Warminster Town wishing to continue their run of fine form travelled to the Aitchison Playing Fields the home of Oldland Abbotonians looking for another win to move towards a top-five finish. The players described the playing surface as “awful”, and the match proved to be a scrappy affair with the visitors winning with the only goal scored in the first half.

The home side got off to a flying start and in the first couple of minutes showed that although towards the bottom of the league they were a force to be reckoned with. Warminster soon realised that and worked hard to prevent any further scares. An early shot from 30 yards out by Lewis Graham went just over the bar. The only goal came in the 14th minute when good work from the team down the left saw George Butler get a cross into the box and met superbly by Martin Johnson turning to fire home into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

Another excellent opportunity to make it two was missed when Jake Wright skewed his shot just wide of the left-hand post and Charlie Walton fired over the bar. Deep into additional time, Lewis Graham with a wonderful first-time volley from 25 yards hit the crossbar with no one able to capitalise on the rebound. The halftime whistle blew shortly afterwards.

The second half proved to be a scrappy affair with few chances for either side and the visitors finding themselves ruled offside on several occasions which could have led to more excitement! In the 53rd minute, Nathan Ball was called into action and produced a fine save diving low to his right to keep the clean sheet.

Unfortunately, central defender Jordan De Silva had to be substituted due to injury; however, Joel Sissons did an excellent job as his replacement.

The match was one of those without a lot to write home about, but Warminster Town got the job done and move up into 6th place on 56 points not far off third-placed Corsham Town on 63 points. The next match is at home against Bishop Sutton and Warminster will be looking to make it their tenth home win in a row.

Following the game, manager Andy Crabtree had this to say about his team’s performance, “I am obviously delighted to gain 3 points in what was a very difficult game .. we wasted some great chances in the 1st half but the lads dug in and at the end of the day there were only 3 points on offer and we took them. It keeps the run going and Saturday can’t come soon enough for the boys #TheMaltmen.”

There has been a debate about adding a new nickname for the team and with Warminster’s long history as a town connected to the malting industry, ‘The Maltmen’ seems appropriate. Incidentally, the current main sponsor of the club is Warminster Maltings. The Red & Blacks will also remain as a recognisable nickname, and many often use ‘The Town’.

Team: Ball, Baggs, Barnes, Graham, De Silva, Mortimer-Taylor, Miluk, Walton, Johnson, Wright. Subs (*used) Lisowski, Sisson*, Herd, McKay*