Match reports from Sunday 24th November: PREMIER DIVISION this week and unbeaten league leaders WOOD END SPORTS were looking forward to an easy mornings work out against a RED STAR BELGRAVE side who have found life very tough after last seasons promotion but Red Star went into this game with the fighting attitude that got them into the Premier Division and were fighting hard for every ball and making life very difficult the team at the top and Red Star included two new players who have joined the ranks . The game started brightly with Wood End thinking that this was going to be a walkover for them as they are top of the league and with Red Stars recent results , the points were in the bag . However Red Star fought and came close on a couple of occasions to scoring but never actually found the net . Red Star keeper David (Bumma) Hewins was pulling off some fine saves to deny Wood End however they did manage to beat him twice before half time to lead 2-0 at the break thanks to goals from Dale FARLEY and Daniel DOUGLAS . Red Star battled hard for each other during the second half and again came close to scoring , but Wood End held on for the win to maintain their unbeaten record ...... DIVISION 1 and an in-form VAULTS were looking to make it four straight league victories as they hosted POLESWORTH ROYAL OAK but Vaults were suffering from a hangover from a night on the tiles seemingly and were hit hard from the off by Polesworth Royal Oak who showed no mercy . Oak were 4-0 up after fifteen minutes with two goals each from Matt TURNER and Dom POINTON . Vaults played some good football but couldnt find the net and half time saw the score unchanged . Vaults battled at the start of the second half but a break away saw TURNER grab his hat-trick and this was quickly followed by two from Lewis POINTON to end all chance of a Vaults fight back . TURNER then added his fourth and Polesworths eighth before Vaults grabbed a consolation goal through Chris BARBER . The Vaults keeper then saved a last minute Oak penalty to deny Lewis Pointon finishing with a hat trick as the game ended 8-1 ..... With the league leaders being involved in cup duties WILNECOTE GLOBE had the chance to take top spot with a win against HOCKLEY PRINCE and goals from Pete WILSON , Craig FARRELL and Jake DAVIS set them well on their way but amazingly after being 3-0 up Wilnecote Globe were then pegged back to 3-3 . Carl CURRAN , Andy HARRIS and Sean KELT had got Hockley back in the game and they now looked like the only team who were going to win this game . A battling last half hour from the Globe where they weathered a Hockley Prince storm of pressure saw them eventually go back in front when the Prince keeper bought down the Globe striker and Rael Sheldon stepped up and blasted the winner past the Princes keeper for 4-3 and took his side top of the league ..... DIVISION 2 and leaders TAMWORTH CASTLE RESERVES took on AFC BOLEHALL and Castle took the lead after fifteen minutes when they walked through the Bolehall defence and the striker found his partner Ricky EVANS unmarked who hammered the ball in to make it 1-0 . Castle were in control of the game at that point as they passed the ball around and Bolehall were left chasing shadows but after weathering the Castle storm in which they hit the cross bar , Bolehall then found their feet in the game and managed to gain some good possession . Bolehall pressed as a team and started to nick the ball off of Castle in key areas as the home side frustrated the league leaders . Bolehall then began to play some nice football themselves which resulted in their equaliser on the half hour mark as Tyler Jefferson got released on the left hand side and he delivered a cross and Barron was there to lay the ball back to Tim PRESCOTT who managed to beat his brother in goal leveling up the match 1-1 . Bolehall looked the more likely to break the deadlock in the remaining minutes of the first half with Milford forcing the Castle goalkeeper into a great save as he tipped the ball past the post from his curling effort from the left hand side and that kept the sides level into the half time break . In the second half Bolehall dominated the early part of play and duly took the lead ten minutes into the half when utility man Thomas Mortimer played through Clayton JEFFERSON who managed to put the ball away making it 2-1 . Bolehall were on the front foot as they kept attacking but Castle equalised against the run of play when a soft shot was parried by the Bolehall keeper and the Castle forward Ricky EVANS managed to get there first and put the ball away to make it 2-2 . A match winning goal then came for Castle in the final five minutes as Bolehall were caught on the counter attack as they tried to find a winner themselves when the Castle midfielder Stew WALKER ran through opened his body up and curled the ball past Andy Mortimer giving him no chance . There was still a chance for an equaliser for Bolehall though as Thomas Mortimer hit the crossbar in the dying minutes of the match but Castle held onto the 3-2 win despite some heavy Bolehall pressure in the last few minutes ..... Second placed WILNECOTE WMC took all three points in their match with bottom of the table DRAYTON BASSETT winning 6-0 thanks to a hat-trick from DAVIES and a brace from WORRALL and goal from EVANS ..... BULLS HEAD TWO GATES winning run continued but they had to work for it against a ten man MILE OAK ROVERS and after an onslaught on the Oak goal they preserved the 0-0 