Robson Taylor Chippenham Sunday League News 2007/08  RSS feed | About

Dan Kovacs

With the race for the Premier Division title getting ever more intense, the battle to avoid the drop to Division One is just as intriguing.

That means that with two months of the season remaining teams at both ends of the table have everything to play for and those in the middle could yet have a say at to who will pick up the crown and who will be relegated.

Maud Heath Sports v Biddestone Social

BIDDESTONE Social, who have lost just one of their 14 matches, are now favourites to lift the title ahead of Corsham Centre A, who are bidding to regain the number one spot in the top flight for a third successive season.

Biddestone Social travel to Calne where they face relegation threatened Maud Heath Sports and they should return home with win number 14 of the season under their belts.

This will be the first time the teams have met this season but since the sides first clashed in the top flight Biddestone Social have won five of the six encounters and it would be a huge surprise if they didn't record another victory on Sunday.

Biddestone Social had a narrow 3-2 victory over Dog and Fox Ashley last weekend, when they were fortunate not to throw away maximum points as the Dog and Fox came from 3-0 down before running out of time.

Maud Heath Sports could prove just as difficult to beat as they battle to stay in the division and, having suffered only a narrow 2-1 defeat against Westbury Rangers A a week ago, they might start believing in themselves. If they can show the same fighting qualities and find a finisher then they will fancy their chances of getting a point from the game which in reality should end up with Biddestone winning by three or four goals.

Westbury Rangers A v Winsley

WESTBURY Rangers A are ready to pounce should Biddestone Social slip up, but they will have to be wary of their very own banana skin when they welcome Paul Ranger's Winsley side to their Meadow Lane pitch.

Rangers, who will be going for a fifth straight victory, beat their guests 6-4 earlier in the season, thanks to singles from Pete Ayton and Tim Coombes and Marc Lanfear and Paul Beavers who both netted two each. Winsley's scorers on the day were Matt Taylor and Dan Kovacs (3). And with Kovacs returning to form after a recent injury, Rangers might not have everything their own way.

In the past the encounters between the old adversaries have produced plenty of goals and this match should be no different, even though Rangers are in second place by virtue of their inferior goal difference.

Winsley are surprisingly eight places below them but the game could end with plenty of goals being scored, and, just like the September meeting of the sides, the smart money would be on a win for Rangers.

Box Rovers v Corsham Centre A

THE big fixture in the division is at the Rec in Box where the hosts welcome Corsham Centre A.

And if Box Rovers can repeat their form of November, when they claimed a 2-2 draw, then the Centre could drop another point as they bid for a hat-trick of Premier Division titles.

Tom Smith, who scored for the Centre in that game, is likely to miss the return match due to a neck injury but they should have Liam Fullam available.

Box Rovers go into the game on the back of a 5-4 win over Colerne where they proved they still know how to find the net, and if Jason Walsh, Adam Taylor, Pete Tye, Sam Sibbick and Jamie Harrison are on form then Rovers could become the second team this season to beat the Centre.

Having said that, it all depends on how many players turn up for Rovers. The best guess is that with local pride at stake they will have more than enough available for what will be seen by the Centre as a crunch match and if they loss, it will leave them with just the Wiltshire Sunday Cup to concentrate on.

Due to injuries, Pete Ralph's side have never been so short of players and with the likes of Craig and Nick Gingell, James Lye, Simon Gray and many others playing as many as three games a week for the Centre and Corsham Town there will be a lot of exhausted bodies in the Centre side as the season reaches its climax.

For the first time in many years Ralph might just be forced to give a number of his key players some respite and time to recover for any niggling injuries they may pick up, but with such a small squad he might have to do with what he has at hand. Although he is a master in getting the best out of players he might have to work his magic a little more this season than he has had to in the past.

The match will be as keenly contested as all the others featuring the sides have been in the past and for a second time this term honours might end up being shared.

