WEEK 28 REVIEW: Sungate Reserves crowned Division Four league champions
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SENIOR DIVISION CUP – SEMI FINAL
A mouth-watering cup final is in prospect in the Senior Division Cup as close rivals, Docklands Albion and Jolof Sports, confirmed their places at Dagenham & Redbridge over the weekend. Albion led their semi-final against West Essex Reserves but saw West fight back in the second half to level the contest at 2-2, sending it to yet another penalty shootout. Albion held their nerve to win 4-2 from the spot, booking their place in the final.
And Jolof Sports will be joining them having overcome a very tough challenge in the form of London Cranes over in West Ham. Another close game between these sides saw the teams finish level with Cranes having missed chances to possibly take the win. That saw the second semi-final head to a shootout with Jolof edging it 4-3 to set up an intriguing cup final showdown on Saturday 11th May.
DIVISION 2 CUP – SEMI FINAL
The Division Two Cup final line-up was also finalised as the second semi-final saw CSM London play host to Eastside at Flanders. With very little separating these sides in the league table, it was going to take a very special effort to earn victory. CSM London will certainly be the side happiest with their day’s work, Keifer Cole and Micail Koulibaly scoring twice each to win the match 5-1, confirming a cup final against Rainham Working Mens Club.
FENTON CUP
In the Fenton Cup, the third quarter-final of the season took place with Wapping the visitors to Chigwell once again in a cup contest. Joel Brown and Mohammed Rafe both scored for Wapping but Chigwell were not to be defeated as they levelled the contest with goals of their own, the match ending at 3-3 at full-time and a third penalty shootout in four ties. Wapping held their nerve to win 3-1 however, booking a semi final place away at Jolof Sports.
DIVISION ONE
In Division One, FC Baresi have moved to within four points of securing the league title as they saw off the dogged efforts of semi-final bound Melbourne Sports on Saturday. Goals from Amais Khan, Marvin Smith and Sikander Khan for the visitors proved too much, cancelling out a Mels goal from Ryan Lincoln to earn a 3-1 win.
Melbourne’s opponents in next week’s big cup semi final are Three Colts and their preparations for that match didn’t quite go to plan as they slipped to a 6-0 home defeat against third placed Chingford Athletic Reserves in Highams Park. Jack Yates scored a hat-trick with Luke Primett, Michael Hay and Umar Ali goals securing Chingford an important win in their quest for promotion.
DIVISION TWO
Rounding off an impressive day for Chingford was a victory for the newly crowned league champions in Division Two as their Chingford Athletic Development side romped to a big derby win at home against co-tenants, Upshire Forest. Luke Dimond scored twice with Patrick Clarke, William Swain, Nathan Ackie, Harry Burton and Irfan Houssein scoring the others in a 7-0 win for the Waltham Abbey based outfit.
Division Two’s other match came in Walthamstow where Rainham Working Mens Club were attempting to maintain some momentum as they faced sixth placed Puma Kings. Sean Tormey was at the double with a brace of goals for Rainham but Kings were not giving up the cause and they scored twice themselves with the sides having to settle for a point apiece in a 2-2 draw.
DIVISION THREE
Haver Town Reserves remain top of the table in Division Three as they earned themselves a hard fought 3-0 win at home against St Francis in Harold Hill. Courtney Waller’s goal scoring form continued with a two-goal haul with Ryan Kelland netting his usual goal to see their side over the line. With competition tight at the top, Haver could still need to win all four remaining matches to take the silverware for a second successive season.
That competition primarily comes in the form of a Royal Forest side who are doing their best to take this battle to the final day of the season. Their latest result was an impressive one, sending promotion contenders, Tower Hamlets Reserves, to a rare defeat as they picked up a 2-0 win at Hainault Rec. You wouldn’t like to predict the outcome of this race.
In matters at the opposite end of the division, just four points separates the bottom four sides now as Glendale secured a priceless win in a six-pointer at home to old adversaries, Chingford Harriers. A Zack Clark strike from a tight angle in the first half coupled with some crucial goal-line clearances saw them edge ahead at the break before Abbas Khabbasz got on the end of a low cross in the second period to take home the points in a 2-0 win.
DIVISION FOUR
In Division Four, we must first offer our congratulations to Sungate Reserves who secured the points that they needed on Saturday to confirm themselves as the league champions. They were up against Soul Youth with the calculation quite clear but had to do things the hard way, coming from behind to a Saddik Azizur strike for the hosts. But champions are made of stern stuff and Gate levelled then opened a lead from two-goal Darren Reid and Danny Downer efforts, eventually proving enough to secure a 3-1 win and the silverware to boot! Well done to Paul and the rest of the Sungate side on their efforts this year.
The other Division Four action came over at Hainault Rec where previously bottom of the table cup finalists, Loughton Lions, had a tough assignment with the visit of Brentwood United Reserves. Cup final appearances can do wonders for the confidence and Will Osmond is no exception to that rule as he scored a hat-trick to lead the Lions to a 3-2 victory. That result carried them up two places to eighth place in the process with two more games to go.