North Bradley cruise to cup triumph (From Wiltshire Times)

North Bradley cruise to cup triumph

11:57am Monday 29th January 2007 in News 2007/08

NORTH Bradley steamrollered their way through to the third round of the Chantry Digital of Trowbridge-sponsored Knockout Cup with a 5-0 demolition of The Deverills.

A first half brace from Tom Pang was followed up by his third in the second period. Further goals came from Martin Little and Scott Askew.

Frome Town Sports followed up last week's win in the Somerset Cup by adding Bradford United to their list of scalps in cup competitions this season with a 2-0 Knockout Cup victory. Two goals from Frank Alexander in the second half saw them through.

Division Two Cup

THE Lamb completed an 8-5 aggregate win over Frome Town Sports A with a 4-2 win in their second round, second leg match in the Bradford Building Supplies Ltd of Trowbridge-sponsored Division Two Cup.

The Lamb had a slender one goal lead from the first leg, but had this match sewn up by half-time, thanks to goals from Mark Billett and Kevin O'Connor (2). Jamie Brake pulled a goal back for the home side. The second half settled down and finished with honours even, Nick Hawkes scoring for Frome and Steve Coveney for The Lamb.

League form went out of the window in the cup match between Westbury United A and Lavington.

Highflying Westbury were already 7-1 down from the first leg, but Dan Martin opened the scoring for the home side putting them on the road to victory in this leg. A Myles Hickton strike levelled the match to give a half-time score of 1-1. A second half brace from Tim Coombes tied up this second leg for Westbury but it was not enough for them to proceed through as they lost 8-4 on aggregate.

AFC Trowbridge Town Youth Reserves went through to the next round, thanks to two 16-year-olds. At half-time in their second leg match, opponents St Andrews only had to hold out for 45 minutes and they were through to the next round, but the game was turned around by James Vince and Liam Flowers, who scored for Trowbridge and they were proceeded to the next round 2-1 on aggregate.

Steeple Ashton moved into the last four with a 2-1 away win over Semington Magpies.

Ashton made several changes to their side that played the previous game.

Gavin Clark took over in goal, Marc Sheppard moved to centre back, Neil Taylor came into midfield and Tony Pritchard returned to centre forward.

But this did not stop Semington from starting much the better side and they just failed to make the most from their early domination of Ashton's left wing. Steeple Ashton slowly began to come to life and a Ashley Ellis cross evaded all their forwards, Marc Sheppard's long range shot went just wide and a 25 yard screamer from Tony Pritchard clipped the cross bar.

The final 15 minutes of the first half saw Semington back on top, with Barber going close to breaking the deadlock. Simon Hillman of the Magpies then picked up a caution for a late tackle on Ashley Ellis.

The start of the second period saw both sides come out after making no changes at the break. Ellis went on a long run down the right and supplied a perfect pass for Tony Pritchard to side foot home the opening goal.

Semington then began a fight back with a flurry of corners only for the Ashton defence to hold tight. A change of personnel for the visitors saw the lively Ellis being replaced by Fikret Isiktan and a change for Semington soon followed - this an enforced one as Simon Hillman saw red after a needless foul on Michael Hindle.

The pressure then began to take its toll on the ten men and a Sheppard free kick was headed home by Guy Rowley to make it 2-0. Semington piled men forward looking for a consolation goal and eventually got their reward from the penalty spot as Ulian Serafimov was adjudged to have handled. Dan Rimmer dispatched the spot kick with ease, but it was not enough.

Division One

FRESHFORD United and Seend United were involved in a game of two halves.

Once again, Freshford started very sluggishly and could easily have been a couple of goals down in the first 15 minutes but for some excellent last gasp tackles from their defenders and some good saves from goalkeeper James Moody.

Freshford regained their composure after 20 minutes but still finished 1-0 down at half-time to a tremendous strike from Kai Miller.

Freshford changed their shape in the second half and took control early on and Stuart Arnold equalised 10 minutes after the interval. Freshford continued to dominate and had most of the chances in the second period until about 15 minutes from time when their goalkeeper was forced back into action.

The game finished up with some real end-to-end play and both teams could have sealed victory. The best chance fell to Freshford's Phil Little when he found himself one-on-one with the keeper and tried to lob him, but the Seend goalkeeper made a fine save from what proved to be the last real chance of the game.

Blue Circle seem intent on pressing the self-destruct button as their season is beginning to fall apart after another defeat, this time 3-1 at the hands of FC Northbridge.

Peter Jackson gave the visitors a 1-0 half-time lead and the second period saw increased pressure on the cement men as they conceded a further two goals, as first Tom Mann and then James Starr scored. Dean Osment scored Circle's consolation goal.

Division Two

A HASTILY rearranged game between AFC Trowbridge Wanderers and Bratton ended with honours even in a 2-2 draw.

Wanderers led 2-0 at half-time, with goals from Robbie Allison and Jamie Moth, but Bratton hit back in the second period, with strikes from Dave Jenkins and Richard Wyatt.

Division Three

THE top of the table clash in Division Three went the way of leaders The Eleven Statues as they blew away second placed Bradford United Reserves with five unanswered goals.

The Statues were 2-0 up at the break after Matt Alcock and Phil Webberley had scored. The second period saw Carl Wheeler score a hat-trick to complete the rout.

Calne Eagles were no match for highflying Mere Town as the visitors continued their run up the table.

Gavin Parfitt opened the scoring for the visitors to give them a one-goal advantage at the break. The second half saw Chris Parfitt grab the visitors' second before Shaun Jefferies pulled a goal back for the home side.

Cross Keys Rowde kept up the pressure on the Eleven Statues as the hammered five goals past bottom placed Melksham Park.

Jamie Mullins scored twice for the home side and Joe Scott replied for the visitors to give a 2-1 lead to Cross Keys at the break. The second half saw the home side dominate and they scored another three goals without reply, James Webb, Damien Sheppard and Mark Pearce all netting.

The basement clash between The Stiffs and The Trowbridge Ship saw The Stiffs pull three points clear of their rivals as they won the match 2-1, thanks to goals from Chris Giles and Peter Stephenson. Nigel Penelhum scored The Ship's goal in the second half.