NEWSLETTER No. 29

By Bill Scholes

Saturday 6^th March 2010

Amazing–a complete programme of fixtures without one postponement!

Somewhat surprisingly, for a full fixture list, there was just the one hat trick, and that was by John Vaughan for Bedford who scored four in their 11-0 win at Amersham.

PREMIER DIVISION

Leaders Chalfont St. Peter stretched their lead out to 8 points following their 5-1 walloping of Hillingdon Borough at home. Skipper John Carroll and Charlie Strutton put the Saints two up before Aaron Lansicott reduced the deficit just before half time. However Adam Louth extended the lead again right on the break, and added his second just before the hour mark. Barry Brosnan, returning from injury, completed the scoring in the last minute. Chalfont’s two leading rivals do have games in hand, but neither could take advantage of the Saints slip last week, as they only garnered a point between them. Aylesbury must have thought they had done enough to warrant all three points against St. Margaretsbury when Grant Carney scored from the penalty spot with just 5 minutes left, but Paul Taylor ruined their day with an equaliser in the last minute. Tring Athletic failed to take any points from their home game against the continually improving Harefield United as they went down to a 75^th goal from Jack Reader – a result which pushes the Hares up into 4^th place and the fringes of the title race. Colney Heath slipped back to 5^th after going down 3-1 at home to Dunstable Town. A double from Danny Kisuule and one from Dan O’Connor put Dunstable three up with almost a complete half to play, before an OG reduced the deficit. Hatfield Town pulled themselves up a couple of places with their second win in three day as they came back from near neighbours Hertford Town with a 3-1 win. On the mark for Hatfield were Jack Evans, Rhys Lawrence and Rhys Tahon, with the home side’s sole reply coming from a Lee Roberts penalty. A brace for new boy Sergio Gomez was the only highlight for Welwyn Garden City as they fell to a 5-2 home defeat against Royston Town. Gomez’s opening goal, after just 6 minutes, was the Citizens sole moment in the sun, as Royston steamed back with four goals of their own (a brace from Lewis Endacott and singles from David Cain and Ashley Grimham) before Gomez netted again just before the break. The excitement fell away in the second half with just Ryan Lockett’s goal to keep the spectators interested. Welwyn are now 5 points adrift at the bottom, as second from bottom Kentish Town caused a few eyebrows to be raised as they beat Hanwell Town 3-2. The home side went three up by half time, thanks to goals from Anthony Clark, James Lindsay and Jason Donlon, and although Hanwell produced a late rally with goals from Yassine Sehnigil and Blaise O’Brien, Kentish Town held on for a valuable three points. Leverstock Green registered their second win in four days, but until two very late goals from Dale Sears and Lewis Pritchard, it looked as though they would have to rely on Sears’ first half goal for a narrow win against Langford, the team with the second worst defensive record in the division. A solitary goal from Nathan Hilaire in the 16^th minute was enough to give Biggleswade United a welcome home victory over Oxhey Jets, whilst Kingsbury London Tigers maintained their half way position in the table with a 2-1 win at home to Haringey Borough. Boro’s Adriano Durinel replied to Hardy Pinto Moreiro’s early opener for Tigers, but Aderico Manuel came up with the second half winner. Broxbourne Borough sit just behind the top 6, but do have games in hand, and their 4-1 win over visitors Brimsdown Rovers allowed them to keep in touch. Danny Ward, Ben Andreos (2) and Murat Karagul were on the mark for Boro, with a late reply coming from Matt Waldron.

