WEEK 28 REVIEW: Round-up of Saturday's EAL league and cup action

FENTON CUP

The semi-final line-up for the Fenton Cup was completed on Saturday as Division One side Docklands Albion caused a stir once more, despatching their third Premier Division opponents of the campaign as they saw off Jolof Sports at Douglas Eyre. Goals from Samuel Daminabo, Kamal Creary and Haseeb Kashmiri were enough to edge a thrilling encounter 3-2 to book a semi-final against FC Baresi and leaves the Fenton Cup without the top flight represented in the last four for the first time in a many a season.

PREMIER DIVISION CUP

In the Premier Division Cup, the remaining quarter-final clash saw West Essex Reserves on the road away at Leyton Falcons as the sides battled for a place in the semi-finals against Lopes Tavares London. Having despatched the league leaders in the previous round, West Essex followed up that performance with another victory, edging the game by the odd goal in three. Izunna Ogedi-Uzokwe did the majority of the damage with a brace to lead his side to a 2-1 victory and placing them just ninety minutes away from a potential cup final.

DIVISION TWO CUP

There was a certain symmetry to proceedings in the day’s pair of Division Two Cup quarter-finals with Rainham Working Mens Club first of all playing host to ACD United in what was, on paper, a tough match to call given their respective lofty positions in the league standings. But ACD United are really starting to motor at the business end of the season and, with the help of two goals from Connor Lambert and one apiece from Michael Wade and Robert Clark, cruised through to a 4-1 win to head into the semi-finals.

In the day’s other cup tie, Newham United Reserves were back in action with a trip to Romford to take on United London Reserves with both sides knowing that Lionside were awaiting the winners in the semi-final next month. The hosts made no mistake in securing that spot in the last four as United moved to a comfortable looking 4-1 win to progress on.

DIVISION FOUR CUP

There was a huge match in the Division Four Cup on Saturday as Debden Park took on Brook City in Group A action with both sides knowing that the winning side would be through to the semi-finals and the loser would be out. In a seven goal thriller, the hosts will have been the happier of the two sides as Ross Densham once made the difference with a brace, adding to strikes from Jonathan Crowder and Adam Young, to run out narrow 4-3 victors. That result sees them win the group and earn a home semi-final against Haver Town Reserves.

PREMIER DIVISION

Into the domestic league action, there was a big result in Barkingside where title-chasing United London were the visitors to take on a sixth-placed Blue Marlin side who were not quite yet guaranteed safety and also playing their last match of the season. The day belonged to United London however as the front-pairing of Billy Teixeira and Harry Chalk scored all three goals with Billy netting two and Harry the other in a 3-1 victory that moves United top of the table. Colebrook Royals retain the advantage with their game in hand but will effectively need to win all three of those to deny their title rivals.

DIVISION ONE

In Division One, there are new leaders at the top of the division as East Ham Inter made their move to the summit with victory in a belter of a match in Seven Kings. Inter led comfortable 4-1 at home against a struggling Three Colts outfit but saw the visitors claw their way back in the match to unbelievably level it up at 4-4. But there was still time for another twist as Inter grabbed a crucial fifth to win it with Sofyan Khalfi scoring twice and one each for Amalraj Kakamanu and Harinder Sanghera.

With eight games left, the side who you imagine will be in amongst the action at the top will be Singh Sabha Barking who enhanced their promotion credentials with a spirited 3-0 win away at Cowley Community at the weekend. That victory helps them up a place to fifth in the standings and, with the best part of two months of football still to play, you wouldn’t bet against them moving up a few more places.

Melbourne Sports were on the road on Saturday with a trip to Chingford to face Ryan Reserves with both sides still in with an outside chance of promotion themselves after mixed campaigns. There was just a single goal in this encounter as the Mels weathered the Ryan storm to score the only goal, arriving through Marcus Dadson, to win 1-0 and move them up to fourth place, four points off the top of the table.

At the opposite end of the league standings, Forest Green have pulled themselves away from the bottom of the table for the first time in a while as they took on seventh placed Sporting Hackney Reserves in Leyton on Saturday. They cruised to an emphatic 4-1 win that gives them renewed confidence of beating the drop, especially as they still have a massive nine league matches to play too.

DIVISION TWO

There are just two points separating the top three sides in Division Two now with Chingford Athletic Reserves having taken advantage of the top two sides being in cup action over the weekend to close the gap on them. They faced a tough assignment with Lymore Gardens the visitors to Town Mead but Umar Ali proved the hero for the hosts with a hat-trick as Billy Harding and Luke Primett also scored to net a 5-1 win for Chingford.

In the day’s other fixture in this division, Lionside warmed up for their upcoming cup semi final with a hard fought victory at home to Custom House on Saturday. Having defeated the same opponents in the cup, goals from Michael Kane, James Cook and Martyn Rifat made it another win for Lionside as they completed the 3-1 victory that moves them up three places to seventh in the standings.

DIVISION THREE

It was a busy afternoon in Division Three with six fixtures taking place including a double header involving two of the division’s promotion chasing sides, FC Baresi and Redbridge Development. In two highly competitive matches that were settled by the odd goal, FC Baresi were the beneficiaries in both as Esat Saiti’s effort settled the first match 1-0. They then edged the second by the odd goal in three as Andre Whyte and Delano Lloyd scored to earn a 2-1 victory that sees them move top of the table once again.

Second placed Chigwell maintained their own title challenge with a high-scoring victory at home against Chingford Harriers in Hainault. In a game of eight goals, Chigwell scored five of them with Ross Chimes, Joe Creasey and Mark Howe all on target to render an Edwin Jabbari brace and Luke Edmead single as just a consolation in the end for the Harriers.

Third placed Old Esthameians Reserves are also still in the promotion picture very much and their day’s action was rather more routine with a big 5-0 win at home against Frenford A in Newbury Park. Goals from Chris Booker, Harry Coffey, Shaun Vickers, Lee Vickers and Thomas Boomsma helped their side to the win that places them just a point behind the promotion places with still four matches to play.

Glendale made it seven wins for the season on Saturday as they took on semi-final bound New Star Soccer in Hainault. A goal just before half-time from Khari Pobi separated the sides at the break before riding their luck as New Star fought back early in the second period. But a late Abbas Khabbaz penalty saw the Dales to an eventual 2-0 victory.

In the day’s remaining match, Kitroom were winners by a big margin as they put ten goals past Custom House Community without reply at Hainault Rec. Mark Makeri took a liking to the back of the net with a five goal haul with James Henry scoring twice and further goals from James Blake, Justin Cummins and Omar Wilson to keep their side comfortably fourth placed in the standings.

DIVISION FOUR

In Division Four, whilst the league champions were crowned some time ago, the second promotion place is far from settled and took a twist on Saturday with Brentwood United Reserves throwing their hat into the ring. Their 4-1 win away at Newham Royals has left them in with a chance of finishing second with Royal Forest and Brook City also in amongst the fight for promotion. With three games left to play, Brook hold all the aces but have a difficult run-in including matches against those rivals.