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Sarum Youth v Vale of Pewsey

2pm  12 December 2015

Wiltshire League
Sarum Youth 0 Vale of Pewsey 2 (att 14)

I began the day in west London, and needed to find a game that had survived the weather, was on a previously unvisited ground, and that was somewhere suitable to drop off my other half to spend a decent afternoon while I watched the football.

Sarum Youth ticked all the boxes, their Castle Meadow ground, in Wilton, is just outside Salisbury, the pitch was in good condition after the rain, and the day's weather forecast wasn't bad.

The home side have had a tough time in the Wiltshire League so far this season. They're currently without a win, although apparently they did get a league victory against Andover New Street Swifts, only to have it chalked off when the Andover club folded.

Vale of Pewsey are a thinly-disguised reserve side of  Wessex league Pewsey Vale, and a goal in each half was enough to give them a routine win.

Sarum's hopes of getting anything from the game ended midway through the second half, when they conceded a penalty and, as the foul denied a clear goalscoring opportunity, were reduced to 10 men. The penalty was scored emphatically, and the points were Pewsey's.

Despite their lowly league position Sarum battled well and showed plenty of endeavour. On another day they might well have got something from the game, but, equally, on another day Pewsey might have been out of reach by half time.

The Castle Meadow ground is basic, but pleasant. Players change in a modern pavilion, with a covered overhang, that's some distance from the only pitch. Ten chairs are laid out on the near side, in two sets of five to form a pair of makeshift "dugouts", while the far side is enclosed by the boundary fence and, beyond, some low rise industrial buildings.










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