WEEK 5 REVIEW: County cup successes highlight of wet weekend

A number of Essex Alliance sides are celebrating from successes in this weekend’s county cup ties after all five sides in the Essex Junior Trophy won through to the 2nd round of the competition. Division Two Grove United were the biggest victors as they racked up a 7-2 win over Essex & Suffolk Border League side White Notley Res while Chingford Town Res secured a first win of the season with a 6-3 extra time victory over Canning Town Res. West Essex Res were also winners against Romford league opponents in the shape of Briar United, winning 3-0. Northend saw off Old Barkabbeyans A 2-0 while Glendale were 3-1 winners at home to Marconi Ath Res with goals coming from a Joshua Iyen double and a strike from Andrejs Nosikovs. In the Essex Junior Cup, Dagenham United were on the wrong end of a 13-0 defeat against Braintree and Bocking United while Custom House also went down in the London Junior Cup with a 5-0 away defeat at Lewisham Athletic.

The Fenton Cup campaign kicked off this weekend and with this season’s finals being played at Dagenham & Redbridge FC, there was some added incentive to sides taking part in the competition. Division One’s St John’s Deaf produced the competition’s opening win of the season as they shocked Premier Division Rainham Working Mens Club in a 4-2 scoreline.

In Premier Division action, Melbourne Sports were the biggest victors of the weekend as they notched up a 6-1 home win against Chingford Harriers with a hat-trick from Marcus Hill supported by goals from Ryan Lincoln, Pat Byrne and a long-range effort from John Shubert to cancel out Nick Shawyer’s strike for Harriers. Early pace setters in the division, May & Baker E.C. A, pick up their fifth straight league win with a 3-1 win against second placed Chingford Town to keep them top by 6 points. Ryan Folan netted Chingford Town’s goal. Chingford Athletic dropped points for the first time this season when they equalised late on to draw 2-2 with Jolof Sports Club. Seydou Ba and Modou Sankareh were on target for Jolof with Omar Dzotsi and Lee Doyle responding for Chingford. Cranes United record their first win of the season at the second time of asking with a 4-2 win against Eastside Rangers which sees them up to seventh in the table. AAH Romford remain pointless at the foot of the table after losing 2-1 against Newham Res with the latter moving up to third in the table.

Division One has new leaders as Blue Marlin took the chance to take top spot with a 5-1 win against Three Colts at home despite a goal from Fabian Donovan for the away side. The only other game in the division saw Lord Nelson pick up first win of the season to take them up to fourth in the table with a 3-1 scoreline against Forest Green.

There is no change at the top of the table in Division Two this weekend but second place is now held by Leyton Green after recording an away 4-1 win against Canio. Newham Royals picked up a win and a cleansheet with a 3-0 victory away at Singh Sabha Barking which moves Newham up to seventh place in the table. St Francis Res closed the gap on those above them to just goal difference, securing their first points of the season with a 3-2 win against Northend Res for whom Etinosa Igiebor and Okey Obialo were on target with the consolation goals.

Next weekend, the focus returns to league action with 14 league fixtures due to take place while Forest Green open their London Junior Cup campaign with the visit of PWCA Wimbledon to Wanstead Flats.