WEEK 9 REVIEW: Round-up of Sunday's league and county cup action

County Cup

This Sunday saw the continuation of county cup football action on another successful morning for Corinthian clubs in the Essex and London competitions.

In the Essex Sunday Premier Cup, both of the Corinthian’s entrants saw victory with Flanders serving up a seven-goal thriller against their Brentwood Sunday League opponents, Lakeview. A terrific second half performance saw Flanders come through the tie in a 4-3 result and will now take on reigning champions, Global, in the third round.

Continuing the success, Romford Elite made their debut in the Premier Cup following their run to the final of the Junior Cup last year as they played host to Harlow-based Harberts in their second round clash. The step up class proved to be one within Elite’s grasp as they ran out 3-1 winners on the day to book a trip to south Essex against FC Gulls in round three.

The Corinthian’s sole entrants in this season’s London Sunday Junior Cup were Leyton Celtic as they made their bow in county cup football with a trip into the depths of north London to take on Edmonton Lions United. And it was Celtic who overcame the early loss of a player to secure safe passage into round three with a 4-0 victory.

Corinthian Cup

The day’s Corinthian Cup action centred around FC Mexico’s trip to Barking & Dagenham Wanderers with the visitors looking to exact revenge upon their opponents who beat them in the league only three weeks ago. Revenge was certainly sweet for Mexico who overcame Robert Eden’s goal with a brace from Rhys Tyrrell and singles from each of Ian Tucker, Adam Roberts and Matthew Wiles to win 5-1 and make the quarter-final.

Trophyland Cup

There were two high-scoring matches in the Trophyland Cup this weekend, the first of which witnessed a seven-goal thriller between London Fire Brigade and Wanstead United in Hainault. Jon Aldridge, John Dillon and Yomi Popoola were all on the scoresheet for Fire but it wasn’t quite enough as Johnnie Offei’s double and strikes from Adam Hunt and Shaun Clarke edged the match for Wanstead to confirm their quarter-final place.

The day’s other cup action saw Morfdown Elect taking on Barca in Dagenham with a quarter-final place at stake for the winning side. Goals have been flying in for Barca recently and this match proved no exception with Mark Frostick the hero with four goals and Joseph Connor also netting to bag a 5-0 win for their side.

Premier Division

In the Premier Division, Emerson Park have opened up a two point gap at the top of the league but were held to a 3-3 draw on the day as Liberty Stars took home a point from an entertaining clash on Sunday. There were goals from Joe Pattison, Edward Buchanan and Joe Woolley for the league leaders who are well placed to challenge this year.

Division One

East London Old Boys have moved three points clear at the top of Division One following a thumping 10-1 victory at the weekend against Aldborough Hatch. Thomas Quinn dome the damage with a hat-trick for his side with Bekim Dushku scoring twice and singles for Joe Collins, Neveed Choudhury, Endrit Malaveci and Seb Williams for the leaders.

The day’s other Division One action saw Korona Redbridge secure their first league points of the season with a hard fought victory in the Parkonians derby match against Valentines United. Valentines scored three goals as Sam Edwards, Sefu Campbell and Berty Frith found the back of the net but two goals from Jacek Miedzak and singles from Dawid Pietras and Dawid Smolarek made it 4-3 to Korona Redbridge on the day.

Division Two

There was an important win for Upshire in Division Two on Sunday as the Waltham Abbey outfit looked to close the gap on the promotion pack with a trip to winless Masterman in Newbury Park. And it was the visitors who ran out winners eventually, leaving with a 3-0 victory to move up to fourth place in the standings.

There was a mid-table battle in the other match where Dagenham United visited Westferry Elite at Wanstead Flats with both sides seeking to move clear of the relegation zone. The Dagenham outfit will be happiest with their day’s work as Timmothy Clutterbuck’s brace helped them to an important 2-1 victory to move above their opponents into seventh place.

Division Three

If Carlsberg made football matches, event they wouldn’t have dreamt up what happened in Rainham at the weekend where leaders FC United of Hornchurch faced second bottom Asianos Reserves in what, on paper, looked a one-sided match. This was anything but as the strugglers showed passion and endeavour to lead three times in the first half. If that wasn’t enough, they then fought back from 6-3 down to 6-6 with time running out before two very late goals gave the points to the leaders in an 8-6 scoreline. Billy Pearce scored a hat-trick, supplementing a brace from Tommy Pidgeon and singles from Harry James and Shane Cassidy.

There was no shortage of goal action at Manor Road where Dagenham United Reserves scored eight goals of their own with a comprehensive victory against Alliance United. Sean Thomas scored a hat-trick for his side with Gary Adams, Josh Perry, Jordan Briggs, George Martin and Ricardo Teixeira all finding the back of the net on a profitable morning for United.

At the top of the table, Ridgeway Rovers are pushing hard once again after just missing out on promotion last year and they strengthened their position with a comfortable looking 3-0 home victory at the weekend, beating Roneo Colts in Walthamstow. Jordan Townsend and George Moore were both on target for Rovers to close the gap on the leaders.

Division Four

Central Colts followed up their big win last weekend by extending their lead at the top of Division Four to six points as they saw off Epping Forest Falcons in Dagenham by a 4-0 scoreline. Tunde Olagunju was the hat-trick hero who did the majority of the damage with Jimmy Turner’s goal rounding things off.

Highams Park Royals will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season having bounced back well from their defeat to Colts by putting six goals past Newham Athletic. Ryan Radley scored a hat-trick with further goals arriving through Nicolas Kypri, Macauley White and Luey Young to send the Royals to an eventual 6-1 win.

The race for promotion could well be competed for by three sides with Thames Ironworks Community beginning to show the kind of form that could see them challenge. Their latest result saw a 5-0 home win as they beat Custom House Community Reserves in the Newham derby. Reece Lewis scored two goals and one apiece for Ben Glander, Theo Towli and Billy Scott completed the win.

It was an important weekend for Bata United who opened their points account for the season with a terrific 2-0 victory away at fourth placed East Ham Inter to move off the bottom of the table. Bata goals from Brandon Well and Abolade Siyanbola coupled with a cleansheet were more than enough on the day.

Another side who have shown a tremendous turn in fortunes in recent weeks are Oak Royals who made it three wins on the spin, beating Grey Area 4-3 in a thriller. Abdul Yusuf’s brace and a Connor Frost goal accounted for the Grey Area goal tally but they were only consolation as Ryan Mitchell scored twice for the visitors with Matthew Martin and Ross Travers also netting to secure maximum points for Royals.

Charity Cup

Sunday’s success for Corinthian clubs extended into the West Essex Sunday Charity Trophy where an in-form Goresbrook outfit were on their travels with a first round away tie at Combination side, JK Silvertown, at Lyle Park. In what looked an intriguing tie before a ball was kicked turned out to be just that with the visitors securing a hard fought 2-1 win. That sees Goresbrook through to a quarter-final place where they take on Masterman.