Mixed fortunes for LCSL clubs in County Premier Cup

IT WAS mixed fortunes for Leicester and Charnwood Sunday League clubs in group A of the County Premier Cup.

Birstall Stamford, previously without a point won 1-0 at home to F.C. Topps, whilst previously unbeaten Quorn Royals lost 6-1 away at Oadby Athletic.

The Quorn side played excellent football in the first half and went in level at 1-1 courtesy of a great header from Liam Fitzpatrick.

A couple of fortuitous goals for the home side early in the second half saw the Royals uncharacteristically crumble to a side they easily beat in the home fixture.

Anstey Sports Bar top group B after a 2-0 win away at the Community Football Academy to maintain their 100% record. Anstey’s goalscorers, Kane Dilkes and Luke Higgins

Finchy’s top group C on goal difference after a comprehensive thrashing of Enderby Social, Jake Syrett and Jack Lane both scoring braces other scorers were Ross Lavin, Brandon Jarratt, Nathan Kewmoss, Ricky Taylor and Lee Barratt.

In group A of the County Premier Shield Iannis travelled to Moira United and came away with the points after a 3-1 win.

F.C. Poplar travelled to the Plough Inn, Bruntingthorpe in group B and were unhappy with the physical tactics of the home side, despite this they were deservedly 2-0 up with goals from Daniel Webb and David Whannell. A disputed penalty though meant that Pop went into half time with a slender 2-1 lead. The home sides tactics continued in the second half resulting in two Poplar players having to be carried off the pitch to receive medical attention. Pop then had two players dismissed and the Plough then took advantage of their superior numbers scoring three goals to take the points.

It was the second-round matches of the knockout cups and Long Whatton battled through to the next round of the Intermediate cup with a 5-3 win at North Kilworth, Mitch Woobine and Brad Smith with two each and one for Luke Greet. A good solid performance by Shepshed United saw them progress at the expense of Leicester Bharat with the only goal of the game scored by Dean Pell. Sileby Athletic fought a close encounter away at Barkestone le vale and it was two goals each after 90 minutes. The game continued to be well contested in extra time, but it was Barkestone who went into the next round with a narrow 4-3 victory.

Birstall Stamford Reserves and Newboys unceremoniously dumped two Alliance league sides out of the cup, Birstall thrashed Suecastle 8-0 and Newboys crushed Swinford Chequers 7-0. Two of our league sides met and it was Syston Brookside that went through 4-0 at the expense of Spinney Rovers.

Thorpe Acre kicked off their County cup campaign with a gritty performance in the second round of the Sunday Trophy against a hard working Anchor Inn side. Thorpe Acre’s first goal came in the 14th minute with a cross from Ronnie Harrington to the back post for Charlie Crawley to head the ball back across goal and Sam Gee finished from close range. Sam Harvey kept the score at 0-1 with a brilliant diving save to his left, but shortly after The Anchor Inn levelled up on the half hour mark, scoring a penalty to take it to 1-1 at half time. Thorpe Acre scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the 65th minute thanks to a quick free kick from Luke Gee played to Ronnie Harrington whose cross was tapped in by Sam Gee.

Birstall Stamford A go into the hat after a 3-1 win away at White Eagles. Greenhill Sparrows go out of the cup after losing 7-4 away at NEBA F.C. Two big scores in the remaining games went for and against our sides, Bhudda went out of the competition 11-3 at home to West Leicester Panthers but the record score of the day goes to Red Cow Rangers with a massive 19-0 score at Mowbray Magic.

In the Sunday vase it was Loughborough Stags 0-6 Racing Alleno. A pretty much one-sided game, it was 4-0 at half time to Racing. Hat tricks for both Jason Brackenridge and Gregg North see them through to round three. LK United join them in the hat after a crushing 9-2 victory over Birstall Social, Leon Coleman scoring five goals the leading marksman, aided and abetted with a brace each from Matt Harrison and Bradley Terrell. New Parks Rangers continue their impressive run in all competitions, but it was close, going through 3-2 AET. GNG go through after a 3-1 win at Newdawn Athletic. Two of our sides will have to wait until next season to renew their dreams of county silverware, Braunstone going out 5-1 to Mossdale Rangers and Verdon Athletic losing 3-1 at Bharat Talbot.

In the Sylvia Haynes Division One, following some fairly indifferent performances in recent weeks Burton returned to winning ways with a convincing performance against F.C Hathern, Burton opened the scoring after ten minutes with a goal from Nikki Harvey. The same player added to his tally later in the half and after midfielder Steve Moult scored a third before the break it looked like game over. However, when Hathern scored from a penalty early in the second half it looked as if a comeback may be on the cards but any hopes Hathern may have had of getting anything from the game were soon dispelled when Burton scored further goals through Josh Smith, Nikki Harvey (hat trick) and substitute Rich Cowlishaw to give the visitors a comfortable 6-1victory.

The only fixture in the A.B. Wallace Division Two saw Winchester Phoenix travel to the Swan. Phoenix took the lead early on from a Joe Monksfield header, rising at the far post above everybody to open the scoring.

A lapse in concentration saw The Swan take advantage to equalise. Then a wide shot from The Swan striker was adjudged to have been saved by the keeper which resulted in a corner, this was duly converted by The Swan giving them a 2-1 lead at the break. A better second half performance from Phoenix saw another 2 goals from Dan George to continue his goal scoring run of late. A well taken goal from James Freestone and an amazing 25 yard curled effort hitting the back of net from Andrew Gregory with an unconventional assist from Liam Grant saw it 5-3 to the Phoenix at the final whistle.

Division Three sides Syston Brookside Reserves and bottom club Greenfields Rangers met, and it was Greenfields who picked up their first points of the season with a surprising 7-0 win.