WEEK 29 REVIEW: Round-up of Saturday's league and cup action
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DIVISION 1 CUP – SEMI FINAL
The Three Colts love affair with the Division One Cup sees no end as they confirmed their place in a third successive final in the competition on Saturday with a hard fought victory away at Melbourne Sports. The experienced Tom Jakob has been a big part of those previous successes and he sent his side there once again with a two goal haul, David Watson grabbing the third in a 3-1 win. Will the Colts make it a hat-trick of cup victories this year?
Colts will be facing local rivals Chigwell in that final on 14th May at Dagenham & Redbridge after the league title chasers came out with a narrow 1-0 victory in a tough match away at Rapid Chingford. The only goal of the game came midway through the first half courtesy of a Ross Chimes turn and finish. Both sides missed chances to score in the second half as Chigwell’s defence stayed resolute to the end.
SENIOR DIVISION
The Senior Division action on Saturday saw a real spanner thrown in the works for the title race as West Essex Reserves rounded off another solid season with a huge victory against title chasing Jolof Sports in Hainault. West grabbed the only goal of the game as they held out to record a 1-0 victory, their eighth win of the season. The equation for Jolof Sports is quite clear, needing seven points from their remaining three matches to secure the title ahead of the present leaders, ACD United.
DIVISION ONE
There were goals galore in Division One where FC Baresi confirmed yet another promotion for themselves despite the valiant efforts of a visiting Lymore Gardens side. Tyler Kirby scored twice with Mark Matthews, Marvin Smith, Sikander Khan and Maamoon Khan netting one apiece for Baresi. But Lymore gave as good as they got, netting four goals of their own in consolation as FC Baresi prevailed 6-4. The leaders now face Chigwell next weekend with the title on the line. A point or more will see the silverware heading to Walthamstow but a Chigwell win could see the title go to a goal difference showdown on the final day!
The theme of goals continued into the division’s other contest where the small matter of fourteen goals were shared across the contest between Wapping and Forest Green. Joshua Kibuuka, Alexander Da Costa, Shaun Browne, Joshua Thompson and Krishan Singh all scored for Green but Wapping braces in reply from Sajid Miah and Mohammed Rahman, plus single efforts from Abu Khan, Hamza Hanif, Abderrahmane Teladjati, Shamsun Noor and Mohammed Hussain saw the game end in an astonishing 9-5 victory to Wapping.
DIVISION TWO
In Division Two, the penultimate match of the season in the division came in Leyton where Puma Kings were the visitors to face Cowley Community with both sides final positions already settled. Puma goals from Kadeem Kazeem, Jordan Mills-Smith and Josh Morris overcame two goals from the hosts, edging the contest 3-2 in their side’s favour.
DIVISION THREE
There are still plenty of matters to be resolved in Division Three where two of the top sides met over the weekend in the form of Custom House Community and Haver Town Reserves. In a game of ten goals, the two teams couldn’t be separated at full-time with them having to settle for a point apiece in a remarkable 5-5 draw. Glenn Levy scored twice for the Dockers and Jamie Wooster once but Haver responded with braces from Ryan Kelland and Reece Simpson plus an Owen Rice effort to rescue a point.
That result could have spelt disaster for those sides as Royal Forest had the opportunity to go top if they could secure a result away at relegation threatened St Francis. The cat was well and truly thrown amongst the pigeons at both ends of the table though as the Saints pulled off one of the results of the season with Leon Young scoring twice and Mohamed Aden netting the other in a 3-1 win against some familiar, ex-Saints opponents. The battle goes on at both ends of the table for another week!
Fourth placed Flyers Reserves made it twelve wins from twenty this season, continuing their goal scoring form with an 8-1 home victory against now relegated Forest Green Reserves. Chris Anele scored four of those goals with Andrew Mbewe and Dymon Labonne netting two each to render Quillon Placide’s goal for Green as just a consolation on the day.
With matches still to play against the sides around them, Tower Hamlets Reserves are not yet out of the race for honours themselves but they had a battle on their hands against New Star Soccer on Saturday in Seven Kings. Edmundo Guevara scored twice and Kyran Chiedozie one for New Star but Tower edged this thriller by the odd goal scoring four of their own in a 4-3 victory. With games in hand they can still get to within three points of the leaders with the two sides still to meet on the final day of the season.
DIVISION FOUR
Some of the final games in Division Four took place over the weekend with Avondale Rangers heading to Chadwell Heath to take on Brentwood United Reserves in their respective final league games of the campaign. Harry Callagher, Chris Harper, Thomas Jackson-Lyall and Paul Regan all netted for Rangers to see them win 4-1 and finish just a single point behind the newly crowned league champions, Sungate.
Cup semi-final bound, Debden Park, warmed up for their big match next weekend as they took on local rivals, Loughton Lions, in the IG10 derby match. Debden made their lofty league position count as the third placed finishers put in a solid performance to win 3-0, recording a tenth league win of the season in the process.