North Star A v FC Colerne

CALNE-based North Star A currently reside at the foot of the table, but with nine matches remaining they have plenty of time to reach the safety zone.

Gary Elliott's North Star side missed out on a match last weekend when some of his players were involved in a road traffic accident on the way to their relegation battle with Bradford News. Elliott will be hoping that none of his squad suffered from anything more than shock after the three-car pile up.

Elliott's side are due to welcome FC Colerne to their Priestley Grove ground and will be out to avenge their 5-2 loss from earlier in the season and if they manage to do that they could move off the foot of the table for the first time since mid-December.

Mike Bowler scored twice in that 5-2 victory, with Adam Smith, Richard Smart and Ross Hall scoring one each, and the bad news for the Star is that Hall has scored four goals in his previous two games and will be looking to stretch his run of good form even further.

The good news for the Star is that they actually beat Colerne 6-2 in one of last season's meetings, with Tommy Ludford scoring four goals and Ronnie Kallmeier and Mark Dolman adding singles.

Dolman has since left the club and Ludford and Kallmeier are out injured so the Star will be hoping that their goals will be scored by Mark Sharrett and Pete Thornton and that goalkeeper Jamie Bartlett can enhance his reputation further with a match-winning performance.

If the rest of the Star players pull together there is no reason why they can't beat Colerne and claim only their third win of the season.

Bradford News v Holt

BRADFORD News are the other club in the bottom two and they also have nine matches still to play so they also have enough time in which to reach safety.

With a home match against Holt on Sunday they could do their hopes of beating the drop the power of good with a win over Stuart Faint's side, who have lost three games on the trot.

Although Holt are in midtable the teams are evenly matched if last season's results are anything to go by. The Newsmen beat Holt 2-0, with goals coming from Mark Hurkett and Clive Roddy, and then Holt defeated Bradford 2-0, thanks to Tom Pang and an own goal.

Pang hasn't featured much for Holt this season and he is unlikely to play again this season as he concentrates on playing for Bromham on Saturdays.

The match should be a good one and if the newsmen can pick up what would be a valuable two points it could set them up nicely for their game the following week against fellow strugglers North Star A. But should they fail to get anything from the contest it could dampen their spirits ahead of what promises to be an anxious run-in for Mark Hurkett's side who are desperate to hang on to their Premier Division status.

This could be the match that sees Bradford News ignite their dreadful season and they are tipped to take the points with a narrow victory in a low scoring match

Dog and Fox Ashley v Miller Sports

DOG and Fox have the pleasure of hosting in-form Miller Sports who, after spending most of the season in the bottom three, have suddenly come to life and an unbeaten run of five matches that includes four wins and a draw has moved up the standings to eighth place.

If they carry on their good form they could even earn a top six finish which would have beyond their wildest dreams at the start of the year.

They have yet to lose in 2008 and considering they have not lost to a Dog and Fox side Tim Knight's men fancy their chances of extending their unbeaten run even further. Miller Sports' very first match in the top flight resulted in a 3-0 success over the Dog and Fox, with goals coming form Ashley Groves, James Taylor and Tim Eatough.

Miller Sports might be climbing up the table but their hosts at St Laurence School are in free fall after losing four games on the spin and another loss will mean that manager Clive Bancroft has yet to guide his team to a league victory since he returned from holiday.

In his absence stand-in manager Nick Quinton guided the Dog and Fox to three straight victories, so Bancroft's job could be on the line if they fail to deliver the goods for a fifth successive time.

Despite being in the bottom half of the table both teams are full of potential match-winners, with striker Steve Roddy being the Dog and Fox danger man, while Miller Sports will look to James Eatough and Ashley Groves for the goals to fire them to glory while at the same time hoping that goalkeeper Nick Evans can maintain his recent good form between the sticks.

Miller Sports are predicted to continue their rise up the table with win number eight of the campaign.

11:59am Friday 14th March 2008

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