scoreline mainly due to some dodgy linesman decisions , but after twenty five minutes Mile Oak were reduced to ten men as their keeper walked for a professional foul . This should have gave Bull the desire they needed , but against the run of play PERKS fired up the ten men of Mile Oak to give his team a slender half time 1-0 advantage . Bull threw everything at Mile Oak in the second half but they held firm until fifteen minutes to go after an initial challenge left SHEPPARD to roll the ball into an empty net and the game looked destined for a draw . That was until another inspired sub from the Bull manager reaped rewards as super sub SCROTE ‘’ Zak Dingle ‘’ WILSON jinked his way into the box before a late lunge gave Bull a last minute penalty and chance to win the game and up stepped CHESHIRE to gleefully slot home and the game finished 2-1 in Bulls favour ..... DIVISION 3 saw LIBERAL HOUSE easily beat bottom of the table EDINGALE SWIFTS 7-0 to secure three much needed points in their own quest to pull away from the drop zone ..... TAMWORTH ARMS GALACTICOS also scored seven as they defeated FAZELEY SWIFTS 7-1 . A much improved Swifts performance this week saw them lose to one of the favourites for the division title. The scoreline didn’t reflect the match as a whole as Swifts were left with ten men due to a sending off and were also missing key players . Swifts only goal of the game was a superbly curled in effort from the edge of the box by new signing Chris DANIELS ten minutes from time ..... DIVISION 4 and unbeaten league leaders CASA BAR met TAMWORTH LEGION and on paper it was a for gone conclusion before a ball was even kicked that the points were in the bag and Casa started well but just couldn’t put the ball in the net and saw efforts cleared off the line and hitting the bar in the early stages . Fifteen minutes into the game Casa took the lead and the flood gates were well and truely opened and Casa took control of the game and the Legion had no reply and half time it was 3-0 to Casa Bar but should of been much more in truth . The second half was all one way traffic as Casa laid siege on the Legion goal and Legion let their heads drop and never looked interested and made life rather easy for a rampant Casa Bar who rattled in six second half goals to win 9-0 with FOUR goals a piece from Carl TEDDS and Anthony THOMAS and a goal from Josh ELLIS ..... After missing a hatful of goal scoring opportunities in last weeks game bottom of the table GATE INN were looking to find the back of the net early in their league match against MIDLAND UNITY and their nerves were soon settled when sixteen year old Mitch BIRD scored in his third consecutive game to put them 1-0 up in the first five minutes . The goal a touch of class as a looping cross ball fooled the Unity defence but not the youngster who judged the cross to perfection , watching it sail over the heads of two Unity defenders before chasing and smashing the ball on the half volley from a tight angle that gave Fellani in the Unity goal not a chance of saving . The same player then five minutes later had the chance to double his and his teams goals but put an effort just wide of the target . Unity levelled the score after a defensive mix up by the Gate back line allowed a shot to end up in the net when Unitys manager come player Chris Sterland collected the ball in the box , dummied the defender and laid it off for the returning J. RIGHTON to slam home past the keeper . The Gate then peppered Unitys goal for the rest of the first half forcing the Unity keeper into several saves and also hitting the crossbar and took a deserved 2-1 lead into the half time break after a cross from Kris MURRAY was sliced into the net by a Unity defender attempting to clear his lines . Midland Unity battled hard to get back into the game in the second half but Gate were not looking as dangerous as they had been during the first half in front of goal and could only muster up half chances that were neither here or there but it still looked like the Gate were going to hold on to their lead and take all three points as Unity although they bought more to the table during the second period they still offered very little going forward but then a lack of marking by the Gate from a corner saw Unity level when a free header from T. COX hit the back of the Gate net and that levelled the game at 2-2 and both teams took a share of the points in a game Unity deserved nothing from but did through sheer determination . If the Gate Inn want to start moving up the table theyll have to learn to start making their possession count and take their chances in front of goal when they come , but a young team are now moving in the right direction and can only get better as the season progresses ..... ANKERSIDE RANGERS are another team moving in the right direction after being the divisions whipping boys for many seasons they too are now looking more like a team who could give anybody a match on their day in this division . This weekends game started slowly for Ankerside against TAMWORTH TUNS but they still looked comfortable and when they started to play their game they went in front through a Paul HEATH finish from an awkward angle after good work from Joe Lynch . Ankerside carried on looking comfortable and after a few chances extended their lead through a Joe LYNCH header from close range giving Ankerside a 2-0 half time lead . In the second half Ankerside weathered an early Tuns storm and then after a mistake at