalty area Colerne looked to the referee for a penalty but their pleas were waved away. Colerne had another chance to put the game beyond Winsley but Kibby was ruled to be offside after rounding the keeper and about to make it 2-0. Winsley threw everything at Colerne in the dying minutes but could not get the equaliser. The man of the match was Colerne's Adam Smith, a recent transfer from Kingfisher.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article