WEEK 20 REVIEW: Round-up of Saturday's league and cup action

FENTON CUP

Chingford Athletic Reserves have secured their berth in the fourth round of the Fenton Cup this season, putting indifferent league form aside to see off the threat of fellow top flight outfit, Blue Marlin. Sam Matthews scored twice for his side and Omani Green once with Nathan Desnoes grabbing the Marlin consolation in a 3-1 scoreline.

DIVISION ONE CUP

The Group A action continued in the Division One Cup where Forest Green put their league form to the back of their mind to record an opening cup win of the stage with an away victory at London Park City. Green were 3-1 winners on the day to move up to second place in the group after two games, chasing a top two semi final spot.

The group leaders remain as Tower Hamlets Reserves preserved their status on the back of a comprehensive 7-2 victory against All Real. Leandro Alva and Tiago Santos both scored twice with Arnold Mengi, Jacob Kennyford and Atlant Bogdanovic netting the others to take all three points.

DIVISION FOUR CUP

There were a couple of big wins in the opening Division Four Cup ties of the season where league leaders, Woodford East, continued their quest for cup glory with a 9-0 win at Brentwood United Reserves. Billy Barr scored four goals adding to strikes from Ben Smith, Matthew Stacey, Sonny Feltwell and Jake Tibbitts, securing a quarter final at Together United.

Also securing a comfortable win, Chingford Harriers bagged themselves a place in the last eight of the competition as they defeated Flyers B, both sides struggling at the wrong end of the league standings. Darnell Lamothe and Stephen Duberry netted braces with Billy Beech and Jake Kemp efforts confirming a 6-0 win.

SENIOR DIVISION

Second placed FC Petrocub pulled off an important win on Saturday as they faced top of the table Chigwell in Noak Hill. They were big 8-2 winners as Vasilica-Cristinel Ilie scored a hat-trick, Constantin Tronciu netted twice and one apiece from Alexandru Iusco, Valentin Siciov and Vadim Bejenari saw their side to within seven points of top spot with three games in hand.

An in-form West Essex Reserves side continued their own title quest with a win over the weekend at home to Rapid Chingford. West were 3-1 winners on the day to move up to fourth place in the standings but will plenty of games in hand that could see them pose a threat to those above.

Also moving up the standings, CSM London are third in the table after they picked up a seventh league win of the season with a narrow 3-2 home win over FC Baresi. Billy Happe and Stanley Green found the back of the net for Baresi but their efforts proved not quite enough as two Loth Kalala goals plus a Rajpal Bumbra strike handed CSM the win.

DIVISION ONE

One of the biggest games of the day was at Salisbury Hall where the top two sides in Division One met with Tower United the visitors to face Chingford United. Chingford started in second but ninety minutes later found themselves top of the pile as Iulian Lujan scored twice to overcome an Abubakar Maxamed goal for the visitors in a 2-1 scoreline, that result keeping the fate of the title in Chingford’s hands.

The other clash in the division came from the Marshes where Eastside were the hosts to take on All Prospects with the two sides sitting fourth and third respectively. The gap between them had increased to six points by the end of the game as All Prospects won 2-1, despite a Conrad Mullings goal for the hosts.

DIVISION TWO

There were some important wins for sides in the bottom half of Division Two at the weekend with Unitey overcoming a four place deficit as they defeated Rainham Working Mens Club. They were 3-1 winners on the day, picking up a fourth league win through goals from David Blessing and Noe Kimia. Sean Tormey scored the goal in reply for Rainham.

It was also a good day for Melbourne Sports who massively improved their chances of avoiding the dreaded drop with an emphatic 5-0 victory at home against Upshire Forest. Dexter Stuart had a game to remember as he rattled in four of their efforts with Rakim Hanson’s goal rounding off the scoring.

The final game saw two in-form sides meet in Leyton where second placed Three Colts were the visitors to take on county cup semi finalists, Cowley Community. Joe Furlong and James Kane both grabbed a goal for Colts as they had to settle for a share of the points with Cowley in a 2-2 draw.

DIVISION THREE

In Division Three, there was another glut of goals with Frenford A having a field day in front of goal, earning themselves a 9-1 win at home to Glendale in Ilford. Seyi Agboola netted for the Dales but braces from Daniel Francis, Carl O’Malley, Damilola Olaiya and singles from Jack Darby, Callum Alexander and Ebeneezer Djan completed the scoring.

Chadwell Heath Spartans kept up their excellent run in the league with another victory but had to battle past a tough Avondale Rangers side to secure the points. Kailen Elmoumni got on the scoresheet for Rangers but his efforts weren’t quite enough as Spartans ran out 3-1 victors in the end.

Second placed Newham Wanderers kept up their chase for silverware with another victory, defeating Ilford Development in a 5-1 win at the Flats on Saturday, reaching a double figure number of wins. Robertson Morais continued his form with two goals, complimenting efforts from Danish Sadiq, Bradley Harris and Otto Bolton.

There was also the taste of success for FC Galaxy who’s recent form is quite remarkable and will be hopeful of being well in the frame for honours. They were 4-1 winners in their latest endeavours with Debden Park the victims at Castle Green. Eduard Bica scored twice with Mihalache Dumitru and Mihai Mareniuc scoring the goals to take home the points.

Flyers Development savoured the taste of success in the division’s remaining game as they returned from Beckton with a full compliment of points, defeating relegation threatened Custom House United in a 5-2 scoreline. Debutant Ricky Barwick scored a hat-trick for them with Jason Collins scoring twice to overcome Dockers goals from Jamie Wooster and Glenn Levy.

DIVISION FOUR

In Division Four, Loughton Lions took advantage of sides around them being out of action to close the gap on the promotion places to just three points, earning a 5-0 win at home against Prospect Protégé. George Bird clipped Prospect’s wings with a hat-trick with Will Osmond’s brace taking Lions to a sixth league win of the season.

The form of Newham Royals recently has certainly not gone unnoticed and they put themselves well into the promotion frame with a seventh league win on Saturday, moving level on points with third place after they picked up a 5-1 win against Together United. They are now just three points off the promotion places with games in hand on those above.

ESSEX JUNIOR TROPHY

The final Essex Saturday Junior Trophy quarter final was completed on Saturday with Sungate Reserves making a hugely successful trip to Basildon to face Pitsea Athletic at the Sporting Village. Having trailed 1-0, they came from behind to win 3-1 against their Mid Essex League opponents to set up a semi final at home to Hutton A on 29^th February, increasing the possibility of an all-EAL county cup final in March!

Photo: Chadwell Heath Spartans FC