Premier Division Results – Week 1
The long wait is finally over, the first week of the 2021/22 season is finally upon us and although a number of the Shoestrings-Chargrill sponsored Chippenham Sunday League clubs were in Wiltshire FA Sunday League Cup action, there were 2 matches that took place in the Premier Division.
Chippenham Icons FC 2 – 5 FC Lacock
Future Looks Bright For Lacock
A classic fixture took place at Leafy Lane where newly promoted dark horses, Chippenham Icons hosted the hugely fancied FC Lacock outfit and it was the visitors who got their campaign under way with what in the end appeared to be a convincing 5-2 success.
Lacock took an early lead through a Josh Bright effort, however they found themselves 2-1 down as goals from Dan Fowler and Matt Harvey turned the game in favour of Steve Hunt’s team.
A second from Josh Bright saw parity restored for Lacock, however they were indebted to keeper Harry Pickering who did really well to deny Rich Hudson from the penalty spot. Hudson’s penalty miss was to prove costly as Lacock regained the lead prior to half time when Josh Bright tapped home to complete his hat trick and end a turbulent first half.
In what was an entertaining contest Lacock finally put the game to bed when Rory Davis made it 4-2 and the points were secured when Kieron Gleed opened his account for the villagers who are certain to be battling for silverware come next April.
Semington FC 1 – 5 AFC Melksham
Talmash Puts Semington To The Sword
AFC Melksham were looking to get off to the best start this season with new signings Jack Baker and Martin Johnson adding more quality to a very good AFC side and young Olly Clark was also making his league debut for a Melksham side that were largely dominant in the first 45 minutes against Semington FC.
Rhys Talmash tormented the Semington defence throughout and although he scored after 5 minutes, he had to wait until near the end of the half for his second thanks to ex AFC skipper Chris Dore blocking shot after shot and having to play at the top of his game to keep Melksham out.
2-0 was how the score would remain until the break with both teams knowing the heat would continue for the duration of the match.
It was Semington who got themselves back into he game when Ant Lamb reduced the arrears and they would have definitely felt like it was game on.
However, AFC Melksham and Talmash in particular had other ideas as he went straight down the other end and hit a belter that bounced of the cross bar and fell to Martin Johnson who scored on the rebound.
The slick passing from AFC made the home side defend in depth which meant that Gareth Evans in the away goal was rarely troubled but this was largely due to captain Jordan Kirk having moved to centre back who was on hand to snuff out Ollie Gee’s bursting runs through the middle to try to set up a fight back for Semington.
Olly Clark can be proud of his league debut but he like many of his other teammates enjoyed the performance of goal machine Talmash who scored a further 3 goals to take the proverbial match ball home and won the MOTM with a high octane performance.