WEEK 18 REVIEW: Round-up of Sunday's league and cup action

CORINTHIAN CUP

It was a busy weekend of cup football in the Corinthian League with a number of competitions reaching the business end.

The first of this season’s Corinthian Cup semi-finalists was established on Sunday Korona Redbridge played host to Leyton Celtic in Barkingside. Both keepers were kept busy in a match of nine goals but it was Celtic taking the honours in a 7-2 victory. James Toppin scored five goals and Ophel Idris to render Korona efforts from Adam Waclawczyk and Zoltan Rozsa as consolation. They will now face Romford Elite or Warren United in the final four.

SPRING CUP

In the Spring Cup competition, the final quarter-final place was decided at the weekend with Newham Athletic heading to Custom House Community Reserves in a local derby. Jiri Jucera was the Custom House hero scoring a hat-trick adding to a Thiago Da Silva strike to confirm a quarter final tie at home to Epping Forest Falcons.

PREMIER DIVISION CUP

The opening matches of this season’s Premier Division Cup took place on Sunday with two wins for away sides in their respective clashes. Romford Elite bounced back from defeat last time out to record an emphatic 5-0 victory against Liberty Stars on Sunday in Beckton. Two goals from Chris Bird and efforts from Terry Peacham, Ben Bickford and Joshua Thompson did the damage to send their side top of the group.

Just behind Elite in the standings are Flanders who made the long journey to Emerson Park looking to open their cup campaign in style. They raced into an early lead before extending that to 3-0 with half an hour to go. Emerson strikes from Lewis Pether and Joey Harris brought them back to within a sniff only for a late Flanders effort to complete a 4-2 victory.

DIVISION TWO CUP

In the Division Two Cup competition, Barca secured safe passage through to the quarter finals with an opening victory at home to Lonsdale in Hainault. Shane Barwick’s hat-trick was the difference between the sides with a Cartel Emmanuel effort completing a solid 4-0 victory for the hosts. They head on to face Chingford Athletic in the next round of the competition.

Also booking their place in the last eight of the competition were Wanstead United who made the journey down the A13 to Dagenham to take on Dagenham United. In a match which kept the defences busy all game long, it was the league leaders who eventually prevailed as they ran out 6-3 winners despite Daggers goals from Joseph Williams (2) and Timmothy Clutterbuck.

DIVISION THREE CUP

The top game in the Division Three Cup on Sunday saw a battle of the top two sides in the league as leaders, Ridgeway Rovers, were visited by last season’s cup finalists FC United of Hornchurch. In a game of high intensity it was the Hornchurch side who continued to show their cup pedigree, notching two goals without reply to continue their quest for a third successive final.

In the day’s other match in this competition, there was a hard fought battle at Warren School where Goresbrook played host to rivals Hornchurch Oakmont with a last eight place at stake for the winners. The sides went toe-to-toe in the first half with the match level at the break but Goresbrook found the crucial winning goals in the second half to proceed 4-2. Charlie Woods and Nathan Adams scored for Hornchurch with Dimitri Pafnouti, Jack Parlour, Liam Coney and William Cox netting the hosts’ goals.

DIVISION FOUR CUP

In the Division Four Cup, the first of the semi-finalists were confirmed as Thames Ironworks Community placed themselves just one performance away from a place at Thurrock in April. The visitors to their Plaistow base were Bata United but it will be the hosts going home the happiest with a 7-0 victory under their belts. Braces from Tony Bones, Reece Lewis and Charlie Kerr plus a Samuel Galer effort were the Thames scorers.

In first round action, two sides booked places in the quarter finals. Epping Forest Falcons were impressive winners at home to East Ham Inter in their cup tie with Peter Andrew scoring both goals in a 2-0 win for the hosts. They now face Oak Royals in the last eight of the competition.

