New Inn & Pack Horse reach last four

First Division outfit New Inn Wacker and second division Pack Horse, joined Sutton Benger and Old Road in the semi-final draw of the Westernsport Trophies sponsored WG Parr Trophy after aggregate victories over respective opponents Kingfisher and Biddestone FC, in the Second-Leg encounters from the First round matches.

New Inn Wacker followed up their 4-0 first-leg success with a 3-2 triumph to secure a 7-2 aggregate win and book a semi-final spot. Rob Brown’s opener for New Inn was cancelled out by Will Stone, with half time approaching Gavin Freegard’s incredible own goal saw Wacker reclaim the lead. Brentley Roberts made it 3-1 and although Kieran Blake scored a second for the Fishermen it proved to be little more than a consolation.

In the other quarter final tie, a 4-3 victory for Pack Horse at home to Biddestone on the 3G pitch at Beversbrook saw them complete a 10-5 aggregate success. 6-2 up from the first-leg, their spot in the semi-finals was certain as it could have been, but a spirited display by the Biddy Boys made sure they had to work for their win. Max Wyatt was on target for Pack Horse in a first half that saw Ryan Armstrong net from the penalty for Biddestone. Armstrong tapped home to put Biddestone 2-1 up, before Wyatt got Pack Horse back on level terms. Keenan Burrell regained the lead for Biddestone before goals from Wyatt and Kieran Fitzwater finally put the tie to bed in favour of Gary Williamson’s hosts.

Rovers edge 7-goal thriller

Waterlogged and frozen pitches led to the postponement of over half of the scheduled Shoestrings-chargrill Chippenham Sunday League, fixtures at the weekend with the only Premier division game to beat the elements being at Biddestone Sports Ground where a 4-3 triumph for the hosts Box Rovers over FC North Wiltshire moved them up to third spot.

In what was another thrilling encounter between the teams, that mirrored the one back in November when Rovers won by the odd goal in seven, the game ebbed and flowed with the hosts leading 3-2 at the break courtesy of a goals from Alex Hillier and Darrin Moss who scored twice to cancel out Gareth Jones double for North Wilts. Jones completed his hat trick to restore parity for North Wiltshire who were denied a share of the spoils as Ross Hall bagged a late winner for Box to keep them in the race to become top flight champions.

No stopping Royal Oak juggernaut

Following the recent withdrawal of FC Trowbridge from Division Two there is likely to be some changes to the league standings once their playing record has been expunged, however leaders Royal Oak will lose 3 points, they will be still be streets ahead of their closest challengers, especially after their latest success saw them defeat Steeple Ashton 11-2 to open up a 14 point gap at the summit.

Richard Tandy, Chris O’Donovan, Josh Duckett and a Rob Mitchell double put the leaders 5-0 up in the first 45 minutes. The second half saw Sam Hall net a couple, George Thomas, Jamie White from the penalty spot and a further 2 from Mitchall to take his tally to 4 made up the 11. Lewis Stevens and Stephen Napolitano with his first goal replied for Ashton.

A 5-2 victory for Chippenham Icons at home to Spratak Rudloe saw them leapfrog Lavis FC and move into second place in the standings. Ollie Deane’s first half double for Spartak was to count for nothing as goals from Ryan Nicholls, Richard Hudson and James Weston gave the Icons a 3-2 interval lead. Second half goals for Nick Still and a second from Hudson earned the Icons their ninth win of the campaign.

The 3G pitch at Beversbrook, Calne came to the rescue of London Road Inn who thanks to a 4-30 kick-off time got their fixture with Wednesday Warriors played with London Road winning by the odd goal in 9. Steve Browning and Sam Parmenter scored 2 goals each in the first half with Browning completing his hat trick after the break. Grady Dufosee, Callum Hotine, Rob Whitty and Harry Bodymore replied for the Warriors.