WEEK 11 REVIEW: Review of Saturday's league and cup action

SENIOR DIVISION

ACD United remain top of the table in the Senior Division after they cruised to an eighth league win of the season on Saturday against London Park City, astonishingly beginning the second half of their season’s fixture list already in just November. Michael Wade scored four of the goals with Sam Payne netting twice and one each from Joshua Harris and Connor Lambert completing an 8-0 victory.

Jolof Sports remain up with the pace with five games in hand over the leaders as they recorded a sixth straight league victory of the season, edging past the efforts of fourth placed London Cranes in West Ham. A single goal was enough for Jolof, securing a 1-0 victory to stay third in the placings.

West Essex Reserves’ revival in form continues, building upon their eleven-goal outing last weekend by scoring a further five this time around to make it four wins from their nine matches so far - Blue Marlin being their latest opponents. A goal apiece from Benjamin Leo, Lloyd Renvoize, Adam Norris, Andrew Clarke and Ronell Rochester paved the way as West ran out 5-1 victors on the day.

Moving up to eighth place in the table and steadily closing the gap on the sides above them are Docklands Albion who were at home at the weekend to a revitalised Singh Sabha Barking side in Walthamstow. Albion got their revenge for their defeat on the opening weekend to edge this encounter by the odd goal in three – Trevor Harding and Michael Animasaun scoring in a 2-1 win.

DIVISION ONE

Three Colts have closed the gap at the top of the Division One table to just three points with a pair of games in hand as they netted a sixth league win, putting six goals passed an out of form Chingford United side. Julian Bryant was on fire, netting four goals for his side with Callum Kennedy also on the scoresheet in a 6-2 win.

DIVISION TWO

Eastside have resumed duties at the top of the Division Two table as they moved to the summit with a big 5-1 win on the road away at FC BKT on Saturday. Ryan Scott got on the scoresheet for BKT but an Abraham Monae brace plus singles from Alex Fraser, Michael Odukoya and Conrad Mullings enabled the visitors to go home with all three points.

Cowley Community continued their positive recent form as they hosted Upshire Forest in Leyton over the weekend, two points separating the sides before the match commenced. Conor Harrington scored again this week with Takunua Ndadzungira’s effort completing a hard fought 2-0 win that sees them stay fifth in the table.

Getting back to winning ways, Flyers will be far happier with their performance this weekend, putting a halt to a recent slump in form to defeat eleventh-placed South Marsh United.  Goals from Jack Barry, Jack Swaby and Neil O’Brien were the difference between the sides as Flyers recorded a 3-1 victory.

DIVISION THREE

There was a big result at the top of the Division Three table on Saturday where the top two sides went head-to-head with Royal Forest hosting top of the table Haver Town Reserves in Hainault. Resuming their battles from last season, Forest sent Haver spiralling to a second league defeat of the season as George Taylor and Tom Osmond each netted in a 2-1 win for the hosts. That result keeps Royal Forest second but just a single point behind their opponents with a two games in hand.

Moving up to third place in the table are Custom House United who have got themselves into a good run of form, culminating in their latest victory, a 9-2 win away at St Francis. Glenn Levy scored four for the Dockers, Jamie Wooster a brace and other efforts from Charlie Clarke, Paul Wooster and Bradley Routledge to round off the emphatic win.

Fifth placed Brook City were held to an entertaining 3-3 draw in Woodford as Chingford Harriers made the short trip and returned home with a share of the spoils. Edwin Jabbari scored twice for Harriers to continue his good run of form with Dominic D’Paw’s goal completing the scoring for the ninth placed outfit.

New Star Soccer have moved up to seventh place in the table as their good run of form continued at the weekend, earning a closely fought win by the odd goal against Flyers Reserves. Matthew Fox scored twice for New Star with Dean Henry and Ricardo Khan getting one each, edging this contest 4-3 ultimately.

The division’s remaining match saw Glendale take on Forest Green Reserves with the Dales seeking to open up a bit of breathing space on the sides below them. Scoring early on, they couldn’t make their plentiful chances count, eventually seeing a Tommy Whelan effort level it up for Green as the sides went home with a point each in a 1-1 draw.

