WEEK 23 REVIEW: West Essex reach summit of Division Two

It has taken until Valentines Day but West Essex Res have reached the top of Division Two table after a 7-2 home win against Newham Royals. The win was secured with braces from Lloyd Renvoize and Jack McQuibban and strikes from Otis Gatehouse, Charles Saunders and Adam Norris cancelling out Royals’ goals from Glen Brickley and Richard Smith. Second placed Grove United have the advantage of a game in hand over the leaders but were not in action this weekend. In another top of the table clash, Cowley Community visited Leyton Green with the latter rolling out 5-1 winners. Green are now the division’s top scorers and could still leave themselves in the mixer for the promotion places if results go their way with the other contenders.

There were two Fenton Cup ties played as Chingford Town and Jolof Sports Club finally met in their second round clash. After an entertaining ninety minutes of football, Chingford Town eventually prevailed winning 4-3 against their Premier Division rivals to book a tie at Blue Marlin in the next round. There was no shock in the other cup tie where Premier Division Cranes United won 6-2 at home to Division Two Singh Sabha Barking with a pair of hat-tricks from Senkatuka Nelson and Kaizal Kiyingi confirming progression to the next round.

In the Premier Division, May & Baker EC A slipped to a 4-1 defeat away at AAH Romford with Steven Richards scoring all four goals to keep his side in seventh position. That win for AAH enabled Chingford Athletic to close the gap on the leaders and they didn’t disappoint, winning 8-0 against Chingford Harriers as Luke Arnold scored a hat-trick, adding to goals from Lee Bowers, James Clark, Lee Doyle, Tom Pearce and Jake Mignot. Chingford are now twelve points behind May & Baker but with five games in hand on their closest rivals for the title with a crucial fixture between the two next weekend. Sixth placed Melbourne Sports were 4-0 winners at St Francis as goals from John Shubert (2), Greg Justham and Luke Norman confirmed maximum points for the Mels. St Francis have now slipped down to eleventh in the table but with plenty of games in hand to change that situation. Rainham Working Mens Club travelled to Eastside Rangers in the final game with the points being shared in a 1-1 draw.

Daniel Vearer was on target with a brace for Vittoriosa Falcons as he led his side to a 4-1 win in Division One against Forest Green. Nathan Scarborough also found the back of the net to help his side maintain third spot in the table. Fourth placed London Bari Res held their nerves to win by the odd goal in five at home to Lord Nelson, winning 3-2 to maintain the pressure on the Falcons just above them.

Dagenham United are into the semi finals of the Division Two Cup after edging a close encounter against Northend Res by 3 goals to 2. Tola Israel was on target for Northend but his goal was cancelled out by Kevin Badu, Jonnell Bampo and Francis Mireku. Their reward is a home tie against Cowley Community in the semi finals.