WEEK 14 REVIEW: Round-up of Saturday's league and cup action

FENTON CUP

The third round of the Fenton Cup continued to progress this weekend as the festive fixture list got underway with another couple of Christmas cracker ties. This year’s cup competition has already seen it’s fair share of cup shocks and this weekend proved to be no different with both matches seeing the league tables turned on their heads.

In the biggest shock of the day, it was the turn of Division Two’s ACD United to show their cup prowess as they played host to Premier Division’s West Essex Reserves at Westlands on Saturday. ACD put in a performance of substance to deny their lofty opponents as Robert Clark, Michael Wade and Harry Payne goals saw them through in a 3-0 victory which confirms their place in the hat for January’s quarter final draw.

And making it two cup shocks out of two on the day, a cracking looking tie saw the leaders of Division One take on the Premier Division leaders as Docklands Albion faced Colebrook Royals in one of the games of the day. The sides shared nine goals between in an epic encounter but six of those were from Albion with Samuel Daminabo, Kris Brown, Tashan Benjamin, Haseeb Kashmiri, Wilson Diogo and Kamal Creary all netting in a 6-3 win. John Elmes, Richard Klein and Chris Stowe were the Royals scorers with their consolation goals.

PREMIER DIVISION

Back in domestic action, two of the top four sides met at the weekend with Jolof Sports taking on Docklands Albion Under 21s in an East Ham derby at Flanders Playing Fields. A closely fought match ensued as the two sides ended level at 1-1 to take home a point each with Ahmadou Seye on target for the reigning champions.

In the day’s other top flight action, there was a six-goal thriller in West Ham where Lopes Tavares London’s latest match took in the visit of London APSA. An exciting match saw both sides net three times with both having to take home a share of the spoils in a 3-3 result.

DIVISION ONE

There was a big result in Division One where Melbourne Sports extended their excellent recent form with a victory on Saturday against Singh Sabha Barking. Luke MacDonald scored twice and Jordan Green and Marcus Dadson once apiece as they racked up an excellent 5-3 win that sees them jump above their opponents into fifth place.

The other match in this division saw Cowley Community take on third placed Wapping at Wanstead Flats with the visitors looking to close the gap on the leading sides. Cowley had other ideas however as a Takunua Ndadzungira goal handed Cowley a share of the points in a 1-1 draw.

DIVISION TWO

There were two shock results in Division Two this weekend after both of the top two sides slipped to defeats. United London Reserves were the first of those as they travelled to Newham to face Custom House. Goals from Will Pendley and Glenn Levy for the hosts proved crucial as the Dockers moved to a 2-1 win on the day.

The other big result in this division saw the visit of Inter Plaistow to Flyers this weekend. Having secured a first win of the season last weekend, Inter followed this up with a remarkable victory, beating second placed Flyers 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller. Sean Watson scored twice and Patrick Junior once for the hosts but a Izuchi Ijoma brace and strikes from Jason O’Hare and Rasheed Allen for Inter won them the match.

Chingford Athletic Reserves remain third in the table and on-course to break into the top two as they defeated Lymore Gardens at the weekend. A goal apiece from Jack Knowles, James Lee-Legan and Riley Bowers paved the way for Athletic to record a comfortable 3-0 victory and sustain the pressure on the leading sides.

Also keeping pace with those above them are Rainham Working Mens Club who, with games in hand on their rivals, could well pose the biggest threat for the title. They were on the road on Saturday with a trip to St Francis and managed to hit double figures once again. Bobby Dinnen scored a hat-trick, Connor Kain a brace with further goals arriving through Joshua Perry, Barry O’Donnell, Charlie Perry, Dillon Anderson and Tony Maynard to bag a 10-1 victory.

Moving up to sixth in the table are Newham United Reserves who picked up a sixth win in ten so far this season with a 4-1 on Saturday over Forest Green Reserves in Plaistow. Christopher Buck was the man on target for Green but four goals in reply from United carried them to maximum points.

DIVISION THREE

Chigwell have extended their lead at the top of Division Three to four points as they cruised to a well-earned victory on Saturday over co-tenants Glendale in Hainault. Harry Burgess’ hat-trick done most of the damage with a Ross Chimes brace also contributing and a Modestas Dainauskas’ strike rounding off a 6-0 win.

Second placed Old Esthameians Reserves have slipped back a little as they fell to just a second defeat of the season on Saturday, going down 2-1 away at Chingford Harriers at Parmiters. George Coffey got the E’s goal but Harriers’ goals from Paul Shawyer and Edwin Jabbari turned things around to hand them the win.

New Star Soccer recorded a third league win of the season on Saturday with a difficult away trip to Wanstead to take on sixth placed Redbridge Development. In a very tightly contested match-up, it took just a single goal to separate the sides with Harley Hicks getting the all-important goal to hand New Star a 1-0 victory.

And completing the action in Division Three, Frenford A’s followed up their opening win last weekend with another this week to make it back-to-back victories as they saw off Custom House Community in Ilford. Billy Bradley and Curtis Marie got the goals that mattered as their side ran out 2-0 winners.

DIVISION FOUR

League leaders, Haver Town Reserves, maintained their four point gap at the top of Division Four on Saturday with an 8-0 thumping away at Dagenham United Reserves. Michael Brown is never too goal shy and this week plundered six past the Daggers with Ricky Rodgers and Ditmir Doci rounding off the scoring with goals of their own.

Royal Forest remain second by some margin and will hope that the new year sees them close the gap on the leaders. Their victory this weekend saw a 3-1 win away at Newham Royals placing them eight points clear of the third and fourth placed sides. Martin Cannon scored twice and Joe Owers one to help Forest secure the win.

In the remaining match, Wanstead Warriors played host to Debden Park with the hosts looking to close the gap at the bottom as they remain four points adrift. Debden ran out 3-0 winners to make it five wins from their ten matches and go level on fifteen points with third placed Brook City.

COUNTY CUP

Three sides from the league will be involved in the fourth round of the London Junior Cup in January with some excellent results over the weekend. The biggest of these wins saw FC Baresi complete a stunning 5-1 win over Stansfeld Reserves to book their fourth round place. They will now head to fellow EAL side Sporting Hackney in the next round in an all-EAL match-up.

That tie was made possible by an equally impressive win which saw Sporting Hackney Reserves make the journey to Dagenham to face Essex Olympian League outfit May & Baker Reserves, formerly of this parish of course. They left Dagenham with an impressive 4-2 win to secure safe passage through.

Completing a hat-trick of wins, United London hosted Hilltop at Frances Bardsley, overcoming the efforts of their very competent opponents as they ran out 3-1 winners on the day. They now face Altis in the fourth round of the competition.

Forest Green faced a long journey south of the river at the weekend in their own London Junior Cup clash as they visited AFC Battersea. Their efforts were in vain however as they slipped to a 3-1 win to exit the competition.