Milton’s first league win of the season
ON another full programme of county and domestic cup action plus league action the weather relented to allow a busy day to ease the deeply furrowed brow of fixture secretary Mal Kershaw.
The County Cup action was focussed on the Manchester Amateur Cup with three teams in action and taking the glory were division one high-fliers Irlam Tigers who won a thriller at FC Unsworth.
The game ended at 1-1 but Tigers roared to victory winning the penalty shoot-out by 4-2.
It was the end of the cup trail for Manchester Polonia who lost out 4-2 at Heyside reserves and Village Manchester who went down 2-0 at Eastlands.
There were also three games in the league’s top knock out competition for the Rhodes Cup.
The main game featured two Premier League high fliers and it was a close contest all the way at High Lane with the tie being decided with the only goal of the game just before the break with a powerful finish from Dom Doyle.
Runaway Premier division leaders Whalley Range have a league and cup double firmly in their sights after a comfortable 7-2 win at division two Hadfield Athletic and division three leaders Chadderton Cott had few problems in a big win over Aldermere.
In the Wray Cup South Manchester reserves moved through with a smooth 4-0 win at Signol Athletic as they lifted their game after the break with doubles from Josh Harper and Reece Taylor.
Denton Town reserves also kept a clean sheet against Salford Vics reserves in a 3-0 victory and Mellor reserves won their local derby against Stoconians reserves by 4-2.
In the Premier division Lancashire Amateur Cup semifinalists Milton enjoyed a long-awaited first league victory of the season as they won a close derby with Abacus Media 2-1 to move off the bottom.
Lowly South Manchester were also celebrating as they beat Salford Vics 4-1 to move out of the bottom two above Trafford United who could only fire blanks in a 2-0 defeat at Mellor.
The top game in the division ended in a 1-1 deadlock between second-placed reigning champions Rochdalians and third-placed Waterloo.
There were plenty of goals in division one with AFC Oldham closing the gap on non-playing leaders Radclyffe FC to three points with a game in hand with an emphatic 5-0 win over Urmston Town.
Bury Ams also went nap with a 5-2 win over Old Stretfordians keeping Strets at the foot of the table.
Newton continued their recent run of good form beating Signol OB 4-0 to move into the comfort of mid-table.
The title race in division two provided a good day for Dukinfield Athletic who beat Chorltonians reserves 2-0 and one of their main rivals and recent hotshots North Walkden went down 4-1 to Oldham Vics.
Stoconians were held 1-1 at Bedians but the point was enough to lift them up to second place on goal difference and nine points behind Dukinfield Athletic but with six games in hand.
The other game in the division saw basement team Rochdalians reserves put some poor recent results behind them with a fine 3-1 derby win at Santos.
Deans were rampant in a big 8-1 win at Rochdale Galaxy and Salford Storm also had their shooting boots on beating AFC Oldham reserves 4-1 but the other match was settled by the only goal of the game scored by Dukinfield Athletic reserves at Trafford United reserves.