IFC marksman breaks club record to sink Old Albanians in thriller

Division Three

ST ALBANS IFC romped to a comfortable 6-3 win against Old Albanians, with man of the match Jason Nicolaou, pictured above, hitting a club-record five goals.

Pedro Silva also scored to cap a skilful display. Ben Coote saved a Robert Carragher penalty. Albanians’ reply came from Robert Carragher and an Alex Dowell brace.

Despite playing with 10 men for an hour Precision ran out comfortable 4-1 winners against White Horse. Lee Fellowes’ excellent cross was superbly headed in by the dangerous Chris Wickens.

Within five minutes, good football by Jack Woods and Matt Day set up Lee Fellowes for the second who then stupidly got himself sent off before Matt Day scored an exquisite lobbed goal from edge of area. Day then followed up a Dundon shot parried by the keeper to score his second and The Seeds fourth.

O’Neills defeated Radlett Village 3-2 with goals from Scott Willmott, Joe Geddes and Paul Davidson. Tom Blake (two) replied for Radlett.

Wheathampstead ‘89, still looking for their first league win, fell to a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Colney Heath Rangers Res despite goals by Mattie Harris, Lee Bennett and Alan Russell.

Herts Sunday Intermediate Cup

Andy Findlay scored a first-half hat-trick in Harpenden Arms Athletic’s 7-0 win over Broxbourne Saints. He scored two more after the break along with strikes from Michael Davis and Rob Walker.

Brookmans Park defeated Mill End Sports 4-1. Darren Cousins put them ahead with a stunning free-kick, while leading scorer Adam Davies bagged two and Danny Webb scored a single.

Victoria recorded their biggest win of the season, outplaying Old Grey Mare 8-2. Leading the rout and picking up the Man of the Match tag was Ben Conrad with four goals. James Watts added a brace and singles came from Gary Edwards and Andrew Pollard.

Church End needed a last minute winner to beat Sawbridgeworth 3-2. A Tom Blackman header and a Billy Barnes close range effort twice gave Church the lead before Chris Ainley volleyed home late on to steal the win.

Craig Taylor and Ryan Houghton scored for PSV FC in a hard fought 2-1 win against AFC Bushey.

Blackberry Jack recorded a fine 5-0 win against Old Fullerians. Bradley Gorman became their first player this season to score a hat-trick. Other goals came from Anthony Burns and Scott Ferguson.

Herts Mauritian defeated The Rosie 4-2, with goals coming from captain Mohammed Hassan, Darren Caveree, Dan Morris and Neetesh Iyapah.

Beaver Travel again fell to a defeat going down 2-0 to Lea Sports PSG to exit the County Cup.

Despite goals from Ian Hutchinson and an own goal Colney Heath Rangers Res fell to a 3-2 defeat against Langlebury CC.

Bradmore Rovers ended their cup run 5-4 on penalties against MKS Carpentry after the teams fought out a 3-3 draw. Rovers’ goals came from Lee Digby (two) and Glenn Mair.

In a seven-goal thriller, Skew Bridge Res came out on the wrong end of a 4-3 scoreline. Goals came from Man of the Match Tom Clark, Adam Facer and an own goal.

Michael Pontin gave Wheathampstead Icarus a well deserved lead against FC Aps before Ben Matthews settled the 2-1 tie with a 30 yarder. Icarus ran out deserved winners in a spicy affair and march on to round three.

Herts Advertiser Knockout Cup

Premier Division outfit Phoenix were made to fight all the way for their 3-2 victory against Division Three Insurance Store. Phoenix had to rely on goals from ace marksman, Liam Addlesee (two) and Mark Johnson.

Herts Advertiser Challenge Cup

Cup holders London Road moved into the next round following their 4-2 win against Verulam Arms. Road’s four marksmen were Dan Butcher, Frank Jowle, Shaun Murphy and Mark Paradise.

Verulam’s reply came from Sam Margerrison and Matt Kenneford with Craig Parratt their Man of the Match.

Herts Advertiser Junior Cup

Queens Head Sandridge Res defeated Blacksmith’s Arms 3-2. They took a two goal lead through Scott Atkinson and Dave Yeo.

However Arms fought back to 2-2 thanks to Chris Lorriman, but Queens Head won it in extra-time thanks to Danny Succi.

