WEEK 26 REVIEW: Round-up of Saturday's league and cup action

FENTON CUP

Last year’s Fenton Cup finalists, ACD United, have moved themselves to within one performance of at least repeating that feat as they battled past a resilient Blue Marlin side on Saturday in the first of the quarter finals to be completed. United were 2-0 winners on the day with Mason Oakley and Michael Wade scoring the all-important goals, setting up a clash against either Haver Town Reserves, Docklands Albion or Singh Sabha Barking in the last four.

DIVISION 1 CUP

There was also cup football action in the Division One Cup where the first round action finally came to a conclusion as Wapping made the journey to Hainault to face a tough Chigwell side. Joel Brown was on the scoresheet for Wapping but his goal proved in vain as the hosts ran in four goals of their own to see Chigwell to a 4-1 win. They now face a tough quarter final next weekend with a trip to fellow title challengers, FC Baresi.

DIVISION 3 CUP

Completing the weekend’s cup action, the semi final line-up in the Division Three Cup was finalised with the final spot being decided in the clash between Haver Town Reserves and St Francis. With eleven places separating the sides in the league, it looked like a possible one-way affair but the Saints acquitted themselves well on the day with a Ryan Kelland effort helping Haver to a narrow 2-0 win, confirming their semi final place against Tower Hamlets Reserves in a mouth-watering contest.

SENIOR DIVISION

Result of the day in the top flight on Saturday came from Newbury Park where previously sixth placed Singh Sabha Barking caused a real surprise as they took down title challengers, Jolof Sports, in a 2-0 scoreline. That win shot Singh Sabha up three places to third in the table while leaving their Jolof counterparts still needing three wins from their four remaining matches to guarantee the silverware for a second time in three years.

There was also a shock result over in Walthamstow where seventh placed West Essex Reserves were up against previously fourth placed Docklands Albion. A goal apiece from Adam Norris and Lloyd Renvoize were the difference between the sides as West continued their recent winning ways with a 2-1 victory and maintained their comfortable footing in the mid-table area.

DIVISION ONE

In Division One, FC Baresi have pulled clear of the rest by three points at the top of the table as they earned a big 5-0 home win at the weekend over bottom side, Melbourne Sports, at the Britannia. Marvin Smith bagged a brace for the hosts with Mark Matthews, Maamoon Khan and Delano Lloyd also on the scoresheet to keep their side top.

Third placed Three Colts saw their promotion credentials take a hit as they slipped to a 3-0 away defeat in Leyton against Lymore Gardens. Dushane Powell grabbed a brace for Lymore with Bradley Williams scoring the other in a comfortable win that saw the hosts move back into the mix for a top half finish this season with five more games to go.

The remaining game in this division saw another Chingford derby match as an in-form Rapid Chingford made the journey up to Waltham Abbey to face Chingford Athletic Reserves. Archie Stojic netted for Athletic but that effort was balanced out by a Rapid goal to see the sides settle for a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw.

DIVISION TWO

Chingford Athletic Development have moved to within one more win of securing the league title in Division Two as they earned a 5-2 victory on Saturday from their trip to Rainham Working Mens Club. Luke Dimond and William Swain both scored twice for the Devs with Patrick Clarke scoring the fifth to counter Rainham goals from Nick Tormey and Dillon Anderson. Chingford can now secure their maiden league title next Saturday at home against Cowley Community.

CSM London will continue their fight for the runners-up spot for another week at least as they edged a thrilling seven-goal encounter at home to Old Esthameians. Chris Booker, Alex Booker and Neil Robinson were all on target for Old E’s but CSM goals from Rodrique Beya, Ade Yusuf, Keifer Cole and Hoxley Baron were enough to see them over the line in a 4-3 victory.

In Walthamstow, there was a tight game in the division’s final contest as cup semi finalists, Upshire Forest, made the trip to face Puma Kings looking to keep a decent run of form going. Jordan Mills-Smith found the back of the net for Puma once again with the equally in-form Leighton Hughes-Franklin netting the other to take home a point in the eventual 1-1 draw.

DIVISION THREE

Frenford A have shrugged off a recent poor run of form to record a tenth league win of the season on Saturday, beating Forest Green Reserves 4-0 in Leyton to stay fifth. Thomas Waymouth and Joao Alves were the scorers for the visitors to see over the finish line and record maximum points. Their hopes of a promotion placing have probably ended in recent weeks but, with three games still to play, a top four finish is still a realistic opportunity.

Moving back into the top half, Flyers Reserves also picked up a tenth win of a very decent campaign in their away match against Chingford Harriers as they returned home with a 5-1 win under their belts. Paul Shawyer got the Harriers goal but it wasn’t enough as Flyers soared to a big win to move up to sixth in the table with four matches to go.

New Star Soccer will go into their upcoming cup semi final in some good form as they beat the elements to record an important 3-0 win against Glendale on Saturday. Despite holding out against the strong breeze in the first, Glendale surrendered the advantage in the second half with Kyran Chiedozie scoring twice for New Star and Bradley Cousins once to take home the points.

DIVISION FOUR

The Division Four race for the title will be going right to wire this season as Avondale Rangers pulled off a hugely important victory at the weekend at home against their rivals for the title, Sungate Reserves, confirming a well earned promotion at least for the new leaders. Chris Harper and Thomas Jackson-Lyall were the scorers for Rangers as they battled to a 2-1 win that sees them go clear at the top by two points but with Sungate still holding the upper hand with a game in hand.

Debden Park’s penultimate game of the season has seen them retain their stranglehold on third place as they were held to a 2-2 home draw against Newham Royals. That result saw Debden take their points tally to thirty-one with Brentwood United Reserves the last remaining side that can catch them for third place.

The day’s final match was a proper humdinger as Loughton Lions were visited by Dagenham United Reserves in Hainault in a dress rehearsal for their upcoming cup semi-final. Anthony Wiseman, Jordan Thomas and Liam Green were the United scorers with George Bird, Will Osmond and Tommy Edwards effort levelling it up at 3-3 for the Lions to set up what could be a classic semi final next Saturday.