DIVISION ONE

In brilliant spring sunshine, New Bradwell St Peter hosted Cockfosters and ran out winners by 2-0 despite not really playing well and Cockfosters were a little unlucky to lose. The game was evenly balanced with Cockfosters having the better chances of the first half and Donaldson in the Peters goal had to save well on two occasions. But the opening goal for Peters came against the run of play when a short corner was crossed for John Mulholland to force the ball into the net at the far post on 34 minutes. Further action saw Cockfosters hit the outside of a Peters post and Peters hit the top of the Cockfosters cross bar but at half time the score remained 1-0 to the home team. The second half was mainly dominated by Cockfosters seeking an equaliser but a mistake by a defender allowed Dave Holloway to run clear and score on 83 minutes to seal the match for Peters. Despite some more pressure from Cockfosters, they failed to find a way past the home defence and the game finished 2-0 to the home team.  After the final whistle blew, both teams seemed to be shaking hands when suddenly there was a melee between players, team officials and a spectator where punches were seen to be thrown. However, this subsided quickly as the match officials took control and there was no further incident - such a pity to spoil an enjoyable afternoon. This win allowed New Bradwell to take a one point lead at the top of the table, as Holmer Green dropped two points at home for the second time in three days – however the Greens do have four games in hand. The visitors on this occasion were Stony Stratford Town and after coming away from Ostlers Lane back in September with a point, Holmer seemed to have done just enough, thanks to Tom Alabaster’s 74^th minute goal, to take all three points, but had to settle for a point after Dan Finnis popped up with the equaliser in the 5^th minute of added on time. Hadley are still in close order in third place and they had a satisfying 3-0 win away at sixth place AFC Dunstable. Hadley’s goals, all in the second half, came from Rhys Pixell, Marco Jones and a Badhil Elsawahli penalty. The match between Hoddesdon Town and Buckingham Athletic was a very close affair with the home team enjoying the majority of play but failing to create any clear cut chances. In the end the game was decided just after the hour mark by a free kick from Hoddesdon’s Steve Cawley, his second of the week after scoring the opener against Crawley Green on Wednesday night. In spite of the lack of goal scoring opportunities, this was an evenly contested game which both sides approached in an exemplary manner. Neither trainer was called on to the pitch nor was there ever any suggestion that the referee would need his book for anything other than noting the score. Credit must go to both clubs for their excellent sportsmanship. The most contentious issue of the day involved assistant referee Tony Durnford being accidentally ‘taken out’ on the touchline by Hoddesdon captain Steve Magona. Spartan South Midland veteran Tony completed the game with ease but the Hoddesdon skipper had to be substituted minutes later due to his injuries. They make ‘em tough in Luton. A goal in each half, from Chris McIntyre and Darren Turner, saw Sun Postal Sports make a dent in Crawley Green’s promotion hopes with a 2-0 win away from home, and as a result London Colney’s 2-0 win over Harpenden Town, also away, saw them move above Crawley Green into fourth place. Both of the Blue Boys goals were early strikes – Frankie Jowle in the 6^th minute and Kenny Hull just five minutes later. Bedford Town Reserves have dropped down the table of late, but they recorded a 3-0 home win over Tokyngton Manor with goals from Tom Damon, Jermaine Ivy and Alex Woolstone. Ampthill Town triumphed by the same scoreline at home to Brache Sparta CFC– their goals coming from Stuart Reynolds, Steve Goodridge (pen) and Nick Shirley. Although remaining second from bottom, Sport London e Benfica extended the gap between themselves and Brache Sparta with a rare 5-1 home win over Cranfield United. Albert de Santos and Dominguez Ferreira both notched a brace with the other goal coming from Bruno de Freitas. Ben Brill scored Cranfield’s reply. One has to feel some sympathy for Amersham Town who endured a fairly traumatic last 5 days as, following their midweek 7-0 loss at Holmer Green they went down 11-0 at home to Bedford. John Vaughan top scored with four, Paul Fisher hit a brace, Alan Kenny (in the first minute), Mark Read, Steve Gibson, and Ian Thorne came up with the other five / four???

DIVISION TWO

Only Wodson Park of the top four were involved in league action, and as a result of their 2-0 win away at Old Bradwell United they moved up to second spot. Both Wodson’s goals came in the first half – from Tony Anstead and Joe Collins. MK Wanderers moved up a place into 5^th following their 5-1 win at home to Kent Athletic. Four of MK’s  goals came in the first half, from Jordan Nash, Sam Parrish, Adam Parrish, and Mathew Old – Craig Hawkes pulled one back for Kent and Kelvin Budd added the 5^th late in the game. Bletchley Town emerged from their home game with Pitstone & Ivinghoe with a 2-2 draw, having been two goals up through Jermaine Cuffy and Lee Jones. However two late goals from Nick Ryan and Kevin Temple salvaged a point for the visitors. Totternhoe moved out of the bottom three after coming back from two goals down to beat Bucks Student Union. A brace from Phil Nugent had put the Students in front at half time and they might have been three up, but Alex Hesmer forgot that they change ends at half time, and his goal unfortunately counted for Totternhoe. A brace from Stefan Tracey completed the victory. Caddington remain in the bottom three after their 3-0 defeat away at Risborough Rangers, whose scorers were Ashley Beswick, Johnny Horne and Joel Read, and Tring Corinthians moved up a place after beating Mursley United 4-1.Goals from Lee Herring, Carl Davison (2) and Neil Richardson put the home side four up before Ed Mills consolation for Mursley.

