Mellor pull off Cup tie shock at North Walkden
IT was a day of thrills and spills, drama, goals galore and upsets as the league enjoyed a full day in their domestic Cup competitions.
The Rhodes Cup is the major competition featuring teams in the Premier division and division one.
The top game was at Irlam Steel Rangers who hosted reigning champions and Premier division high-fliers Moston Brook.
It was an entertaining game on a tricky surface which could have gone either way before ending locked at full-time at 2-2.
Steel kept their nerve to win the penalty shoot-out 4-2 and were given the good wishes of Brook for the rest of the competition. There was another upset as Bedians from division one took out recent finalists Salford Vics 3-1 and Mellor pulled off a big shock with a 2-1 win at high-flying North Walkden.
Mellor led 2-0 at the break and defended superbly to only concede one goal in the second half.
Division one promotion hunters Sale Ams looked to be on the way to taking out recent Lancashire Amateur Cup finalists Milton.
Milton took an early lead but Ams looked to be on their way into round two as they led 3-1 and 4-2 going into the later stages. But Milton showed great spirit to make it 4-3 and in the dying minutes levelled direct from a corner then scrambled a late winner.
Netting forMilton were Tobi Isabalajobi, Lewis Neal (two), Ryan Alessandra and Tom Beale.
Bury Ams pulled off the other big upset with an efficient 3-0 victory hosting Premier side Abacus Media.
Village Manchester kept up the division one success with a 6-1 win over Didsbury Athletic sparked by a towering header from Dan Hodgson to put them on the road to victory.
Division one leaders
High Lane gave it all they had had Old Stretfordians before going down by the odd goal in seven.
The other Premier sides going through were leaders Hattersley 5-1 at Boarshaw, Rochdalians 7-2 against Stoconians and Shaw Athletic by 5-1 at Stretford Paddock.
The Wray Cup sees teams from divisions two and three in the mix and unbeaten division two leaders Moston Brook reserves were taken to a penalty shoot out against AFC Oldham after a thrilling 3-3 draw and then Brook won the shoot-out 4-2.
Plenty of goals in some of the other games led by Didsbury 7-2 at
Aldermere, Hooley Bridge Celtic 6-2 at AFC Oldham reserves, Old Strets seconds 6-4 at Poynton JFC and Spurley Hey 5-2 at Abacus Media reserves with referee Mike Dermody enjoying an excellent game.
South Manchester enjoyed a rare win as they edged a 4-3 drama at Mellor reserves.
Heaton Mersey won a high scoring game at Santos.
Free-scoring Santos went behind twice in the first half but goals by Ciaran Finegan and Mike Patterson restored parity at the interval.
A third equaliser was converted by Ben Marshall before the visitors scored three goals to put the game safe.
A late consolation was scored by Jacob O’Donnell however the visitors scored the game’s final goal in the dying minutes.
Joining the goal fest were Badger Casuals in a 4-2 win over North Walkden reserves and Bury Ams reserves who shared eight goals with Whalley Range then won the shoot-out 4-2.
It was tight in the other two games with Salford Vics reserves scoring the only goal of their game with R-Kix FC and Kartel defended coolly in a 2-0 win over Moston Brook thirds.
AFC Stockport netted a goal in each half against Saddleworth 3D who could only fire blanks
In the Whitehead Cup for teams in divisions A and B there were also plenty of goals led by double-figure wins for Broadheath Central at Oldham Saints and Signol Athletic against Didsbury reserves.
Not far behind were Mellor thirds by 8-1 over Moston Brook fourths and Salford Vics Development by 5-0 against Saddleworth 3D reserves, Bury Ams thirds 4-2 at AFC Oldham thirds and Barrhill Lads 4-1 against Staly Lions reserves.
AFC Stockport Warriors won their local derby at Stoconians reserves and
Timperley Villa beat Village Manchester reserves 2-0.
After a 2-2 draw at Poynton Junior Development Milnrow Firgrovia edged the shoot-out by 3-2.
Apart from the cup action there were also two league games played in division one and Chadderton Park retained their unbeaten record with a gritty 1-0 win over Salford Albion to join Sale Ams on points with plenty of games in hand on the top two.
The other game saw Manchester Polonia keep up their recent good form with a 4-1 win at Elton Lib Hargreaves.