HERTS ADVERTISER SUNDAY LEAGUE: Hard-working Phoenix win

PREMIER DIVISION

QUEENS Head fielded their strongest side this season but were sent packing by a young hard working, fast paced Phoenix side, writes Brian Hubball.

Reputations don’t stand for anything unless you put the hard work in and Queens Head just did not turn up. John Murphy in the Queens goal put a solid performance in and prevented the score from reaching double figures.

Phonex deserved their 7-0 margin of victory and with the form they displayed on the day could well beat any team in the division.

Phoenix’s goals came from Liam Addlesee (three), Seb Thomas (two), Alec Morgan and Mark Johnson.

Skew Bridge’s Mark Hitchcock was in terrific form bagging a hat-trick in an emphatic 6-1 win against AFC Rangers.

Chris Gregory supplied most of the quality from midfield as he controlled everything good Skew Bridge did. Ben Warren (two) and Sam Mitchell netted the other Skew goals.

A solitary goal by Matt Day gave London Road a 1-0 victory against Blackberry Jack which lifted them to the top of the division.

Title favourites Nicholas Breakspear OBs took their goals for tally to 31 with a fine 7-1 victory against Hogs Blacksmiths.

The score would have been greater but for the brilliance of Hogs’ Man of the Match, goalkeeper Steve Kirikal. Breakspear’s goals came from Dave Parkinson (three), Danny Fitzgerald (two), Paul Doonan, Ashley Aimaku and Marc Cavaciuti. Hogs’ reply came from Anthony Arnold.

DIVISION ONE

LIFTED Music continued their fine form despite missing key players as they held league leaders Oaks to a 3-3 draw.

Aaron King made his first appearance of the season and scored within five minutes following a flowing move between Paul Ashley and Lee Rowson. Lifted dominated the first half and doubled their advantage through goal machine Rowson.

As the wind picked up after the break Oaks used it to their advantage pinning Lifted back into their own half and got their rewards as a long ball over the top saw the Oaks forward in on goal and he scored.

Lifted then moved into a 3-1 lead with a scrappy goal following a corner after a scramble resulted in Nick Roll poking home his first of the season.

Unfortunately Lifted conceded almost immediately going into the final 10 minutes with just a one goal advantage. Lifted held out until the sixth minute of injury time when, after a goal mouth scramble, Oaks got their equaliser. Yannick Samminaden was Lifted’s star man. Oaks goalscorers were their Man of the Match Rob Gilham, Steve Dorer and Harry Hunt.

Two goals apiece by Luke Viala and Ben Southam plus a Robert Frame single gave FC Potters Bar a fine 5-2 win against Bradmore Rovers.

Once again Six Bells started well, scoring after five minutes against Hare & Hounds.

They created enough chances in the next 15 minutes to have won the game but they couldn’t add a second. Hounds capitalised and grabbed an equaliser before the break. Hounds pressured the Bells goal which resulted in them taking the lead. They then missed two penalties as they held out for a 2-1 victory.

DIVISION TWO

CHURCH End beat Icarus 4-3 taking a 3-0 lead with goals from James Crane, Dean Stanton and Elliott Atkinson.

John Rowland also scored for Church, before Lee Hanly scored a 25 yard own goal.

Footy Pants kept their three point advantage at the top of the table with a hard earned 2-1 win against White Horse with goals from Chris Purdue and James McFarlane.

Second placed Three Hammers and Colney Heath Rangers shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw.

DIVISION THREE

INSURANCE Store left it late to secure victory over Brookmans Park Reserves, scoring three goals in the last 10 minutes.

Brookmans Park opened the scoring with a well taken goal by Ryan Painter on 15 minutes only for it to be cancelled out when Cesar Da Silva cut through Park’s midfield and played the ball to Kelvin Caines who whipped in a delightful cross which Adam Briscoe met at the back post.

With 10 minutes remaining, the decision was made to swap striker Tawhid Juneja who was playing through an injury with ‘keeper Jon Barras. The result was instant with fresh legged Barras causing problems for Brookmans defence and the ball came out to Steve Fullard who calmly slotted the ball into the bottom left corner.

Then came the goal of the game when Caines ran down the wing and crossed the ball into the for Man of the Match Barras who executed a superb overhead kick.

Barras went close again, but it was Fullard who got his second and Store’s fourth. Brookmans Park had a chance to get a goal back late on when they had a one-on-one with the ‘keeper only for Juneja to deny them with a great save.

Wheathampstead ‘89 didn’t have it all their own way when defeating O’Neills Celtic 4-1.

The teams were level at the break and only some fine defending and goalkeeping by Colin Pigott kept the Village side in the game.

Wheathampstead’s scorers were Duncan Gray, Lee Bennett, Aaron Delaney and James Lynch.

Marquis of Granby started badly in the second half after a goalless opening period, conceding two goals to Old Albanians Reserves through James Elson and Dan Solo.

Marquis pulled one back courtesy of Darren Singleton after a corner but it was too late to avoid a 2-1 defeat. Lee Simpson was Albanians’ Man of the Match.

A competitive and close game with little to choose between Nicholas Breakspear OB Res and St Albans IFC ended goalless. Both teams had chances which weren’t taken, with conditions making flowing football difficult.

DIVISION FOUR

MARSHALSWICK Rovers fully deserved their surprise 4-2 win over Queens Head Sandridge Res in a fully committed encounter.

A 20 yard free kick from Alastair Bart put them ahead midway through the first half and Bart then latched onto Joe McCarthy’s clever through ball to make it 2-0 at half time.

The second half started much better for Queens Head and the introduction of Dave Yeo paid dividends when his through ball put Greg White clear to slot home form just inside the penalty area.

