It’s shootout woe for AFC in Shield final
THE first L and C Knock Out final was for the Hellawell Shield with teams from divisions C and D in the competition.
West Didsbury and Chorlton FC, who were members of the league for 88 years before moving to a higher level, were superb hosts for the final and there was a good crowd of 200 in attendance for the game between AFC Oldham third team and AFC Stockport.
AFC Oldham are high-fliers in division C and they dominated the early stages being denied by AFC Stockport keeper Tom Henthorn on several occasions.
Then AFC Stockport turned the game on its head with two goals in five minutes midway through the first half with clinical finishes from Bradley Ball and Adam Wilcox.
The game continued in the same pattern after the break with defiant defending and near misses frustrating AFC Oldham until they at last broke through with Ryan Higginson reducing the arrears on 70 minutes.
Oldham continued to press and eventually got their reward with three minutes left to play when Jake Jackson equalised from close range.
So it was down to the penalty shoot-out with AFC Oldham having the confidence of winning the semi-final against Radclyffe FC by the same means.
They netted all of their first five spotkicks but AFC Stockport put their second wide of the post to see Oldham and their supporters enjoy great celebrations to seal a memorable final.
Credit to both teams for their excellent quality of play and sportsmanship backed by great work from referee Darren Hines and his team of Nigel Booth, Alan Sivori and Eichie Felix.
The GP Property Rhodes Cup semi-final between High Lane and Whalley Range was another cliff hanger before High Lane emerged with a 2-1 win to make it through to the final against Moorside Rangers to be played at Salford City on Tuesday May 8, kick off 7.15pm.
Range had the edge in the early stages and got their reward with the opening goal midway through the first half from Anthony O’Brien.
High Lane then got their act together and levelled before the break through Jimmy Leeson.
Range dominated for most of the second half and created plenty of chances but were denied by the crossbar and some great saves from Lane keeper Brad Heginbotham.
High Lane then took advantage of a rare chance forced home from close range by James Williamson and survived Range pressure to make it through to their first Rhodes Cup final.
Premier division action saw Old Ashtonians climb out of the bottom two with a 4-2 win at Signol Athletic.
In division one Milton virtually clinched third place with a comfortable 3-0 win at Stoconians.
Didsbury gave themselves hopes of escaping from the bottom two with a 7-3 romp over Oldham Vics and the other game also had plenty of goals with Parrs Wood Celtic winning their derby with Chorltonians by 5-3.
Just one game in division two and it was a close affair with Mellor seconds edging a 3-2 win over South Manchester seconds who had Mike Tonner netting twice..
Stoconians seconds confirmed their division A title with a 3-1 win over Moorside Rangers seconds.
In Division C Parrs Wood Celtic won 4-2 hosting Stocnians thirds.
In division D Old Strets thirds won 3-1 at AFC Stockport and Chorltonians Albion won a thriller by 4-3 over Chadderton Park seconds.