Milton fly the flag in Amateur Cup
ANOTHER gloomy, wet and dank day but fortunately the persistent rain came too late to have much impact on a busy county cup and league programme.
The cup stars of the day were Milton who shrugged off a poor start in the Premier division this season to become the only survivor from the league in the Lancashire Amateur Cup.
They cruised into the later stages of the competition with a comfortable 3-0 win hosting Todmorden Borough.
There were also some excellent results in the Manchester Amateur Cup led by Village Manchester who won 6-3 at Mersey Valley.
Also through with an outstanding result are Irlam Tiger Rangers who defied their division C status to pull of a great win over division one high-fliers AFC Oldham 2-0.
Manchester
Polonia won 3-0 at Old Stretfordians thirds and Oldham Vics also defended immaculately winning their local derby with Chadderton Park reserves by 4-0 and Barr Hill were also impressive as they saw off Moston Brook reserves 7-1.
Denton Town reserves completed the L and C pack with a 3-0 win over Chorltonians reserves but out went Didsbury to Heyside reserves, Trafford United reserves to Boothstown reserves and Chorltonians at East Manchester Academy.
Premier league action saw the top two in unstoppable form with leaders Whalley Range having Tim Kinsella, Reece Jones (three) and Larnal Cole netting in a 6-1 win over Mellor.
Rochdalians repeated the 6-1 scoreline as they switched their game against Dom Doyle to Springfield Park.
Abacus Media stay in third place but had to work hard for a 2-1 win at South Manchester and there was a 1-1 deadlock at Salford Vics as they hosted Waterloo.
Trafford United opened the scoring at High Lane but were unable to maintain the momentum as Lane went on to score seven times without reply.
Radclyffe opened up a three-point lead at the top of division one with main rivals AFC Oldham on county cup duty with a had a ruthless 6-0 win at Bury Ams.
Urmston Town also hit six without reply against Moston Brook and Old Stretfordians remain pointless after losing by the odd goal in three in a close contest with Newton.
It’s tight at the top of division two as two early pacesetters both lost their 100 per cent records.
Leaders South Manchester reserves were well beaten 4-1 at Dukinfield Athletic only managing a consolation strike from Josh Harper and Athletic move into second spot, two points off South’s pace.
Bedians also suffered their first defeat of the season going down 5-3 hosting a very promising North Walkden team in an entertaining game.
Bedians had the dynamic duo of Julian Patterson (two) and Sean Chappell netting but North Walkden always had the upper hand thanks to goals from Karl Payne (three), Steven Binns and Travis Vaughan.
Stoconians have plenty of games in hand over the leading pack and they followed up their great Rhodes Cup win by despatching Santos 4-0 to retain their unbeaten league record.
Signol Athletic marched to the top of division three with a big 9-2 win over Milton reserves taking them a point clear of nonplaying Chadderton Cott.
It was close in the other two games in the division as Spurley Hey won 3-2 at Hooley Bridge Celtic and Abacus Media reserves emerged with a breathless 4-3 victory hosting Chadderton Park.
In division A AFC Stockport
moved three points clear of non-playing Old Strets seconds with an efficient 4-2 win at AFC Oldham reserves.
Wythenshawe Wanderers are enjoying their first season in the league and moved into the top half of the table with a 4-2 win over Dukinfield Athletic seconds.
Wanderers led 2-0 at the break with goals from Craig Stone and Tom Horridge and both teams enjoyed an even second half with two goals apiece to give the Wanderers a 4-2 win.
Salford Storm were also celebrating after posting their first win of the season by 3-2 in an exciting encounter at Rochdale Galaxy.
Parrs Wood Celtic remain six points clear at the top of division B with a comfortable 6-2 win over Moston Brook thirds.
Matt Garbett was the Celtic shooting star with a hat-trick and also netting were Sam Holtham, Adam Berry and Danny Husband.
Second-placedAFC
Oldham thirds won 2-0 at Heaton Mersey and still have two vital games in hand over the leaders.
Bury Ams seconds won 3-1 at Chorltonians Athletic and Chadderton Cott seconds shared six goals with Flixton Juniors.
Finally in division C Salford Storm reserves made it a good day for the club as they beat Chorltonians Albion 6-3 to move three points clear of Irlam Tiger Rangers who were in cup action and still have three games in hand on Storm.
After some recent poor results Whalley Range seconds changed their possession playing style to a Long Ball and it paid dividends with goals from Bradley McDonagh (two), Daniel Mellor (two) and Kieron Glennon giving them a 5-2 win at Staly Lions.
There were six hits for Bury Ams thirds with a 6-1 win at Govan Athletic and AFC Stockport Warriors by the same score at Moston Brook fourths to complete a busy day.