Jamie Moss immediately restored the two goal margin with a fierce cross-shot.

Queens Head’s reply was instant and two minutes later Chris Yeo’s pin point cross found his brother Dave who rose well to head the ball in. 3-2.

With time running out Rovers worked a short corner routine and the low cross from Adam Woodward was converted by Man of the Match Alastair Bart to secure his hat-trick and much needed win. Marshalswick’s Man of the Match was Alastair Bart.

Herts Mauritian put in a below par performance when lowly placed Sandridge Harvesters Sports held them to a 2-2 draw.

There was no excuse for their poor performance. Mauritian’s substitute goalkeeper failed to perform letting the ball slip out of his hands to allow Sandridge Sports to level the game after skipper Mohammed Hassan had netted both Mauritian’s goals.

A poor first half livened up in the second as both Harpenden Colts OB Res and Brookmans Park A changed their style of play.

Colts had been kept in the game by Man of the Match Joel Gill with three excellent saves from which Colts started to impose themselves with an attacking passing game.

However Park’s defence rode out early pressure, being well lead by Martin Worman, some strong tackling by Andy Peacefull plus keeper Paul Goldie was in good form with excellent handling.

Eventually Park took control again and started creating chances leading to Alan Young opening the scoring with a delicious lob and Stevie Dunn rifling a low shot from the edge of the area, overall excellent Park team performance.

DIVISION FIVE

AFC Mymms ran out 5-0 winners against Phoenix A.

Phoenix started well enjoying a lot of possession but the closest they came to scoring was a long-range effort that hit the bar.

Mymms took advantage of this with a lethal five minute spell that saw them score three goals. First Stephen Havard scored a diving header and Mark Sawyer’s 25-yard lob doubled their lead before Adam Davies netted the third.

Mymms’ fourth came after the break when Sawyer fired home from 20 yards and Phil Walsby completed the win with goal number five.

Dukes and Oaks Reserves shared the spoils following a 3-3 draw.

Oaks opened the scoring but goals from Jack Johnson and Jimmy Cannon put Dukes ahead. Oaks responded with two second half goals but Andrew Sharpe’s volley ensured the teams shared the points.

Oaks’ goals came from Man of the Match Paul Carsons (two) and Tom Jackson.

Greenwood Park came from 2-0 down at half-time to win 4-2 against Cottonmill.

Andy Milton’s 30-yard effort and a goal from Cattermole put Cottonmill in control at the interval but Greenwood hit back early in the second half to cancel out the deficit courtesy of two goals from Nick Fanshaw, the first of which was a superb free kick.

Greenwood completed their comeback and secured the three points with further goals from Matt West and Man of the Match Alex Hanvey.

Goals from James Lee and Ben Tester helped Camp Albanians run out 2-0 winners against Bricket Wood who were unable to take advantage of Albanians going down to 10 men when Jamie Peters was carried off injured late on.

Daniel Bailey scored twice as Raiders beat Athletico Quat 2-0.

The margin of victory could have been bigger had the Quat goalkeeper not been in top form.

The game was well refereed by a new referee to the league, S. Carington-Kennedy.

Another great team performance from Sandridge FC saw them maintain their title ambitions with a 2-0 win against Wheathampstead Reserves.

Despite being down to 10 men after just 15 minutes, they were still too strong for the opposition. Goals from Man of the Match Andy Kennedy and Craig Ferrante secured the win for the away team.

HERTS FA SUNDAY CUP

VISION’S stand-in keeper Yashin Boodhoo gave a Man of the Match performance with a string of great saves to deny Harpenden Colts Old Boys a place in the quarter final of the Herts Senior County Cup.

Colts pressed hard to get back and win the game after trailing 2-1 just after the break, Joel Norris scoring both goals before an own goal reduced the deficit.

James Warner was outstanding with his work rate in a much depleted Colts side which saw 18-year-old debutant Jack Dyer give a solid performance in the Colts’ goal.

HERTS FA INTERMEDIATE CUP

FROM the first whistle it seemed only one team wanted it as Sporting Offley put Verulam Arms out of the Intermediate Cup.

Offley had the wind advantage and pumped the ball into the box at every opportunity which caused havoc in the Arms defence and which resulted in four first half goals.

The second half saw the wind die and with it went the Arms’ fantastic unbeaten run and their county cup dreams. A consolation goal was scored by N Burrows.

HERTS ADVERTISER INTERMEDIATE CUP

HARPENDEN Arms moved into the last four of the Intermediate Cup with a hard fought 2-0 win against Phoenix Res.

With Harpenden playing against the wind in the first half Phoenix had most of the play but a well-marshalled defence lead by Man of the Match Mark Hattam held them out.

The second half started with Harpenden putting the away team under pressure and with 70 minutes on the clock the ball fell to Michael Ross 35 yards out who hit a thunderous shot into the top corner.

With 10 minutes left a lovely ball from Dan James saw Ben Cobb through on goal and he finished with the outside of his boot to seal a 2-0 win for Harpenden.

HERTS ADVERTISER RESERVE CUP

THERE were 11 different goalscorers as Skew Bridge ran out 25-1 winners against eight-man Vision.

Every Skew Bridge player scored other than Stuart Crabtree. Even goalkeeper James Hiller scored with the pick of the goals, a 20 yard volley into the bottom corner.

Skew’s marksmen were: Phil Lythgoe (six), Simon Beazley (four), Adam Facer (three), Stephen Harris (three), Steven Jones (two), Daniel Rhodes (two), James Izzard, James Hiller, Adam Fitton, Luke Firmin and Daniel Abraham.