DIVISION ONE ROUNDUP: Colerne ease relegation fears with rare home win (From Wiltshire Times)

Div One

DIVISION ONE ROUNDUP: Colerne ease relegation fears with rare home win

10:24am Monday 18th January 2010

FC COLERNE eased their relegation fears with a 4-1 victory over basement side Miller Sports for whom the defeat leaves them with the threat of back-to-back relegations after picking up two points from a possible 24.

Having already beaten Tim Knight’s side 7-0 away from their Bath Road ground, Colerne would have been confident of picking up maximum points for a second time.

Having not won at home in their previous 24 attempts, for the first time since December 2007 Colerne were left to celebrate success on their own turf.

Paul Bates' first-half goal for Colerne was all that separated the sides in an evenly-matched opening 45 minutes.

But once Charlie Spirrell had doubled the hosts lead early in the second period the points were as good as won.

Bates confirmed this when he made it 3-0 with his second of the game, but Colerne‘s celebrations were put on hold for a short while as Nick Groves gave Miller a glimmer of hope.

The goal was a false dawn as substitute Jamie Lees made certain of the victory with his first goal for Colerne to make it 4-1.

Chippenham Sports & Social Club 4 Atworth United 1

ATWORH United missed out on the chance to ease their own relegation fears as they suffered a 4-1 defeat at fellow strugglers Chippenham Sports & Social Club, whose win saw them move well clear of the drop zone. Chippenham Sports fell behind to a Leigh Rowles-Hitchcock goal on 10 minutes and, although they still trailed 1-0 at the break, it didn’t take long for them to restore parity in the second half.

Less than five minutes after the restart it was one apiece when the unfortunate Mark Scammell put though his own net to tie the scores.

From them on Chippenham Sports scored at regular intervals to seal only their third win of the season.

Mark Bolton’s first goal for the club made it 2-1 and the 20-yard thunderbolt will be one that the former Biddestone Social keeper won’t forget in a hurry. James Weston gave Sports a two-goal cushion when he fired home his fourth goal of the season for 3-1 and the game was eventually put to bed when Jon Grogan fired home number four to earn his side what should prove to be two valuable points as they battle to beat the drop.

MATCHES OFF: Bradford News v Foresters Arms, North Bradley v Bremhill View Social Club.