WEEK 32 REVIEW: Round-up of all the Corinthian League action from the weekend

CORINTHIAN CUP

The cup final line-up for this season’s Corinthian Cup is now complete as AC Milano produced a cupset against Brook Athletic on Sunday, winning 6-1 in Newbury Park to earn a shot at another trophy. Zekariyas Hailu scored twice with Cairo Bibbon, Nadeem Khankhara, Uzair Patel and Melanijus Butkus also netting in the win which sent their side to Dagenham & Redbridge FC.

DIVISION FOUR CUP

It was cup final day in Division Four as Woodford Town and Byron Red Star met at Mayesbrook Park to get their hands on the trophy. Town led early on as Ben Smith scored a memorable cup final goal but Byron were a match for their opponents and had chances themselves to level the contest either side of the break with Ladoukakis particularly threatening. With them pushing forward, Luke Dimond capitalised on an error late on to net Town’s second and win the game 2-0, lifting the trophy in front of their fans.

DIVISION SEVEN CUP

The weekend’s late cup final kick-off saw the climax of the inaugural Division Seven Cup competition as Debden Sports A and Ridgeway Rovers went toe-to-toe to get their hands on the trophy. Debden had the better of the earlier passages of play and led through Montel Odunsi’s early strike, a lead which they held onto for the majority of the game until Ammar Menouar’s late goal for Rovers saw the game end at 1-1. In the shootout, a number of early misses saw Rovers fall behind but they recovered once again and won the shootout 4-3 to lift the trophy at full-time!

COUNTY CUP

It was a great day for another Corinthian side in county cups this season as Baiteze Squad became the league’s third finalist of the season, earning themselves a place at Plough Lane next weekend following a 6-2 semi final win in the London Sunday Challenge Cup against Mehmetcik Galata. They will now face SE Dons in the what will be a huge occasion for London football next Sunday.

SENIOR DIVISION

Back in the league, in the Senior Division, it was victory for Critics who have moved second in the table following their last game of the season against Flyhouse Athletic. Dylan Broadley, Jacob Dixon and Kieran Bishop all found the back of the net in a 3-2 success which made it eight wins for the season.

DIVISION TWO

In Division Two, the big game of the day saw league leaders, Debden Sports Reserves, extend their lead at the top of the table with victory over second placed Colebrook Royals Seniors. Will Osmond scored two, Billy Barr and Callum Thomas scoring the others in a hugely important 4-1 win with Ivan Machado netting the Royals consolation goal.

Sports’ cup final opponents this weekend, Condor, also put in a good display in their build up to that clash with a victory against promotion chasing Belfry, winning the game 3-0 in Dagenham. Eugeniu Sterpu, Liviu Tihon and Cristian Rotari all got on the scoresheet for their side to make it nine wins for the season.

The remaining game from the division saw a six-goal thriller as FC Galaxy took on East London Ballers with the latter still in the hunt for points to aid their promotion push. The sides couldn’t be separated on the day however with Qusay Mohammed scoring twice and Hamza Naseem once for Ballers, the game ending in a 3-3 draw.

DIVISION THREE

In Division Three, it was an important match for AC Milano Reserves who needed a win to take the runners-up spot and promotion, taking on JP8 in both sides’ final games of the campaign. Needing that victory, AC Milano scored five to take the spoils, their thirteenth win of the season and the result which carried them into second place.

DIVISION FIVE

The Division Five title race will go on for another week at least as Young Royals caused a shock, beating Manford Way on Sunday in a 2-1 scoreline. Sujiven Jeyaratnam and Sivaruban Sathiyananthan both scored for Royals to take a fifth win of the season and keep their survival hopes alive, Jake Li scoring the Manford goal in reply.

The other contributing result saw Royal Lions B keep their hopes alive of taking the title with a 5-0 win in the Forest Road derby, beating Ace Athletics on Sunday to stay within a couple of points of the leaders with one game to resolve. That was Lions’ thirteenth win of the season but it’s Manford who remain in pole position and in need of one more win.

DIVISION SIX

Epping Royals’ penultimate league game of the season saw them secure a third place finish with an eleventh win following a 4-1 victory against Mayfield Kings at Stonards Hill. Royals bounced back well from their cup final defeat last weekend, Joseph Bothwell scoring a hat-trick and Louie Brownlie netting the other to take the points.

The same scoreline was reflected at Parsloes Park where London Legacy secured a 4-1 win of their own to complete a victory over Brymans Park. Daniel Munroe struck the Park goal but two Walid Benmouna goals for Legacy and further goals for Ahmed Aliu and Ashley King-Campbell ensured their side walked away with the honours.

DIVISION SEVEN

It’s congratulations to Colebrook Royals A who earned the points they needed on Sunday to take the Division Seven league title, beating Epping Forest Falcons in a 5-0 scoreline with Oliver West’s hat-trick leading the way and Jake Austin and Jedd Coster netting the other. Well done to everyone involved at the club on this excellent achievement in their first season of adult football.