Athletic Quat put in a good performance against Raiders Utd when falling to a 5-4 after extra-time defeat. Aziza Oyekan was their outstanding player. Their goals came from Vishal Bhurtun (two), Ken Fox and Ian Merryfield.

Herts Advertiser Reserve Cup

Brookmans Park Res only had a Luke Watling goal to show in a 4-1 defeat to Oaks Res as they bowed out of the Reserve Cup. Stephen Conroy was Oaks star man with two goals and Andrew Roughton and Tom Jackson both netted singles.

St Albans IFC Res fought hard against strong Division Three opponents Nicholas Breakspear OB Res. NBOB took control in the second half as IFC legs tired to complete a 4-0 win with two goals from James Wheeler and singles by Connor Reddy and Tom Gajjar.

Premier Division

League leaders Skew Bridge put in a good performance to overcome Vision 6-1.

Mark Hitchcock was Man of the Match and David Keenleyside scored on his debut as the Skew dominated. Andrew Saul, Chris Gregory, Jamie Taylor and Dan Bathurst were superb and Ben Warren (two), Darren Flay, Edward Frost and Andrew Saul also scored. Joel Norris replied for Vision.

Goals by Cain Davey, Danny Fitzgerald and Paul Doonan scored the goals that gave Nicholas Breakspear OBs a 3-0 win against at AFC Rangers.

Division Four

Leaders Harpenden Colts Old Boys Res dropped valuable points at home to Vision Reserves when they squandered a 3-1 half time lead with goals from Steven Stratford and a brace from Alex Dennehy.

But they defended poorly in the second half and paid the price to let Vision back into the game and dominate the closing stages with the game ending 3-3. Junior Almelda scored all three Vision goals.

Cottonmill beat White Horse Res 7-1. Pete Hulland opened the scoring with a superb 30-yard screamer before Andrew Milton fired home from 25 yards. A Nathan Ringel brace, plus singles from Lee Sturgess, Man of the Match Tim Couch and Craig Redgwell completed the tally. White Horse scorers were Jamie Cunnington and Matt Pond was their Man of the Match.

The Ridge eventually overcame Marquis 4-3, with the Ridge goals coming from Chris Draddy (hat-trick) and captain James Catchpole. Tom Coates and Martin Smith replied for Marquis.

Dukes overcame Brookmans Park A 7-1. Quick fire Dukes went 4-0 up within 30 minutes of the start. Brookmans Park replied with a single early on in the second half but Dukes went about re-establishing their momentum and scored three more before full time. Dukes’ goals came from Jack Johnson, Antony Brown (hat-trick), Chris Barry and Nathan Connolly (two). Tobias Hanlon scored for the Park.

St Albans Royals beat Marshalwick Rovers 4-2. Royals went two goals up through Andy Killinger and Matt Brand before Marshalwick fought back before half-time.

Royals turned the game around with two more goals one from Paul Adams and another for Matt Brand. Rovers got a goal back but it was too little too late. Royals’ star man was Greg Moloney who was outstanding in defence. Rovers’ goals came from David Hudson and Ian Taylor.

Division Five

In the top of the table clash Greenwood Park overcame Herts Athletic 3-2.

Matt Hedges put in a Man of the Match display scoring two goals along with Nick Fanshaw. Herts pulled back two goals through Dean Trollope and Chris Wilding.

AFC Mymms got an early lead and for most of the match the score remained 1-0. The breakthrough came as the Wheathampstead keeper let a shot from Simon Skeggs through. Mymms then added a further two goals during a 15 minute spell of total domination at the end of the game.

Jersey Farm started slow and were 2-0 down before Mike Hall scored a cracking goal to pull back the deficit against Bradmore Rov Res who then finished the game off with a third and final goal in a 3-1 score. Rovers’ marksmen were Paul Newton (two) and an own goal.

Phoenix A recorded their second league victory and a blank sheet when overcoming Bricket Wood 5-0 with two goals from Sam Bozier and Michael Brindley, Jack Irish and Sam McCord singles.

A slow start from the George Redbourn when conceding two poor goals in the first 10 minutes against Camp KBK, but this only gave the George an early wake-up call and the team worked hard to change the game and after a great left pegged curling finish from Connor McGregor which hit the top corner the comeback was on. After a great second half the George left with a 3-2 victory thanks to further goals from Connor McGregor and Liam Picton. Man of the match for George was Casey Pearce.