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

Tim Beecham

This weekend's programme sees the top six teams in the table take on sides in the bottom half, so if the results go to plan the league standings should remain exactly the same come Sunday afternoon.

There is a David versus Goliath clash at the Conigre, Melksham, where the leaders Cooper-Avon welcome basement side The Horse and Groom who, even though they go into the game on the back of a fine 6-2 victory over Audley FC, will be expecting to come back down to earth with a bang as Gary Newman's side have not lost since the second game of the season.

Since Bremhill View beat them they have put together a 14 match unbeaten run and are now favourites to go on and lift the title.

Cooper-Avon have already beaten their guests 5-1. James Worsley (2), Paul Walker, Simeon Mills and Simon Gillatt shared the goals in October's win and, although the hosts will be missing Mills, Gillatt and Jamie Oliver for the return game, it would be a surprise if Newman's side didn't give a repeat performance and cruise to their 13th triumph of the season to cement their place in pole position.

Having missed their win last Sunday, Tim Beecham should take control of his Horse and Groom team this weekend, but he may be tempted to stick with the team who beat the Audley. That would mean James Sweetman should keep his place in attack and he will be hoping to add to his hat-trick last time out.

If Sweetman is the man in form for the Horse then James Ponsford has to be the man that Cooper-Avon will rely on. Ponsford scored all four goals for his team in last week's 4-4 draw with Bremhill View and he has been in good form recently, as have most of the Cooper-Avon strike force.

If they have an achilles heel it could be in defence where they have conceded seven goals in two games and having leaked just 14 in their previous 14 matches it could be an area of concern for manager Newman.

This match should see things returned to normality and it would be a surprise if the hosts didn't keep a clean sheet and improve their goals for column with at least five goals.

Sutton Benger v Hullavington

HULLAVINGTON are the surprise package at the moment and the villagers, who are in second spot, will set a new club record of eight successive victories if they can beat Sutton Benger at Stanley Park.

Adam Reeves's side struggled to see off The Crown Devizes last weekend, but goals from Ed Wilkins and Liam Bailey gave the villagers a 2-1 success, and even though they are tipped to convincingly beat Benger, who are second from bottom, they will have to raise their game a little otherwise Benger might fancy their chances of denying Hullavington their record breaking win.

Hullavington shouldn't really fear their hosts as they beat them 7-3 a month ago, with leading scorer Ed Wilkins scoring four of the goals.

Steve Merryweather bagged all three goals for Benger and he would have to excel once more if Benger are to avoid another heavy loss.

Hullavington will be without Pete O'Neil, who suffered concussion after a clash of heads in their victory last weekend. O'Neil, who still has a sore head, has been told to take it easy so he won't be playing on Sunday, but he will be showing his commitment to the side by going along to watch them hopefully chalk up win number 12 of the campaign.

Chippenham Police v Crown Cosmos

ERIC Hughes Memorial Knockout Cup finalists Crown Cosmos return to league action after their exploits in the press to print sponsored competition with what should be a comfortable victory over relegation threatened Chippenham Police.

Cosmos defeated the Police 5-1 back in September, thanks to a hat trick from Stuart Skinner and singles from Eliot Williams and David Lloyd and in what is another David versus Goliath battle there should be no way that the police should bother Cosmos.

The boys in blue will go into the encounter on the back of a 6-1 victory over Pig and Whistle United that saw them arrest a seven match losing run, with Neil Parsons stealing the show by scoring four of the six goals.

Parsons would have to be red hot again if the police are to have any hope of defeating their guests, or even gaining a draw, and not only would Parsons and his fellow strikers have to be on song, his defence would have to improve 100 per cent as they are just three goals away from becoming only the second team this season to concede 100 goals.

It would take a very brave man to bet against Cosmos scoring more than three goals.

The police won't go down without a fight but on this occasion they are likely to suffer a knockout blow and if it was a boxing match Cosmos would probably cause the police to throw the towel in at the break.

But if the police can withstand the expected onslaught from Cosmos and are still on their feet after 45 minutes, who knows what might happen.

Pig and Whistle United v White Hart Combe

PIG and Whistle United welcome high-scoring White Hart Combe to their Awdry Avenue pitch.

White Hart Combe have netted 19 goals in their last four league outings of which two ended in victory while the other two ended in stalemate.

They already boast a 6-1 win over their Melksham-based hosts and they will be hoping to hit the goal trail once again. In the first match Sean Rushmore, James Stone, Craig Fullham, Jamie Farquharson and Lee Fernandez (2) scored for Trevor Rawlings's side.

James Stone might be Combe's top scorer with 13 goals, but the rest of their 51 goals have been shared around so it would be fair to say that Combe have plenty of fire power from all areas on the park.

Combe will look forward to taking the spoils for a second time and unless United have their regular goalkeeper Jason Grubb back, stand in stopper Andy Allen could be in for another torrid time, just like he was last weekend when they suffered their first defeat in four outings.

United will also be without leading scorer Nathan Mantle so if they are to pull off a shock they will need to find goals from elsewhere.

Combe are currently in fourth place but having only played 14 games and amassed 21 points, mathematically they could still feature in the promotion race if they can win their games in hand. And having Cooper-Avon from the top three still to play, they might yet clinch an automatic promotion spot if they can increase their seven match unbeaten run.

The Crown Devizes v Bremhill View Social Club

WHEN Bremhill View Social Club were scheduled to meet The Crown Devizes in January, Martin Belcher's team were top of the table, but since then they have failed to win any of their four matches and have slipped down the rankings to fifth spot.

Belcher's Bremhill View outfit have already trounced Mark Roberts's side once this season and they will be looking to complete a league double over the side they hammered 8-1 at the end of October, when Dale Smith scored a hat trick and the other goals were shared by Graham Neale (2), Mark Smith, Terry Cox and Karl Lovelock.

If the game goes ahead at what is likely to be a very wet Sands Lane, Rowde, then the visitors will fancy their chances of ending their winless run.

The hosts may have lost 2-1 away at Hullavington last weekend but they would have been pleased with their performance against one of the division's in-form sides and this week should see Leigh Wells and manager Roberts return to the side. With better finishing and defending the Crown might be in a position to avenge their earlier defeat or at least gain a share of the points

Audley FC v FC Bradford

AUDLEY might believe they are in a position of safety at the moment, but they are only five points off the foot of the table and could be overtaken by all the clubs below them.

And with just one point from their last seven matches they have the worst current form of the teams in the bottom half of the table. And things are unlikely to improve when they host Pete Collier's FC Bradford side at Stanley Park.

FC Bradford will be hoping to stretch their unbeaten run to eight matches and only a miracle will stop them from doing so.

The match could see FC Bradford's strike force of Russell Francis, Charlie Powell and Mark Robinson strike gold and as Audley were turned over by basement side Horse and Groom last weekend, it wouldn't be a surprise if FC Bradford were to better the Horse's 6-2 winning scoreline.

There is no doubt that the Audley's progress has been hampered by injuries this season and if they can weather the storm for the remainder of the campaign and Steve Mallard remains in charge he should be able to rebuild his side into one that should be good enough to challenge for a top two finish at some stage in the future.

But that's the future and the present should see FC Bradford continue their march up the table with win number seven of what has been a stop-start season.

11:57am Friday 14th March 2008

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