BERKS & BUCKS INTERMEDIATE CUP 5^th ROUND

It was one all at half time in Aston Clinton’s home game with Windsor Great Park, but three second half goals from Joynul Hoque, Aaron Usmani and Peter Weirich saw the home side to a 4-1 win and join New Bradwell St. Peter in  the Semi Finals.

ANAGRAM RECORDS TROPHY QUARTER FINALS

After going a goal down after just 7 minutes away at Frenford Senior, The 61 FC fought back well, and two goals from Alex Bennett late in the first half turned the game around. With no further scoring in the second period, The 61 move into the Semi Finals.

The other game between Berkhamsted and Padbury United was an extremely acrimonious affair, and resulted in a 3-1 win for Padbury.

The match attracted the second highest attendance (91) of the day, but I’m not sure if that figure included members of the local constabulary who attended an incident at half time!

MIDWEEK - MONDAY 8^th MARCH

In Division One, Holmer Green regained top spot with a 3-0 win away at Sport London e Benfica – thanks to a hat trick from the well travelled Rino Sepede – his first for the club.

MIDWEEK TUESDAY 9^th MARCH

Premier Division: Leaders Chalfont St. Peter maintained their 8 point lead over Tring with a 3-2 home win over Kingsbury London Tigers. It wasn’t all plain sailing as they were two down after just 20 minutes, but a stirring comeback saw them through to a vital victory. Second placed Tring Athletic kept in touch as they triumphed 6- 1 at home to bottom club Welwyn Garden City, although they had to wait until the last 20 minutes for four of their goals. Aylesbury continue to be consistently inconsistent and they dropped another couple of points for the second time in 4 days, as they could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to Broxbourne Borough. They had their chances as Nathan Graham had his penalty well saved by Obey Murefu early in the second half, whilst Broxbourne were reduced to 10 men for the last 20 minutes or so. Elsewhere, Haringey Borough put even more daylight between themselves and the bottom two as they walloped Hillingdon Borough 8-0, and in so doing closed the gap on their visitors to just one point – with 3 games in hand! Royston Town went one better than their 5 goals on Saturday as they beat Oxhey Jets 6-1, Langford beat near neighbours Biggleswade United 2-0 and Hanwell Town triumphed over Hertford Town by the same scoreline. Leverstock Green went down 1-0 to a second half strike against visitors Dunstable Town, whilst St. Margaretsbury recorded their second 1-1 draw on the trot, this time against visitors Brimsdown Rovers.

Division One: New Bradwell St. Peter rather surprisingly lost the opportunity to take back top spot, which they had relinquished only the night before, as they were on the end of an emphatic 5-0 defeat at near neighbours and close rivals Stony Stratford Town. Tokyngton Manor pulled themselves further away from the relegation zone beating Cockfosters 5-2 away, but Amersham Town suffered yet another defeat –this time 3-1 away to Harpenden Town. Bedford must have wished they could have carried over some of their 11 goals from Saturday, as they went down 1-0 away at Sun Postal Sports.

RESERVE CHALLENGE TROPHY SEMI FINAL

Royston Town kept alive their hopes of retaining the Trophy they won last year as beat Ampthill Town 3-2. The Final could be a repeat of last year as St. Margaretsbury will play Oxhey Jets in the other Semi Final.

It was great to receive the match report from referee John Nettleton who spoke in glowing terms about the game he refereed between Hoddesdon Town and Buckingham Athletic. In his email to me, John stated “I can honestly say it was so enjoyable that I didn’t want it to end” - music to our ears, and mine in particular, in view of my experience on Saturday.  Is it wrong to wish that all referees felt like this?

As always, please send in any news, views, items of interest etc - to

Bill Scholes

billscholes@hotmail.co.uk

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