And in the other first round tie played, Highams Park Royals travelled to Chadwell Heath to take on Grey Area with both sides keen on continuing their cup quests. Nathan Dennis was on target once again from Grey Area but a Mitchell-Christopher Edmonds double and an Ashley Mills effort proved just too much as the Royals confirmed their quarter final spot.

DIVISION ONE

Back to the league action, Valentines United started their 2018 action with a bang as they took on Waltham Athletic at their Oakfields home. Braces apiece from Jimmy McCann and James Gibbings plus single strikes from Stefan Attfield and Sefu Campbell cancelled out a Thomas Simon effort for the visitors in recording a 6-1 win. That result sees United climb up to third place in the table and still very much in the promotion mix with games in hand.

DIVISION TWO

In Division Two, Westferry Elite were on the road this Sunday as they travelled to Barkingside to face the in-form St Augustines. Elite goals from Lee Thomson, Daniel Stevenson and Dominic Cummins were enough to confirm an important 3-1 win over their mid-table rivals, closing the gap on the sides above them in the table in the process.

After a winless first four months of the season, Masterman’s January form has seen a massive upturn, adding a draw this week against Flyhouse Athletic to last week’s victory to remain unbeaten in 2018. Daniel Cutts and Misha Djemaili were the Masterman scorers levelled up at 2-2 by efforts from the hosts to share the points.

DIVISION THREE

There was a big win for Roneo Colts in Sunday’s Division Three action at the weekend as the Dagenham-based side moved up to fifth place in the table following a 3-1 victory away at third-placed Alpha. Kai Heather was the main difference with a brace adding to a Jamie Hart goal, rendering Andre Graham’s effort for Alpha as just a consolation goal.

And Dagenham United Reserves bounced back well from their disappointing county cup exit last weekend to record a comfortable 6-0 win away at Alliance United this Sunday. There were six different goalscorers as Scott Meyers, Loui Hazelwood, Charlie Perry, Ricardo Teixeira, Garry Shea and Sean Thomas each netted in the victory.

DIVISION FOUR

Just the one game was played in Division Four this week but it was certainly a cracker as the division’s two previously unbeaten sides, Central Colts and Emerson Park Under 21s, came face-to-face. In a match of undoubted quality, a Bradley Williams effort and a stunning pile driver from Shannon Nyabunze handed Colts a 2-0 lead before Mitchell McCabe cut the deficit for Emerson Park shortly after. Only some heroic goalkeeping from the Colts custodian helped thwart further damage from the Under 21s as Colts held out for a 2-1 win.

COUNTY CUP

It was a day of delight for Corinthian sides in the county cup competitions as two more of our sides booked places in the next rounds of the competition. In the Essex Sunday Junior Cup, East London Old Boys saw off the efforts of Deportivo Thurrock in a 2-1 win to book a quarter-final against the famed Palmers FC, regular contributors to YouTube, in what looks like an intriguing clash.

There was similar success for the league in the Essex Sunday Junior Trophy where Upshire continued their surge of county cup action with another win, this time seeing off Harlow-based Clodan in the third round. They will now be hoping to make it a hat-trick of wins as they travel to Benfleet to face Elm United next Sunday.

CHARITY CUP

As games of football go, you’d have to go a long way to find two matches like those that happened in the West Essex Sunday Charity Cup competitions this weekend. Firstly, in Newbury Park, FC Mexico led their clash 2-0 against Barking & Dagenham Wanderers with less than ten minutes to go in their quarter-final. What prevailed was nothing short of a sensational finish as Wanderers scored three goals in a matter of minutes to steal it 3-2 and break Mexican hearts. They now go through to the semi-finals in a few weeks time.

And it goals are your thing, you’d have enjoyed the match in Hainault where cup holders, Eva Hart, started their defence of the trophy against Repton Park. In a match which can only be described as topsy-turvy, the two sides traded goals all game long, finishing level at 4-4 at ninety minutes. After extra-time, it was the holders who prevailed in a 6-5 victory to end Repton’s run in the cup this year.