On the difficult ground going quickly became very heavy, and it was not surprising that except for the early stages the football was rather slow. The advantage on the average was with Warminster, and for the first twenty minutes or so play was confined for the most part in the Wootton Bassett half of the field. At this period, however, the Town [Warminster] made one great mistake in not making better use of their inside forwards. The continual feeding of the inside men would have been sure to have brought goals, but as it was, long shots from the wing rarely troubled Clifton in the visitors' goal.

The visitors favoured a short-passing game, which paid them few dividends. Such superiority as they showed at times could be accounted for by being quicker on the ball and the stature of their team as a whole, most of whom were on the tall side, giving them the advantage with a high ball. Warminster tried persistently throughout the half to find the net, but it was not until a minute before the half-time whistle that they scored. Then Bower from a few yards flicked in a centre from Sainsbury. He would probably have scored several earlier had he been given similar opportunities, the makings of which were there.

Both sides found the ground beat them after the interval and the standard of football deteriorated badly.

Credit: Wiltshire Times, Saturday 23 January 1954
Last modified on Friday 29th January 2021 at 17:12