West Wilts 3, Cirencester 2

CAPTAIN Dave Jeffreys scored a late goal to give West Wilts victory from a scintillating game of hockey.

The visitors were under the cosh from the start and Wilts took the lead through John Turner after great forward play from Dave Yalland.

In the second half it was Cirencester who drew first blood, with a close-in deflection beating West Wilts goalkeeper Ben Hutchins.

Wilts' heads dropped briefly, but the team is growing in strength and belief and they built back into the game with excellent midfield play from Dan Sheppard, James Baker and Dave Jeffreys. Midway through the half Wilts regained the lead with a brilliant solo goal from debutant Will Powell who picked the ball up on the right and drove past three players before drilling a shot under the visitors' goalkeeper.

With seven minutes to go the three points seemed safe, but Cirencester had not read the script and equalised with a crisp drive from a short corner.

But in the closing stages Jeffreys scored the winner from close range after a great assist from John Turner.

Weston-super-Mare 2nds 0, West Wilts 2nds 6

WEST Wilts made hard work of this match but came away with three points to take them two points clear at the top of the Avon League.

From the first whistle Weston got men behind the ball and just tried to stop any hockey from being played. West Wilts got more and more frustrated by the tactics and it took them 20 minutes to take the lead when Colin Webb scored from a short corner. Just before half-time Rob Robson made it 2-0 when he received the ball with his back to goal, turned and fired a shot passed the stranded Weston goalkeeper.

West Wilts looked to improve in the second half but again it took time to break the Weston defence. Finally Colin Webb fired in from the left after Dave Cooper had taken a quick free hit from the edge of the circle. Callum Ward made it four before Rob Robson completed his hat- trick with two goals in the last ten minutes.

An ugly game of hockey but in the end the team got the result they needed and they can now look forward to a home game against Robinson's 4ths this Saturday.

West Wilts 3rds 2, Swindon 3rds 1

WEST Wilts completed their seventh consecutive win with a hard fought victory over their third in the table opponents.

Swindon started brightly but from the offset it was clear that they had come with a view of not leaking many goals. As Swindon played very deep West Wilts found it very difficult to break them down. Alan Kilminster thought he had scored midway through the first half only to see his goal bound shot stopped on the line by the foot of team-mate Richard Hartley.

West Wilts started the second half well and were able to eventually break the visitors down following a well worked short corner. Hartley's push out was stopped by Alan Kilminster, who slipped the ball to Adam Way who fired his shot past the outstretched goalkeeper.

Shortly after Hartley pounced quickly on a ball trapped under the Swindon goalkeeper and flicked it over and into the net.

Swindon scored a consolation goal late on to make it 2-1. This Saturday West Wilts 3rds face Wootton Bassett who are currently in second place.

Indian Gymkhana Vets 5, West Wilts Vets 0

AFTER a first round bye in the Veterans Cup, West Wilts were drawn against Indian Gymkhana, who are one of the favourites for the competition.

West Wilts made the brighter start and enjoyed more than their share of possession for the first 15 to 20 minutes. Nick Bunday even managed to put the ball in the net, but the ball hit his foot as well.

Just as West Wilts were starting to think they were competing Indian Gym showed their class and caught the Wiltshire team out by adding extra players to the attack which were not picked up and the finishing was clinical. Two quick goals became three as just when Wilts started to get back into the game the Indian team broke quickly to score again 3-0.

West Wilts started the second half as they had started the first and forced several short corners. They even managed to force a fantastic double save from the goalkeeper and see another shot whizz over the crossbar.

Indian Gym added two further goals in the last five minutes.

It's shooting practice for the vets now in preparation for their first round in the plate competition. If the shooting practice pays off and the players all repeat the effort they put into this match they could do well.

North Bristol 2, West Wilts Badgers 1

WEST Wilts began with only 10 players, coping very well until the latecomers arrived, but North Bristol went ahead just before half-time with a highly dubious goal despite the efforts of goalkeeper Karl Hall and senior defenders Keith Jefferies and Ian Stanes.

The midfield of Tristan May, Robert Bunce, Jordan Henry and Owain Mumford dominated for large sections of the game but the forwards, Joe Dufosse, Ed Dumpleton and Alex Arnold were consistently denied by an outstanding goal-keeper who was significantly less senior than the West Wilts veterans.

The team worked hard throughout, with good work in defence by Sam Creedy and Rob Gardner. Against the run of play North Bristol scored again midway through the second half.

Towards the close West Wilts pulled a goal back with a superlative strike from Joe Dufosse from a penalty corner.

Overall it was a strong team performance in a game which on another day could easily have gone West Wilts' way.