Quorn Royals clinch County Premier Cup
ON FRIDAY, two Leicester and Charnwood Football League clubs went head to head in the final of the Leicestershire and Rutland County F.A. Premier Cup at Holmes Park.
Anstey Sports Bar and Quorn Royals entertained the crowd with good football from both sides. Quorn started brightly and were frustrated by good defending and goalkeeping from Anstey and were unlucky not to go into half time a goal to the good when Liam Fitzpatrick’s goal was disallowed by the assistant referee.
Quorn’s dominance continued after the break and they were rewarded in the 51st minute when Anstey’s goalkeeper cleared the ball straight to Matt Langham on the halfway line who floated the ball into the net. Five minutes later it was 2-0 when Sam Moore stormed into the box and put the ball in the net courtesy of a mix up between a defender and the goalkeeper.
Constant pressure resulted in Quorn winning two penalties which were both efficiently dispatched by Liam Fitzpatrick. At 4-0 down Anstey rallied and were rewarded when Quorn’s keeper came out for a ball he had no chance of getting to and Ashley Wright finished well.
Time was up on the clock when Sam Moore again raced into the box to finish from a tight angle with the last kick of the game and see Quorn Royals pick up their first county trophy.
Sunday saw the crowning of AFC Sporting Charnwood as the A.B Wallace Trophy’s Division Two champions after a comprehensive 7-0 win over Winchester Phoenix, a Tom Wilson hat trick and a brace each for Danny Hall and Colin Orr.
It’s now a battle for the rest for runners up spot, and Red Cow Rangers took advantage of Birstall Stamford A dropping points with a 1-1 draw at Thorpe Acre when they beat Greenhill Sparrows 8-3, a hat trick for Jake Williams and two each from Wayne Calver and Jack Goodall and one from Sam Panetta with Liam Harvey, Ben Jordan and Kai Thompson for Greenhill. Bhudda kept themselves in the mix with a 7-1 victory over bottom club Athletic Sportsman, Joe Butcher Smith and Chris Willet both claiming hat tricks.
In the Sylvia Haynes Division One, Shepshed United won their 8-0 game against a 10 men Leicester Bharat side, a fantastic hat-trick by James Stock, Charlie Dunkin (2), goals by Reece Alan, Chris Prichett and a fan- tastic 30-yard strike by Karl Smako was enough to see Shepshed maintain their challenge. Burton played host to near neighbours Sileby Athletic in a close, competitive game at Towles Field.
Josh Smith opened the scoring for Burton after 10 minutes but Sileby soon equalised. A well placed shot from Mark Smith from the edge of the area gave Burton a first half lead but Sileby again pulled a goal back before the interval.
Sileby took the lead in the second period but Burton drew level with a well worked goal from Nikki Harvey. Sileby exerted pressure late on and took the points with a winner five minutes from time. Adam Brind and Simon Harper with two each for Sileby. Syston Brookside beat Spinney Rovers 3-1 with goals from Michael Noga(2) and Ford Taylor.
New Park Rangers continue to dominate Division Three after a 9-0 win at home to Dishley Rangers, Jordan Cufflin-Stablefords hat trick was added to with goals from Jake Tomlinson (2), Ash Pegg, Ken Wood and Jordan Wajcik.
Two sides fighting it out at the top met and it was Ballpark Nirvana who claimed the points with a 4-2 win over Thurmaston DPC, Ibrahim Kasuji (2), Reece Kelly and Ryan Lovett for Ballpark with Conor Percy scoring both Thurmaston’s goals. GNG Sunday kept their promotion hopes alive with a 4-1 win at Loughborough Stags.
In the quarter finals of the J.D. Thomas league cup Birstall Stamford were drawn against their reserve side, and it’s the reserves that go into the semi finals after two goals from Aaron Black saw them win 2-0.
Finchy’s go through as well after beating Long Whatton 3-0 in an excellent game with two goals from Lee Barratt and one for Jack Lane. After Friday night’s heroics Quorn Royals took on Anstey Sports Reserves and progressed to the semi finals with a 4-2 win, Joe Griffen and Darren Wheeler for Anstey.
LK United’s run came to an end against a very well organised team in Iannis who shaded it on the day 3-1 with goals from Lucian Trandafir(2) and Gheorghe Mircea.
In the Gayford Carrot Memorial trophy it was F.C. Hathern who progress at the expense of Syston Brookside Reserves with a 6-1 win.