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

John Witts

What should have been a super Sunday for the top three sides in Division two turned out to be a damp squib as leaders Cooper-Avon, second-placed Hullavington and Crown Cosmos, who were in third spot before start of play, all had their games postponed.

Gary Newman's table-toppers Cooper-Avon were scheduled to host local rivals Pig and Whistle United, who were confident that they were about to end Cooper-Avon's 14 match unbeaten run, but injuries and other commitments forced United to pulled out of the fixture, leaving their hosts more than a little annoyed.

What would have been one of the match of the days was due to be staged at Poulton, Bradford, where Pete Collier's in-form FC Bradford side, who are unbeaten in eight matches, were due to take on Hullavington, who were bidding to set a new club record of eight successive victories, but with Ed and Matt Wilkins away, Phil Garland and Anthony Brown missing due to family commitments and Gavin Thompson, James Nation, Nick Cole, Adam Reeves and Pete O'Neil all injured Hullavington were forced to postpone the eagerly awaited rematch between the sides that would have seen FC Bradford vying to avenge their 5-2 defeat from earlier in the season.

When the rain falls Crown Cosmos don't get many opportunities to use their pitch at Green Lane, Devizes, but Sunday would have been one of those rare occasions they would have managed to play a home match despite the recent deluge as the pitches were given the green light. But on this occasion a shortage of players for Will Kibby's Crown Cosmos side meant that they had to postpone their game with opponents Sutton Benger.

With victories for both White Hart Combe and Bremhill View Social Club Crown Cosmos will go into next week's round of fixtures in fifth spot.

Audley FC 2, White Hart Combe 4

WHITE Hart Combe's 4-2 triumph over Audley was good enough to move them into third place in the table.

White Hart manager Trevor Rawlings was left wondering how after dominating the first 45 minutes they had only three goals to show for their efforts and come the final whistle he was slightly bemused as to how the Audley had managed to come from 4-0 down to lose only 4-2 when they should have lost by a much bigger margin.

One of the reasons why the Audley weren't dead and buried at the break was the efforts of their goalkeeper, John Witts, who was in superb form as he denied White Hart on numerous occasions.

The shot-stopper, who was on top of his game, may never have played as well before or may never play as well again, but unfortunately for Witts he was unable to help the Audley end their winless record which now stands at nine matches, while Combe's success means they extended their unbeaten run to eight games.

Craig Fullam, John Grogan and Luke Hodder gave White Hart their 3-0 half-time lead and with the floodgates threatening to open in the second half it was a surprise that James Stone was Combe's only other scorer as two Chris Yeo goals saw the Audley take the second half honours by two goals to one.

Horse and Groom 1, Bremhill View Social Club 2

BASEMENT side Horse and Groom almost pulled off one of the shocks of the day when they entertained Calne-based Bremhill View Social Club at Leighton Sports Ground, Westbury.

Horse and Groom, who have won only two of their 13 matches to date, were entertaining a Bremhill side who until recently have been in with a chance of finishing in the top two. A run of four matches without a win has almost ended their hopes of claiming a top two finish but with everything to play for they would have seen this as a game they should have won easily.

Bremhill View won 2-1 but they were pushed all the way by Tim Beecham's side who felt that they deserved at least a point from the game, but they know that if they can raise their standards for their remaining nine matches then the race to avoid the drop will be just as thrilling as the one to win the title.

After a goal-less first half, Bremhill View took the lead after 57 minutes courtesy of a Chris Long penalty. Tom Moore fashioned an equaliser for the Horse and Groom when he levelled matters on 67 minutes. With time running it was looking as if the points would be shared until Terry Cox turned home an excellent cross in the 84th minutes to give the visitors to Westbury a much needed boost as they bid to get their push for promotion back on track.

The Crown Devizes 3, Chippenham Police 1

CHIPPENHAM Police played the whole of their game at the Crown Devizes with only 10 players and, although their work rate throughout the 90 minutes was exceptional, their numerical disadvantage eventually led to them losing 3-1.

Crown manager Mark Roberts led by example as he opened the scoring to give his team a 1-0 half-time lead.

The second half saw a fantastic game of football with Liam Young doubling the Crown's lead when he volleyed home a stunner from 20 yards for his first goal of the season.

Andy Hunt halved the deficit for the police who then threw bodies forward looking for an equaliser but on foray too many upfront they were caught with the classic counter attack that resulted in Paul Revening sealing the Crown their victory with goal number three in the 85th minute to break the hearts of a courageous police side, who will be left wondering what might have happened had they been able to field a full strength side.

11:04am Monday 24th March 2008

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