the back Paul HEATH broke and finished smartly to put Ankerside 3-0 up . Minutes later Ankerside gave a goal away after the unlucky Alex Turner put through his own goal . Then came the turning point of the game when Ankersides , Eddie Pickering saw red after a mistimed tackle and the Tuns defender also received a straight red of his own for the reaction to the challenge and rightly so . In the remaining minutes Tuns reacted better than Ankerside to having ten men and they conceded a sloppy second which left them holding on and unfortunately after battling well , Ankerside let their 3-0 lead slip away after a goal mouth scramble was poked home by Tuns to level the game up at 3-3 . Ankerside had a couple of chances to win it at the end but had to settle for a disappointing draw in the end ..... ELLISION ROSE BOWL CUP and Premier Division APPLEBY MAGNA met Division 3’s BONDS who were no match at all for them and the difference in class was evident from the off . Appleby moved into the next round of this cup at Bonds expense who though outplayed never let their heads drop and kept playing until the final whistle . Appleby lead 5-0 at the interval with two goals from Sam CARLINE and goals from Dan STEVENSON , James FISHER and Mitchell JORDAN . They kept on top in the second period and scored four more goals as Sam CARLINE completed his hat-trick with Danny TURNER scoring two and Luke THOROGOOD completed the scoring for a 9-0 score ..... E.S. GEORGE MEMORIAL CUP saw an all Division 3 encounter take place between BLACK HORSE EDINGALE and SNARESTONE GLOBE . Horse were up against it from the kick off as they started the match with only ten men and the disadvantage took its toll as Snarestone accelerated into an early 5-0 lead . Horse grabbed a goal back on the break away through James WALSH but Snarestone Globe added another two before half time to take the score to 7-1 at the break . A similar pattern continued after the break and Snarestone were able to add another seven goals , including two penalties , as the final score read an embarrassing 14-1 . KING and R. WARREN both scored hatricks along with a brace for FENTON . KILDUFF , OWEN , OLIVER , BARKER , BROOKES and J. WARREN scored Snarestones other goals .... The LEAGUE CHALLENGE CUP threw up a very interesting fixture between Premier League TAMWORTH CASTLE who have picked up form of late and Division 1’s TWO GATES UNITED who themselves have taken league one by storm this season . Castle knew they were going to be in for a tough game but with the confidence gained over the last few games they rotated the squad and made five changes to last weeks win at Hurley . Leaving out Starkey , Onions , Captain Reeves , Carpenter and regular keeper Rich Cooper . The changes may have meant Castle would start slowly but it was quite the opposite as they got the ball down and tried to play the ball about . Two Gates looked a little nervy and from a corner Castles one man wrecking machine Jon ADAMS nodded the ball into the ground and high into the net for 1-0 to Castle . Two Gates then threw a few balls into the box that came to nothing and then ADAMS again scored turning smartly and smashing the ball home from twenty yards for 2-0 that Two Gates could do nothing with . If Castle forward Lapworths effort could have been a yard to the right then the scoreline would have possibly been beyond Two Gates but to be fair to Two Gates they looked a little shell shocked but then received a shot of adrenaline as a Castle defensive mix up gifted them a way back into the match as Kieran McCALL converted well and the score became 2-1 . Two Gates were visibly lifted by their goal and it was them that took a hold in the match and Castle lost Farnworth to injury which got captain marvel Gary Reeves back on the pitch . Two Gates put some serious pressure on Castle , playing with great intensity and belief and 2-1 soon became 2-2 as McCALL netted again . Castle just had to take stock of themselves and try to get a grip back on the game and to make matters worse one of Castles most in form players Lee Fitzpatrick hit the deck with what looked like a suspected broken foot . Thankfully Castle could bring on last weeks man of the match Jon pele Carpenter a more than ample replacement . The first half ended with Castle starting to even things up as their work rate started to increase . The question was at this point were Two Gates going to out work and battle Castle like Castle have done to so many teams in the last two seasons . The second half started and Castle immediately had to defend a Two Gates attack and this then sparked Castle into life and with midfield bulldozers like Reeves and Nick Cooper they started to impose themselves . Set plays looked like they were going to be Two Gates achilles heel and playing against a team like Castle this was turning into a problem . A chipped ball into the box by Devlin looked like the Gates keeper was going to take a routine catch but out of one eye he would have seen Captain Reeves charging at him at full speed and there was only going to be one winner and REEVES backside applied the finishing touch as he forced the ball home for 3-2 to Castle and they continued testing the Gates keeper again this time from a Lapworth cross the keeper stood no chance one on one with Reeves then the sight of him and Nick Cooper charging him down this time looked a complete no contest . Like a pair of all black forwards they again just ran through the keeper bundling the ball home to make