Written by Scott W (Twitter: @ScottMHC14)
Hello & welcome to another of my round-up pieces, this time looking at the Essex Olympian League action on Saturday 6 April, from the top tier to the results from Division Four on what was a joy-filled day for some sides, whgo secured promotion.
EOFL Premier Dvivision
In the Premier Division, Buckhurst Hill are the champions following a 7 – 0 hammering of out-of-form Bishop’s Stortford Swifts. Fehinti Falola led the charge with four goals, with Liam Foster, Alfie Harris and Eren Muti completing the rout for Hill’s 20th win in 21 games thus far. Swifts stay 5th and could be caught by Rayleigh Town as the latter have a game in hand. Hutton won 4 – 1 at Springfield to end their season on a high. Will Marlowe’s treble & a Jack Shaw strike saw them rise to 7th while Springfield remain 11th.
Meanwhile, Manford Way held Kelvedon Hatch 2 – 2 to end any hope of Hatch catching Hill in the title race. Goals from Danny Spicer and substitute Joe Lovell cancelled out Theo Ola’s brace for the visitors. Manford are finishing the season in decent form though will still go down, while Hatch’s run of one win in their last five has been costly to their title chances.
Reserve League Cup – Semi-Finals
In the two semi-finals played this weekend, Senior Three’s Basildon Town Res shocked Senior One side Rayleigh Town Res as Bas got a 3 – 1 away win. Tommy Green, player-boss Alex Shields & Andrew Wiggins strikes secured the win and their place in the final. Joining them there are Catholic Utd Res of Division Four who also won 3 – 1, at Herongate Athletic Res. Franklin Craik, Angelo Louis and James Warder got the goals on a good day for the Utd second-string.
Anagram Records Trophy – Semi-Final
Catholic Utd made the final again after a 2 – 0 win at PFC Victoria (London). Pat Kearney and player-manager Dan Trenkel got the goals to see the Super Hoops advance.
EOFL Senior One
In the two matches that did take place, both were drawn. Galleywood held promotion-chasing FC Hamlets to a 2 – 2 draw. Sam Donn and substitute Paddy Dowse got the home goals with player-boss Ashley King & hot-shot Charlie Heatley netting for FC. ’Wood rise to 6th while FC are two points ahead in fifth, knowing they need at least six points to be among the top-two next month. Fellow promotion-hunters Basildon Town were held 0 – 0 by Snaresbrook, who still have a chance of promotion though results here confirmed Shenfield AFC will be promoted as will finish in the top-two regardless of the result in their last match.
EOFL Senior Two
Into Senior Two now and the one match that took place was the six-pointer between high-flyers Chingford Athletic and Runwell Sports. It finished honours-even at 1 – 1 with Will Gleeson netting for Ath and Aaron Rix for Sports in their last match of the campaign. Chingford need only one win from their last two matches to leapfrog Runwell and get promoted.
EOFL Senior Three
Now moving into Senior Three, and Old Southendian Res held rivals Wakering Sports to a 0 – 0 stalemate, which confirms they will be promoted thanks largely to a nine-game unbeaten run. Sports will have to wait for next season to go again as they ended their season here. Only Westhamians can deny OS Ressies the title now.
Academy Soccer still have a slim chance of promotion after a 5 – 2 home win over Leigh Town. Harry Barham, Jake Jones, Sam Parish, Graham Knight and Luke Jones all netted for Academy here though they have to win their last match and hope others falter.
EOFL Senior Four
Finally, in Senior Four – I attended a crunch match at the Stambridge Memorial Ground as Corinthians defeated Galleywood Res 3 – 1. Luke Owen grabbed two goals with Jake Lang getting the other to overwhelm a super free-kick from Craig Robertson and stay in the title hunt.
For more on this match, my summary is here: survivor16b.wordpress.com/2019/04/07/match-summary-corinthians-3-1-galleywood-res-sat-6-apr-eofl-d4/
Meanwhile, Dagenham Utd won 5 – 2 at Buckhurst Hill Res to end their campaign on a high. It was ‘the Dingli show’ again as brothers Oliver Dingli and Jacob Dingli got doubles each, with Morgan Smith getting a late fifth. Jacob has finished the season with 34 goals this term, not bad at all.
Finally, Toby Res got a huge 3 – 0 win at relegated Old Barkabbeyans to secure their spot in the division next season. It’ll be Leigh Ramblers second-string who will join Old Barks in Division Five next term in all likelihood.
survivor16b 