WEEK 12 REVIEW: Review of Saturday's league and cup action

SENIOR DIVISION

The race for the Senior Division league title could not be better poised approaching the half-way mark with five points separating the teams from first to sixth in the standings. An in-form London Cranes side now lead the way as they picked up a solid 2-0 home win against Rapid Chingford. Hakim Kolo and Kennedy Wampampa both netted for the hosts to see them clear by a point.

FC Baresi are sitting in third place in the table as they took on rivals Chigwell in their clash at the Britannia in Walthamstow on Saturday. Ali Shikheey and Marvin Smith both got on the scoresheet for the hosts as they edged their way to a 2-1 victory. That result sees them move to within a couple of points of the top spot.

The most comprehensive result of the day in the top flight came from Noak Hill where FC Petrocub put five goals past an out of sorts Chingford Athletic Reserves side to further press their own silverware claims. Omani Green scored the Chingford goal but braces from Vasilica-Cristinel Ilie and Ghenadie Moisei plus a Valentin Siciov effort for Petrocub handed them a 5-1 win.

Sitting handily placed in fifth place, West Essex Reserves kept themselves in touch at the top end of the table. Their latest opponents were eighth placed East Ham Inter but West will have been the happier of the sides at full-time as Adam Davies and Hassan Sufi efforts were enough to earn the points in a 2-0 scoreline.

Completing the action in the Senior Division, there was an exciting game in Chingford as Blue Marlin made the trip around the A406 to take on Lymore Gardens at Parmiters. Winton Hill scored a brace for Garden but his efforts proved not quite enough as Blue Marlin scored three goals of their own to win 3-2 and earn a second league victory of the campaign.

DIVISION ONE

Much like the top flight, Division One is looking like a real title tussle this year as Eastside moved level on points at the top of the table on Saturday with a home win against a decent Tower Hamlets Reserves side at the Marshes. Joseph Andrews and Michael Dager both netted for Side to overcome an Atlant Bogdanovic strike for the visitors in a 2-1 scoreline.

Just a point back from the promotion places, All Prospects continued a good run of form as they returned home from their trip to London Park City with all three points in a 5-2 victory. Tomas Raskauskas and Connor Minihan were on target for the Seven Kings-based hosts but their efforts were in vain as Prospects rattled in five goals to take the points.

It was a great afternoon for Sporting Hackney Development who were in fine fettle in front of goal, putting Forest Green to the sword in a 9-1 scoreline. Richard Balogun scored four for the Parrots with Timi Oluwole netting twice and one each from Ander Prior, David Adams and Piango Kossa in a comprehensive performance.

DIVISION TWO

Sungate Reserves moved to within two points of the summit in Division Two as they made it an astonishing six wins from six matches over the weekend with a 7-0 win against Melbourne Sports in Hainault. The form of Thomas Drayton has been pivotal so far this year as he scored another four goals with Luke Macdonald, Sam Cooper and Mark Burgess goals seeing them over the finishing line.

Three Colts are a side who could still have a big say on the honours in the third tier this season as they moved up to fourth place in the table on Saturday with a 3-1 away victory against Old Esthameians. Dave Fitzgerald, Nick Blackwell and Richard Blackwell were all on target for Colts.

DIVISION THREE

There is no stopping the Spartans at present in Division Three as Chadwell Heath wrapped up another goal-filled performance at the weekend as they took on Custom House United. Jeffrey Nketia’s four-goal haul set them on their way with debutant Elie Fanga scoring twice and Matthias Lionel once. Substitute Niru Hunwicks scored the other in an 8-1 win.

There were some hugely important results for sides at the other end of the table with Frenford A moving up a number of places with their home victory against Debden Park at the Drive. James Rowlatt, Tiwa Osifuwa and Paul Iseghohi all got on the scoresheet for the hosts to win 3-0 and move to seventh place in the standings.

The other game in the division saw a real shock result as FC Galaxy put in their best performance of their short existence so far with the 9-3 thumping of previously third placed St Francis. Mihai Marenciuc scored a hat-trick, Lungu Marian and Alexandru Demidov both scored twice with Pogar Daniel and Stefan Antal goals completing a stunning win.

DIVISION FOUR

No matches

ESSEX SATURDAY JUNIOR TROPHY

It’s been a funny old season for Upshire Forest this year who, having not picked up a single point in the league have managed to pull out some massive performances in the Essex Junior Trophy, now just two games away from a potential county cup final! Their latest victims were South Essex United who returned home to Basildon empty-handed owing to a terrific first half performance from Forest. Leading 3-0 at the break, they held on in the second half to run out 4-2 winners and go into the hat for the quarter-finals.