WEEK 1 REVIEW: Season gets underway with over 100 goals scored

The new football season got underway yesterday under cloudy skies with a near full fixture list to open the campaign.

Premier Division

Upshire opened their maiden season in the Corinthian League with a narrow opening day victory over Valentines United by 3 goals to 2 and top the table after the week one. Jonathan Andrews and Tyler Bankale were on target with United’s goals who will be looking to bounce back in their next match.

An exciting 4-4 draw saw Repton Park and new side Quality Control share the points in one of the other of the division’s matches. Devonte Forsythe-Young led the way with two goals for Quality Control with Bradley Kitufueni and Amon Walton-Owen netting also.

Two further new sides met in the other match as Downs and Lactico shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw as both sides took a point from their opening league match.

Division One

It’s Barking who are setting the early pace in Division One after a thumping 12-0 win over Division Two Champions, Dagenham United. James Jacobs bagged himself a hat-trick adding to braces from Daniel Cook, Jordan Cook and Michael O’Brien, while further goals were scored by Charlie Surridge and Kastriot Vata.

Continuing the theme of Barking sides are Barking & Dagenham Wanderers who themselves won to go second in the table. They saw off the efforts of Chingford Celtic 4-0 with Andre Gumbs scoring twice with teammates Nick Read and Daniel Kika completing the scoring to secure an opening day win.

Aldborough Hatch secured maximum points from their opening game as they beat new recruits Valley Park 3-1 with goals from Stephen Barnes and Jay Sivapathasundaram to move third in the table.

A high-scoring game concludes the Division One action where Korona Redbridge made their league debut and shared the points with Warren United Reserves as both sides netted three times in a dramatic match-up.

Division Two

Waltham Athletic came from two goals down in their debut league fixture against fellow new side Docklands Albion to win 3-2 as Albion goals from David Cakir and Roberto Rosero were cancelled out by strikes from Charlie Saywood, Steven Ablitt and a late Zachery Leitch winner.

Joining them at the top of the table are FC Mexico who kicked off their campaign with a 3-2 win of their own over Lonsdale as Tom Terry, Alex O’Halloran and Sam Prince scored the goals to take home the points in week one.

Promoted Westferry Elite and Park Tavern took a share of the points after the sides drew 2-2 in their opening fixture. Jeffrey Nketia and Sean Tormey were the scorers for Tavern to give their side a point.

Division Three

The 4-2 scoreline appeared to be the order of the day in Division Three with three matches finishing at that scoreline. Alliance United were the first to do so, beating FC United of Hornchurch with strikes from Nick Hornsby, Kevin Davidson and Sam Wilkins to go top of the table on alphabetical order.

New side to the league this season, Upshire Reserves took on Fairlop Rangers in their first match with Upshire coming away winners in Walthamstow to also go level at the top of the table.

Wanstead United were the third of the 4-2 winners in the division as goals from Ross Grimes, David Nott, Bradley Drisdale and Oron Bristol saw them to a win against new Corinthian League side, Alpha. Phillip Miles and Mikey Ward were the men on target for Alpha’s goals.

Partizan CMC opened their Corinthian League account with a 3-1 win against fellow new side, Ridgeway Rovers in Chigwell to move to fourth in the table after the opening weekend.

Division Four

Grey Area were the biggest winners of the day in Division Four as they hosted new side Chinglow at Warren School and saw off their opponents comfortably 6-1 to go top. Josh Malone was the hero with his hat-trick along with goals from Luke Burton, Jordan Rodway and Shane Westlake.

Epping Forest Falcons also got off to a good start, netting four without reply against Goresbrook to win 4-0 and start their second season in style.

SL Menfica are not far behind as their maiden competitive fixture ended in a 4-1 win over Oak Royals at Newbury Park. The all-important goals arrived through a brace from Richard Beard and strikes from Flynn Linard and George Boffa, cancelling out Jack O’Callaghan’s goal for the Royals.

There was a historic first ever win for Central Colts, starting their second season with the league, as they saw off the efforts of new Corinthian side William Fitt to take home maximum points.

Heathside and Hornchurch Oakmont took a share each of the spoils in their match-up as they drew 3-3. Jordan Barnes, Ross Woolward and Nathan Adams scored Hornchurch’s first ever league goals to confirm their first point of the season.

West Essex Sunday Charity Cup – 1^st Round

There was a first round shock in the West Essex Cup as newly formed Emerson Park beat newly promoted Premier Division side Flanders 3-2 after extra time. Emerson now go on to face either JK Silvertown or Chingford Celtic in the quarter finals.