ROBSON Taylor Chippenham League Premier Division leaders Biddestone Social have as good as handed the title to their fierce rivals Corsham Centre following their surprise 4-2 defeat at home to The Gladstone Arms.

It leaves the Centre needing just three points from their remaining three fixtures to take the top flight title for a fifth straight season.

Biddestone went into their game against Gladstone having suffered a 3-0 loss against the Centre on Thursday evening night, but still in a healthy position.

But their defeat to Trevor Rawlings' side who actually started with 11 players for only the second time in seven matches wasn’t expected.

Gladstone took the game to Biddestone and should have been 6-1 up by half time had they taken all their chances.

Gladdy missed three great chances with just the keeper to beat before they took the lead through Matt Hooper, who scored his first goal for the club.

Biddestone, who had played excellent football all season, were restricted to using the long ball tactics and it was no surprise when Chris Cox drove home a second for Gladstone to give them a surprise 2-0 lead.

Back came Biddestone and they grabbed a goal minutes before half time when Rob Pocock scored to make it 2-1 at the break.

Biddestone came out stronger in the second half and missed a few chances of their own, before they equalised via Steve Healy.

But instead of crumbling Gladstone went for the win, with Shane Bell being denied by the cross bar.

Minutes later he went one better and drove the ball into the corner of the net for 3-2.

Biddestone tried to snatch a equaliser but The Gladdy were hitting them on the break and, with a few minutes remaining, James Stone raced clear and his shot was saved by the advancing keeper, only for Matt Hooper to lob the rebound to earn the struggling Gladstone side a famous victory ahead of their Tuesday night game with Corsham Centre.

Box Rovers 0 Corsham Centre 3

BOX Rovers were unable to halt Corsham Centre’s push for tile number five as the Centre followed up their 3-0 victory over Biddestone Social on Thursday night with a 3-0 victory over Stuart Beeho’s side at the Recreation Ground, which leaves Martin Bradfield’s team as red-hot favourites to finish in the number one spot.

James Lye gave the defending champions a first-half lead when he netted just before the interval, which seemed to knock the stuffing out of the home team and when Ross Lye made it 2-0 in the second period it killed off a battling Rovers side.

Dan King, who has brought some stability to the Centre’s defence in recent games, pushed forward and made the game safe when he scored his seventh goal of the season for the Centre after starting the campaign with Biddestone Social.

The Centre will as good as secure the title on Tuesday evening if they beat The Gladstone Arms.

Vctory would move them onto 36 points with Biddestone at the summit which, due to their far superior goal difference, would put them in pole position with games against Dog & Fox Ashley and Box Rovers to play later in the week.

Dog & Fox Ashley 7 Holt 1

HOLT'S final match in the league saw Wesley Frith give them a seventh-minute lead against neighbours Dog & Fox Ashley.

But they were unable to give manager Stuart Faint the perfect goodbye present as the Dog & Fox, who themselves are saying farewell to the league at the end of the current campaign, hit back to claim a 7-1 victory.

Nick Ross scored on 15 minutes to make it one each and a second from Ross on 20 minutes - a delightful chip from 18 yards gave the Dog & Fox the lead.

Player manager Gary Williamson scored the third of the first half as the Dog & Fox took control of things.

The second half saw a few changes for the Dog & Fox with Ross missing out on a possible hat-trick as he had to replace the injured Craig Guthrie in goal.

But the scoring never stopped as a second from Williamson on 55 minutes made it 4-1.

Chris Maskrey’s 18-yard thunderbolt in the 55th minute made it 5-1 before Steve Roddy’s long-range strike five minutes later made it 6-1.

The final goal of the game was scored by Liam Richards and it was undoubtedly the goal of the game.

Richards picked the ball up on the edge of his own 18 yard area before running the length of the pitch, beating five players in the process before rifling home another stunner to complete the scoring for the Dog & Fox.

Westbury Rangers A 9 Maud Heath Sports 5

WITH Westbury Rangers A unable to use their pitch at Meadow Lane, they hosted Maud Heath Sports at St Mary’s Steeple Ashton and Shaun Gardiner’s side may wish they could play all their matches there as they won 9-5. For a second successive match Paul Beavers had to play in goal for Westbury but this didn’t stop him from getting on the scoresheet as he found the target to go with goal scored by Matty Smith, Sam Gooding and Mark Young, who scored two each and Marc Lanfear, who scored a three timer but really should have had three times as many.

Maud Heath, who had already lost their battle to stay in the division when they were held to a 2-2 draw by the Gladstone Arms on Tuesday night, played their part in the high scoring game.

But goals from Darren Holcombe, Simon Vowden, Paul Dixon and Stuart Windsor who scored twice couldn’t save them from suffering a 15th defeat of the season.

Winsley 4 Cooper Avon 8

WHEN Cooper Avon and Winsley met earlier in the season, Cooper took the points thanks to a 6-3 victory and when the teams met in the return match at Brown’s Park, Freshford, it was raining goals once again.

Gary Newman’s final game in charge of the Tyremen ended in a 8-4 victory over a 10-man Winsley side.

Simon Gillatt topped scored for Cooper Avon with a hat-trick, James Ponsford scored twice with Josh Robinson, Tom Robinson and Ashley Groves, who was later sent off, scoring one each to make up the eight.

Winsley replied through Andy Backman, who scored from the penalty spot for his first of the season, Neil Hannaford, Paul Ranger and Chris Foley, for whom it was his 11th goal of the season which will probably see him as the villagers to scorer unless his closest challenger for the honour, Jason Povey, can score four or more in their final game of the season against Westbury Rangers A on Tuesday evening.