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

Ross Menghini

The Ship go into their match against Foresters Arms at the Stallards, Trowbridge, on Sunday knowing that a point from the game will be good enough to see them clinch the Division One title after a nervy climax to a campaign that they totally dominated until recently.

Lee Hayward's side as good as clinched the title on Thursday night after they beat Christian Malford.

They can now relax and enjoy their final two games and, having already defeated the Foresters 4-1 earlier in the season, The Ship should have few problems in wrapping up a league double over Pat Johnson's side who will have to produce one of their best displays of the campaign if they hope to spoil the party.

The Ship manager Lee Hayward hopes to have many of his best players available for the game and that includes joint top goal scorer Dave Percival, who gone off the boil of late, and Hayward could be tempted to give Booker Woodford another start as he scored twice on his debut in their 3-3 draw with Rowde last weekend.

Foresters, who have not kicked a ball for almost a month, will make things as hard as possible for the home team as they go into the match on the back of a four match unbeaten run that has seen them beat AFC Calne 2-0 and Rowde 5-2. They will be up for the challenge and if Luke Turvey, Greg Wilmot, Leigh Rowles-Hitchcock and Ian Dowell can keep their good form in front of goal going then Foresters have a few strikers who could get them goals.

But the Ship will have to have an off-day and Foresters one they would never forget if they are to have any chance of causing a shock.

British Lion v Potterne

FOLLOWING Rowde's defeat at North Bradley on Tuesday night, Potterne were confirmed as runners-up in the division so the can take things a little easier when they visit British Lion for their penultimate game of the season.

But they will face a Lion side who can still finish in third spot it they win their final two matches and who will want to avenge their 3-0 defeat from a month ago, when goals from Myles Hickton, Jamie Bayes and James Campbell gave the villagers victory.

The match should be a good one as the hosts have suffered just one defeat in 10 matches and that was when they were defeated by their guests.

Over the same period Potterne have lost twice but with three wins on the bounce they will be keen for a fourth straight two pointer that would see them promoted.

Although manager Pete Huntley believes his side could struggle in the top flight they will do just fine if they can keep the same squad of players and possibly add a couple more.

Potterne ought to have enough to beat their hosts but the game might be settled by the odd goal in a high scoring contest.

Coyote v Atworth United

HAVING already lost to Coyote twice this season, Atworth United will be hoping that it will be third time lucky when the sides meet at Southwick.

United manager Mark Jeffery will be looking for a victory that might just see his side reach fifth place in the standings.

Chris Carr's Coyote side beat Atworth 4-1 in early December, thanks to a hat trick from Jason Povey and Nathan Flower's single. Coyote then claimed a second success when they defeated Atworth in the semi-final of the WG Parr Trophy by the same scoreline, with this time Matt Minnis (2), Stuart Greener and an own goal making up the goal tally.

Atworth might not have beaten their hosts this term but they will take bags of confidence into the game after three impressive wins that has seen them beat AFC Calne, Rowde and North Bradley. And in Ross Menghini they have a striker in form as he has scored hat-tricks in his last two matches and if he can continue in his rich vein of form he looks certain to score the one goal needed to pass the 20 mark for the season.

Coyote's own red-hot striker Scott Askew has not been as prolific this term and has scored only 13 times, but if Askew plays along with Tarick Yachou, Matt Minnis and Jason Povey then Coyote will be in with a chance of completing a hat-trick of victories over Atworth. If that happens the teams will change positions in the table and although Coyote's long suffering manager Carr would see it as under-achieving he knows that he has a squad of players who when they can be bothered to turn up and play are capable of a lot higher finish.

AFC Calne v North Bradley

NORTH Bradley make the long trek to Avebury to take on AFC Calne and they could be in for a torrid time as they make the trip on the back of a midweek defeat against Rowde.

When AFC Calne visited Bradley in February they took the spoils with a 4-0 success that saw Simon Dance and Dean Fry score two goals apiece.

AFC Calne have been like the weather over the past month - blowing hot and cold.

They have beaten Christian Malford, Coyote and The Ship but have lost against Foresters Arms, Rowde and Atworth United. They have even taken a point from Potterne so it would be fair to say that inconsistency has cost them this term.

If they can produce their better form then they should complete a league double over Bradley who have lost six games on the spin and who are unlikely to win another game this season unless their can find a reversal in fortunes.

If he plays, Matty Coles could be their saviour as he looks back to somewhere near his best in front of goal and has scored in three of Bradley's previous four games, but for the villagers it could be another case of awayday blues as they have won only one from 10 on the road this season and that was against basement side Christian Malford.

The match should result in a win for the home team but if a good Bradley side turns up at Avebury then they might just get a point.

11:59am Friday 2nd May 2008

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