TROWBRIDGE & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIVISION TWO: Early-season form keeps Lamb on top (From Wiltshire Times)

TROWBRIDGE & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIVISION TWO: Early-season form keeps Lamb on top

1:30pm Monday 8th October 2012 in Sport

EARLY-SEASON Division Two pacesetters The Lamb came from 1-0 down to claim a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Calne Eagles, in an end-to-end highly competitive match at The Stallards, which could have easily have gone either way.

The first half was incredibly tight and was generally played out in a very packed midfield. Consequently, there wasn’t a great deal of quality shown by either team and chances were at a premium.

The Lamb’s Bradley King-Taylor fired into the side-netting from a very tight angle after fashioning himself a good chance.

At the other end Adam Bewley had a goal ruled out after a very close off-side decision. But neither team could breakdown the stubborn defences and the game remained goalless at half-time.

Calne brought on livewire striker Shaun Jefferies at half-time, whose presence made an instant impact on the game.

His pressing, non-stop competitive style of play caused The Lamb defence problems and after 49 minutes he dispossessed left back Simon Pickett before sending Adam Bewley clean through on goal with a great pass. The striker then finished calmly past keeper Aaron Burrows.

The Lamb came back strongly and might have equalised within minutes King-Taylor latched on to a long ball up field but his shot cannoned back off the crossbar and was cleared to safety by Gary Wootten.

But The Lamb did fashion an equaliser on 63 minutes when winger Ryan Underwood run from deep saw him race clean through on goal to score confidently past keeper Andy Windsor.

Five minutes later Craig Sheppard nearly put The Lamb in front when he picked a clearance from a corner and rifled a volley from out near the touchline that looked destined to be one of the goals of the season.

However, Sheppard was denied by an equally superb save from Andy Windsor who managed to tip the ball around the post for a corner.

Calne then had two great chances to re-take the lead. Shaun Jefferies set up Adam Bewley for a simple tap-in that the striker scuffed wide of the post.

However, the potential goal wouldn’t have counted anyway as Bewley was given offside, although it did appear that Jefferies’ pass from out wide did not travel forwards.

Then minutes later Calne missed another glorious chance. Just inside his own half Adam Bewley was once again flagged offside, but the referee let play continue and Stuart Windsor ran from midfield onto the ball and raced through on goal.

He then squared his pass to Shaun Jefferies, who with the goal at his mercy from 8 yards rolled his shot agonisingly wide of the post.

This proved costly for the away side as with 10 minutes left Jason Rose headed home from a corner kick to complete the 2-1 score line.

In the closing stages Calne huffed and puffed in an attempt to get back into the game, but The Lamb held firm to claim their fifth straight win and maintain their 100 per cent start to the season.

Bratton 7 Broughton Gifford 1

AFTER disposing of Bratton Reserves in the Knockout cup last weekend Broughton Gifford traveled to Leighton Sports Centre for their League meeting with Bratton and the first team proved a much more difficult opponent than their reserves did eight days earlier as the home team ran out 7-1 victors.

Dan Cox scored a first-half four-timer for Bratton, two of which came from the penalty spot, Chris Story added the other and Gary Turk was on target for a Broughton side who found themselves 5-1 at the break.

With the damage already done in the first half, Bratton eased up in the second period but still managed to score a couple more goals with Ian Young bagging a brace to ease Bratton to their 7-1 win.

Heytesbury 5 Melksham Town A 1

A FOURTH successive home league outing for Heytesbury finally reaped its reward as the villagers picked up their first points of the campaign and moved off the foot of the table courtesy of their 5-1 triumph over a Melksham Town A side whose fourth straight loss sees them relegated to the bottom of the pile.

Heytesbury woke from their autumn slumber last weekend when they beat Bratton in the knock out cup and the with the villagers looking to build on that victory they were given a great start as first half goals from Kieron Edwards and Leigh Kennedy set them up nicely for victory.

A 30-yard effort from Edwards doubled his tally for the afternoon and gave Heytesbury a 3-0 lead before Sokoni Mkumbi bagged his first ever Melksham goal with a blinding strike from 45 yards out.

Heytesbury raised the tempo again and two goals from Paul Arnold capped a fine five-star performance for what appears to be a vastly improving home side who just a few weeks ago were on the verge of calling it a day.

Worton & Cheverell 4 Westbury Town 8

IT MAY have been one of the sunniest autumn days for a while but it was raining goals at West Lavington where Westbury Town twice come from behind to beat their hosts Worton & Cheverell 8-4.

Worton went in front through Myles Hickton and a second from the prolific striker doubled his teams lead.

Goals from Daryl Maxwell and Scott Walford dragged Westbury back to level terms only for Worton to retake the lead thanks to a well-taken Tom Mason effort.

Westbury weren’t behind for long and they restored parity before the break when Maxwell made it three-apiece with his second of the morning.

The second half produced another six goals, but unlike the first 45 minutes that saw them shared out it was Westbury who netted the lion’s share with goals a second from Walford, a third from Maxwell that saw him complete his hat-trick, Tim Coombes' single and Ian Gray’s 45 yard wonder goal made it 7-3.

Ben Mason added a fourth for Worton before the scoring was finished off by Maxwell who netted his fourth and Westbury’s eighth of the afternoon which gave Andy Cousins side their second win of the season.

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