it 4-2 , Nick COOPER this time getting the final touch . Two Gates never looked close to giving up though and showed the type of spirit that will serve them well if they can gain promotion this season . They kept probing away but Castle keeper Harriman didnt have a notable save to make . A Two Gates corner wasnt dealt with by Castle and it was their turn to bundle the ball home as Adam BACHE scored making it 4-3 and Castle fans started to look a little anxious . Castle’s Lapworth was put through by Carpenter and it looked like the game was done only for him to lift it over the keeper and the bar aswell . Anguish for Castle but if players were nervous then it didnt apply to Jon CARPENTER who swivelled in the box to fire a thunderbolt into the top of the net for 5-3 and after an extremely spirited effort by Two Gates , Castle were happy to hear the final whistle and progress to the next round in a close evenly fought match ..... WHITE LION LINK breezed into the next round after their all Premier duel with HURLEY UNITED ended with them winning . White Lion secured passage to the quarter final of the league challenge cup with a dominant win against Hurley . Link controlled the game from start to finish but after having several efforts blocked and cleared off the line but almost conceded when a Hurley player tried his luck from the half way line and thought he had lobbed the Link keeper Tom McNullty who somehow got back to tip his effort onto the bar and then got tangled In the net for a few minutes with the fire brigade almost being called to set him free . Luckily for him no Hurley player followed up the shot . Link took the lead when Sam Parker turned his marker and delivered an exquisite pass to Adam DELANEY to tap home from close range . Link were 2-0 up before half time after Kieron CLEARY penalty was scored . The second half was much the same as the first with Hurleys goal living a charmed life until Sam PARKER fired into the bottom corner with a well deserved goal . Dayel CAVENEY got the fourth for the Link when Josh Hawkins picked him out inside the box and he smashed home into the top corner from an acute angle . HAWKINS got on the scoresheet himself with another penalty for the Link after being fouled by the Hurley goalkeeper and despite having to take the spot kick twice , buried it both times in the same spot . Hurleys goal came from a penalty scored by Ryan FREER but it was a small consolation in reality ..... An all Division 1 fixture between AUSTREY RANGERS and DRAYTON MANOR ended with Austrey progressing with a 6-0 win .. LEAGUE CHALLENGE TROPHY pitted the second placed team in Divison 3 FAZELEY TOWN against the second placed team in Divison 4 ST JOHNS and it looked as if the higher ranked team would have the game all their own way with a number of early chances leading to Martin CUFFE getting the first goal of the game in the opening ten minutes . The younger lower league team took their time to get going and it was actually one of their players going off injured which lead to them focusing on the game and getting back into it . Both teams were playing some good football and the difficult surface was making it easier for attack than defence with chances being created at both ends . It was a long ball that skipped off the surface and was misjudged by the Fazeley defence which lead to St Johns levelling the game . Fazeley then took control and a penalty from Jamie NORSWORTHY and a well taken goal by Niel DIAMOND made it 3--1 at half time and it stayed that well until five minutes to go when Fazeley got caught thinking the game was already over and got punished for pushing too many players forward when a good passing move was converted to make it 3-2 with only a few minutes to go . St Johns were getting the ball forward more and more in the dying minutes with nothing to lose and were rewarded with a free kick after a rare rash tackle from Mattew Ridley . The kick was taken and took a massive deflection off of the wall and stand in keeper Alex Carlton could only get his finger tips to the ball and wasnt strong enough to keep the ball out and the final whistle went as soon as the kick off was taken and the match went into extra time . The extra time was played without too many chances being created and only a moment of magic from Martin CUFFE resulted in Fazeley getting the crucial goal when he cut in from the left and thrashed the ball home from twenty yards for a goal worthy to win a good contest 4-3 ...... REAL BELGRAVE used their squad to good use again with several heads missing but never the less a strong turn out saw them boss their game with WARTON CLUB . With two divisions separating the teams and Belgrave in fine form sitting at the top of Division 2 this game was only going to go one way and with Warton only fielding ten players they were already up against it before a ball had been kicked . Real Belgrave bossed it from start to finish scoring TEN but it should of been many many more . Reece LYNCH grabbing three goals , Gareth ROBERTS and Dale LYNCH two , Lee HAYWOOD , Glen ‘’Elmo’’ DENYER , Adam ‘’Paddy’’ HAYNES with the other goals . Real Belgrave scoring some crackers but missed some misses of the season that could so easily of saw the game finish double what it had but still a 10-0 win is a 10-0 win ..... GLASCOTE SWIFTS RESERVES bowed out losing 4-0 to COTTAGE FARM RANGERS ......
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 21:08:28 +0000
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