WEEK 18 REVIEW: Round-up of all the league and cup action from the weekend

SENIOR DIVISION

With the big freeze taking hold, a significant amount of football was lost over the weekend but some did survive! Woodford East made the biggest strides with a terrific home win against Jolof Sports as East beat their second placed opponents 5-1 to move within four points of the summit. Harry Robinson scored two with Harry Carter, Lucio Uare and Matthew Stavey goals finishing things off.

Ninth placed May & Baker EC Reserves moved level on points with the sides above following a closely fought game at home against Crookz United. Just a single goal separated the sides with Oliver Beadle’s penalty giving the hosts a 1-0 success which, coupled with their games in hand, gives them optimism for the new year.

Over at Lakeside Sports Ground, hosts Rapid Chingford had an afternoon to remember as they boosted their hopes of avoiding the drop with a solid 5-1 home win against FC Petrocub. That result was attained through two goals from Alin Cosma and one each from Tita Daniel and Andrei Boga, moving up a place to fifteenth in the process and four points adrift of safety.

At Noak Hill, Kit Out London went into their final home game before the festive break taking on an Oakside outfit sitting two points and two places ahead of them at kick off. But the hosts were in fine form in front of goal, taking all three points in a 5-1 victory. That was their fourth league win in thirteen, moving them up to tenth place.

PREMIER DIVISION EAST

In the Premier Division East, there were two goal-filled games as Chingford Athletic made their move into third spot in the table after taking all three points home with them from their clash against Fairlop Rovers at Town Mead. Goals from Luke Dimond, Dylan Scutt, Harry Rouse and Brandon Dillon were enough to give Athletic a 4-2 victory on the day.

There was a ten goal thriller in Seven Kings where London Park City were looking to extend their strong form recently with the visit of high-flying RCXI. But it was the visitors who will have left the happier side as Omololu Onabolu bagged a hat-trick to go with efforts from Debodun Osekita, Ayo Matthews and Sammy Anjorin in a 6-4 success.

DIVISION ONE

Over in Dagenham, hosts Eagles Football went into their home clash against Old Esthameians with a four point deficit to make up going into the game but they were able to produce the goods on the day to slash that to just one point. Eagles edged the contest 2-1 to make it four wins from nine, sitting just a point behind Old E’s with three games in hand.

The division’s other game to take place came from Loughton where Atholl made the short trip across from Chingford to take a Unitey side who were looking to re-enter the promotion race. And it will be Unitey who ended the day with more optimism as Bubintende Masadi scored four goals for his side, Joel Mputu striking the other to win the game 5-0.

DIVISION TWO

Just the one game survived the elements in Division Two, predicably on a 3G surface which saw Royal Forest and Lymore Gardens Reserves produce twelve goals between them in their clash at Roding Valley High School. The sides started the game just three points apart but Forest were 8-4 winners to open that gap up to six points, the hosts going third in the process.

DIVISION THREE

In Division Three, two grass pitches survived with Newbury East making a successful trip to Buckhurst Way over at Bancrofts and coming away with all three points in a 4-2 win. Sehraan Hussain, Muhammed Seif, Leon Sterling and Junior Milla all found their way onto the East scoresheet to push themselves seven points clear in the table.

Over in Hainault, in-form Glendale made it three big wins on the spin as they found their way past another in-form side in the shape of Romford Under 21s. The Dales were 4-0 at half time and ended up eventual 6-1 winners as Muhammed Camara netted a hat-trick while Abdulair Ahmed, Devendra Choudhary and Joshua Adeojo also bagged goals. Eugenio Balde grabbed the Romford consolation.

DIVISION FOUR

In Division Four, Romford Under 19s will be top for Christmas as they went six points clear of the rest following an emphatic 8-2 success at home against Inter London at Westlands, their eighth success of the season so far. Alvin Smeraldi’s hat-trick led the way with Jakub Bogacki, Lewis Gardiner, Casper Salentinik, Oskar Plusa and Stephen Toussaint all scoring also.

At Hall Lane, a seven goal thriller rounds off the week’s report where Emerson & Upminster Reserves took on ten-man Newham & Havering Borough and it was the latter who managed to take a memorable three point haul, winning 4-3. Debutant Joe Gordon scored twice with Andrew Elie and Mark Lovett also scoring. Daniel Lyons, Gordon Archie and Tyler Huggett scored the Emerson goals in reply.

Photo Credit: Rapid Chingford FC