DIVISION FOUR

Avondale Rangers are the new leaders in Division Four, carrying on their stunning recent form with a sixth league win to go top by a point. Their latest opponents were local rivals, Loughton Lions, but the Lions were unable to put a halt to the Rangers juggernaut. Tony Crakse, Tony Leach, Matthew Englezou, Paul Regan and Thomas Jackson-Lyall all found the back of the net in a 5-3 win.

Debden Park got themselves back on track as the former league leaders made a trip to Chadwell Heath to take on Newham Royals and returned home with maximum points, edging the contest with a 2-1 win. That result, their sixth league win, seems them to within a point of top spot as three sides remain firmly within the promotion picture presently.

The biggest win of the day came a bit further down the road in Chadwell Heath where Old Barkabbeyans Reserves ran in double figures against winless Gatcliffe at Westlands. Brandon Johnson’s form in front of goal continued as he netted four. Younis Faraz and Tola Oyerokun each scored a brace with Ola Moses, Luke Sewell and Ryan Conway completed an 11-2 win. Patt Dee and Abiola Opemiyan got the Gatcliffe goals in consolation.

The last league game of the day was not short in entertainment value as Soul Youth’s continued their hot streak in front of goal netting four against Chigwell Mens Club through goals from Muhammed Ahmed, Saddik Azizur, Raihan Ahmed and Nazmul Ahmed. But Chigwell are made of stern stuff and scored four of their own with Billy Barr scoring two and one each from Sean Bellamy and debutant Khye Bailey as they ended level at 4-4.

COUNTY CUP

It was a day of mixed results in the county cup competitions with a number of sides going out of the competition at the third round stage. In the Essex Junior Cup, Chingford Athletic Reserves had a tough looking trip to face an unbeaten Westhamians side but put in a sterling performance, going down by a single goal in a 1-0 result.

There was an equally tight contest in Barking where Old Barkabbeyans sprinted into a 4-0 lead against Lymore Gardens only for the EAL side to then put in a terrific performance to comeback to 4-4 in the latter stages of the game. But the Lymore hearts were broken as Old Barks scored late on to rescue the contest and take their place in the fourth round.

Melbourne Sports had an afternoon to forget as they took on Isthmian Development League opposition, Bowers and Pitsea, in their third round clash in Laindon on Saturday. The Mels slipped to an 8-0 defeat to see their participation ended for another season.

In the Essex Junior Trophy, there were a couple of really good performances as Chigwell made the journey down to south Essex to face Mid Essex League side Pitsea Athletic. But Chigwell made light work of their journey, sending themselves into the fourth round with a 6-2 under their belts.

Also through to the fourth round are Brentwood United Reserves who made the long journey to the other side of Chelmsford to face a Broomfield Reserves side. With the match ending level at 1-1 after extra time, United held their nerve in an error-strewn shootout to win it 2-0.

Completing the trio of winners on the day, Division Two’s Rainham Working Mens Club have booked their place in the fourth round of the competition as they put five goals past visitors, Old Chelmsfordians A, at home.

The rest of the ties saw some high-scoring games involving our sides but unfortunately, not falling in favour of the EAL teams. There was a thirteen goal thriller in Ongar where CSM London went down 8-5 against Ongar Jubilee Under 21s with both sides needing to work on the defensive side of their games!

Also exiting the competition to under 21 outfits were Frenford A who slipped to a 3-1 away defeat in their tie at Collier Row with Dagenham United Reserves the other side going out with a 9-1 away loss at Leytonstone United.

With the majority of sides facing long away days,  it was a tough afternoon for Sungate Reserves who couldn’t replicate their league form in the cup, going down 7-1 away at Writtle Reserves  to exit the competition this year.

Last but not least, Puma Kings will be disappointed to go out at this stage of the competition as the in-form side were knocked out 5-2 at home to Mid Essex League based Rayleigh Town B who had a long trip up to Walthamstow.

The London Junior Cup did bring the league some further success as FC Baresi had no problem despatching their Wimbledon League opposition, beating Earlsfield 2017 3-0 to go through to the fourth round once again this season.

It was also a great day for Tower Hamlets Reserves who returned to action this week to beat off the efforts of their Surrey Intermediate League opposition, Turks Ocagi Bermondsey, winning 6-1 at home at Mabley Green.

Forest Green will be upset to go out however as they made the long journey south of the river to face Old Plymouthians but were defeated by the odd goal in seven, losing the contest 4-3 to go out of the cup.