WEEK 8 REVIEW: Round-up of Saturday's league and county cup action

PREMIER DIVISION

The excellent form of Jolof Sports Club continued on Saturday, sending a signal of positive intent for this season with a comfortable 3-0 away win at LOASS to open up a four point gap at the top of the table. Jeffrey Cobblah kept up his fine recent form with a brace with Modou Jammeh netting the other.

Chingford Athletic remain second in the table as they were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Blue Marlin in Buckhurst Hill. Shane Baptiste and Gary Murray netted the goals for Chingford in a result which finds the reigning champions four points off of the pace but with a game in hand on the leaders with key battles to come.

Moving up to third position are United London who edged a tight game with Marshes co-tenants London Falcons in a 4-3 victory. Shaiquan Maisara, Simon Omope and Arthur Ferreira were all on target for United to keep them in touch at the top end of the table.

And in the final game of the division, Old Esthameians made in two consecutive wins for the Newbury Park side as they beat Rainham Working Mens Club 7-3 to climb up to sixth position in the table. Danny Morgan was the star man netting a quartet of goals with Callum Brierly, Jack Wilson-Jones and Jack Morgan rounding off a stunning victory. For Rainham, Matt Humphreys, Dillon Anderson and Michael Aramide were the scorers with their consolation strikes.

DIVISION ONE

It’s as you were in Division One at the top end of the table however Colebrook Royals took full advantage of their rivals Three Colts being in county cup action in securing a resounding 6-0 win over St Francis to close the gap. Chris Stowe is doing his best to take the golden boot this year with another hat-trick as John Elmes netted twice and Dan Fisher once to take the points.

Kitgum Boys remain third in the table as they were held to a 2-2 draw this weekend at home to St Johns Deaf. A goal apiece for Isma Bukemya and Dennis Ssuubi gave the boys from West Ham a share of the points to stay unbeaten in their chase of the leaders. The point for St Johns was enough to see them move up to seventh position.

DIVISION TWO

With a large number of sides involved in county cup action, there was just the one game played in Division Two where Avondale Rangers scored the only goal of the game to secure a second victory of the season in beating Lymore Gardens 1-0. That moves them up to eighth place in the table with Lymore remaining fifth.

DIVISION THREE

The division for plenty of goal action this season is certainly Division Three where Custom House reached double figures once again in a 10-0 victory over St Francis Reserves. Paul Wooster is making an early case for player of the season with another haul of four goals with braces for each of Charlie Clarke, Jamie Wooster and Kelvin Bartlett carrying them to a substantial victory.

Flyers stay second on goal difference alone with a fifth victory in five games maintaining a perfect start to the season. Robert Ashdown, Ben Tomlin and Sean Watson each netted for Flyers to earn them a 3-1 win over Brentwood United Reserves and keep their great start to the season going.

Another side showing plenty of ability in front of goal are Wapping who reached double-figures themselves on Saturday with a 10-2 win over Royal Forest. A hat-trick each for Fuad Ibrahim and Kemar Thompson plus braces for Billy Tiff and Abdulwahid Zerkouki took them to victory and a rise to third place in the table.

Making it a day of double delight for Old Esthameians, their reserves followed the lead of the first team in recording a comfortable victory as they beat Wanstead Warriors away in a 6-0 scoreline. Shaun Vickers led the way with a hat-trick with Alex Booker adding a double and Max Shuttleworth a single to move to eighth place in the table.

COUNTY CUPS

There were mixed results in the various county cup competitions at the weekend as six of our sides reached the next round of their respective competitions.

In the Essex Junior Cup, two of our sides met in an all-EAL clash as Melbourne Sports hosted neighbours Grove United in Hainault. And it was Grove United who managed to come through the tie beating the Mels 2-1 to set up a third round tie at home to Brentwood Athletic.

Also in Junior Cup action were Old Barkabbeyans Reserves who made the journey down to south Essex to face Leigh Ramblers Reserves where they were seen off by a single goal in a 1-0 defeat.

In the Essex Junior Trophy, Division Two side Ryan Reserves produced one of the shocks of the round as they beat Division One leaders Three Colts in a 3-0 scoreline. That result puts them through to another all-EAL match-up as they face Kitroom in the next round.

Inter Plaistow booked their own place in the third round of the competition with a 3-1 win at fellow EAL side Chingford Athletic Reserves. That result means they will be on the road in round three with a trip to Wickford to face Extreme United of the Mid Essex League.

Also going through are Cowley Community who beat EAL rivals Singh Sabha Barking 2-0 at home to make the draw for round three where they will travel deep into Essex to the Dengie Peninsula to face Mayland Village.

Exiting the competition at the second round stage were Colebrook Royals Reserves who couldn’t quite repeat their league exploits, going down 1-0 at home to Harold Hill Under 21s along with Glendale bowing out 4-0 away at Harold Wood Athletic. West Essex Reserves made it a trio of exiting sides with a narrow 2-1 home defeat against Newbury Forest Reserves.

Rounding off our action from the weekend are Forest Green who continued their superb recent form in the AFA Challenge Cup first round where they hosted John Fisher Old Boys. The game ended 2-2 after extra time with Green coming through the shootout 3-2 to book their place in the next round of the competition.