PREMIER DIVISION: Semington hit Westbury for six (From Wiltshire Times)

PREMIER DIVISION: Semington hit Westbury for six

10:51am Monday 29th October 2012 in Sport

THE thirteenth encounter between S.K. Fruits Limited Chippenham Sunday League rivals Semington Rovers and Westbury Rangers proved to be lucky for the former as Allan Clarke’s Rovers side picked up only their third ever victory over their old adversaries.

Both sides started with the bare eleven and Rovers made the brightest of starts with Stuart Barber putting them in front on ten minutes.

Westbury suffered their sixth dismissal of the season when they lost Mark Young to a second yellow card and after that they seemed to lose all fight but they held out for the remainder of the half.

Kelvin Lockwood doubled Rovers lead on 50 minutes when he chipped in from six yards before his second in the 60th minute made it 3-0.

Matt Russell added number four ten minutes later and shortly after that, Lockwood completed his hat trick with goal number five.

The scoring was completed by Nathan Trott, whose 25 yard strike saw him open his account for the club and put the icing on Rovers success.

AFC Melksham 2 FC Brunel 1

AFC Melksham once again had to dig deep into their squad as three Saturday injuries and Melksham Town having a mid week game left them having to play a less than fit Sean Fordham and having to include Sean O'Brian, with his arm in a cast, on the bench.

But Mike Rogers' side still had enough resources as they ended a four-match losing run with a 2-1 victory over bottom of the table FC Brunel.

The first half saw the home side dominate possession without turning chances into goals.

Melksham thought they had broken the deadlock when Fordham slipped a through ball to Luke Ballinger, who fired home only for the referee to rule it out much to the displeasure of the home players and supporters.

With Jack Morris and Ballinger tormenting the visitors, it wasn’t long before a piece of Ballinger magic resulted in him beating three pink shirts and firing home to give the home team their half time lead.

The second half was ragged and Brunel had patches of attacking flair when the home team lost shape due to injuries - on 55 minutes Brunel stunned their hosts when Dave Nolan hit a stunning 25 yard thunderbolt beyond keeper Nick Dibden to make it 1-1.

Melksham substitute Ashley Fletcher proved to be the party pooper as he ran onto a through ball from fell substitute and rifled home a brilliant effort despite Brunel's excellent keeper Luke McFarlane getting a hand on it to restore the Melksham lead.

Melksham then pressed the resilient visitors defence and when Ballinger was upended in the box, he got himself ready to take the spot kick, but bizarrely Richard Hudson ran up and took the penalty which brought a great save from McFarlane and disbelief from manager Mike Rogers.

Despite the missed penalty, Melksham held out for a win and two points.

Brunel would take consolation from a resolute performance which they can take forward into their next few games.

Referee Steve Higgins remarked how pleased he was with the spirit in which the game was played.

Bug & Spider FC 1 Biddestone Social 1

Defending champions and current table-toppers Biddestone Social dropped their first point of the season after they were held to a 1-1 draw away at Bug & Spider who were left thinking what may have been as they had the better of the second half chances but were unable to grab a winner.

In what was an evenly matched first 45 minutes, Biddestone went in front on 36 minutes through Nathan Phillimore, who finished well from 18 yards.

A few minutes later, Biddestone almost doubled their advantage with Nat Auckland being denied by the post.

Bug & Spider got themselves level on the stroke of half time with Dave Herring making it one apiece.

Bug & Spider had the better of the second half, with their keeper Jamie Bartlett only having one shot to save, while Marcus Lovesey’s Bug side huffed and puffed and knocked on the Biddestone door but were unable to break it down.

Aaron Hopkins hitting the bar for the home side was the closest they came to claiming victory.

MATCH OFF: FC Jager v FC Colerne