MATCH REPORTS 2ND FEBRUARY 2013
Essex Saturday Veterans Cup Quarter Finals
Full marks to all the Clubs for the efforts that were made to get the games played this weekend. Debden Sports switched their fixture for the second consecutive round to Witham although this time they found Hutton Old Boys too strong as the Premier Division side ran out 6-1 winners. Another team to switch venues were Manford Way who were really thankful to Old Parmiterians who lent them a pitch on Saturday morning after their ground was waterlogged. Their efforts paid off as they beat Springfield 3-0 to gain revenge for their 2011 Final defeat. Unfortunately for Cricketers Horndon Saxons their hard work on Friday to get their ground playable wasn’t rewarded as they lost 3-2 to Heath Park. The Semi Final line up is completed by Little Thurrock Dynamos who neat Chipping Ongar 2-0.
Premier Division
Peter Ward scored for Port of London Authority against White Notley who earned a point with a Gavin Bensley strike. A Gabby Williams goal was enough for Met Police Chigwell to gain all three points at the expense of Shenfield.
Division One
Two goals from Alex Wilson and one from Michael Kilbey of Old Chelmsfordians saw off Newbury Park whose goals came from Nick Katsiannouis and Sam Underhill. Another team to be rewarded for their efforts to get their game played were Britannia who found a playable pitch for Herongate Athletic. Britannia won 2-1 thanks to goals from Joel Nathan and Filipe Sollof.
Division Two East
It took a morning’s work to get Sporting Club Woodham’s pitch fit to host FOBS (East Hanningfield) and they were determined not to waste that effort. Seventeen minutes in the hosts took the lead with a Keith Pope header from a corner. Having started slowly FOBS got back into the game when Brian Kent battled hard to win the ball and then produced a good finish from just inside the box to equalise just after the half hour. Nine minutes before half time Sporting Club Woodham took the lead again when FOBS stand in Goal Keeper Eric Thomas kicked the ball outside his area thinking the Referee had given a free kick for offside. Matthew Vaughan pounced on the ball and ran it into the empty net as the visitors stopped. Classic case of playing to the whistle being rewarded. Sporting Club Woodham dominated the second half but only had two goals from Lee Brant and a second of the game from Keith Pope in an eight minute spell after the hour to show for their efforts. The final score line was 5-2 after Antal Patel headed home a telling cross from Paul Callow for the visitors with two minutes to go.
Division Three East
The top two places stayed the same as Shenfield Reserves and Great Baddow shared six goals. Kevin Fuller and Neil Martin scored second half goals for Chelmer Vets as they beat Blackmore Royals Reserves. White Roding scored three times thanks to Dominic Boom 2 and Matthew Copland against Writtle but it was not enough as the visitors scored four in reply. Silver End United closed the gap on the leading pair with a 5-3 win over Peverel. Andrew Johnson 2, Jason Fletcher, Daniel Gray and Miles Keeble scoring for the hosts with Robert Williams, Gary White and Paul Flannery scoring for Peverel.
Division Three South
Leigh Town certainly marked their 100th Veterans League game in style by thrashing Hullbridge Sports 12-1. Leigh Town’s new signing scored six times with Andrew Grey, Mark Nicholson, Ian Sartain, Gary Baker and Sean Walsh with two completing the scoring. Little Thurrock Dynamos A beat Benfleet 4-1. Benfleet’s consolation coming from Ricky Taylor.
Division Three West
Met Police Chigwell Reserves and North Weald were level at half time after the hosts scored through Stuart Wilson and North Weald via Gbenga Adetimole-Babalola. Goals after 53 and 75 minutes from Terry Sharpe gave Met Police the points.
Division Four East
Rayleigh went top of the table as they beat Runwell Hospital 7-1. Runwell’s goal coming from Warren Oakley. They did have Horndon to thank as they beat previous leaders Ludlows 3-1. A sixth minute own goal gave Horndon a narrow lead at half time. Hamit Mehmet added a second after 77 minutes and Nathan Saunders 84th minute strike ensured Horndon’s excellent run continued. Ludlows scored through Martin Beckley. Josh Groves scored for White Notley Reserves however visitors Ford Basildon Reserves scored six times in reply. In the other game in the Division Old Chelmsfordians Reserves beat Hutton Old Boys Reserves 3-0 thus ending Hutton’s continuous run of victories which stretched back to 29th September 2012.
Division Four West.
Doddinghurst Olympic consolidated their lead at the top of the table with a 4-2 win over West Essex Reserves. Doddinghurst’s goals came from Trevor Sharpling 2, David Snowden and Steve Fletcher while Phil Curran scored after seven minutes for West Essex Reserves and Peter Skinner got their second with four minutes to go. Hatfield Broad Oak kept up the chase with Nick Blackham-Hayward opening the scoring after eighteen minutes against Harold Wood Athletic Reserves and then he added a second five minutes after half time. Ian Barnes added the third with Kevin Williams-Taylor rounding off the scoring on seventy four minutes to complete the 4-0 victory.
All other games were postponed