Hello and welcome to the latest action from the Essex Alliance League, which continues on this blog this season under the “Guest Blog” strand. This edition looks at the action across the League divisions and action in the Fenton Cup & Fenton Trophy on Saturday 20 November. My thanks to the EAL’s Rob Parker. This round-up is posted with the author’s permission. Thanks for reading.
Guest Blog written by Rob Parker for EAL [EAL Twitter: @EssexAllianceFL]
With additional reporting by Scott W
Essex Alliance League Round-up- Sat 20 November
FENTON CUP
There was further Fenton Cup action this weekend as the first round action came to a close with Jolof Sports at home to Kit Out London, both seeking a place in the last sixteen. A close game saw the two teams finish level at 2 – 2 at full-time, forcing the game into a shootout in which Jolof held their nerve to win it 4 – 2. They now head on to face FC Petrocub in the next round.
In the day’s second round action on an adjoining pitch, two of the league’s Premier Division sides met in East Ham with hosts London Cranes taking on Oakside with a place in the quarter finals the reward for the winner. In an eleven goal thriller, it was ‘Side who eventually prevailed by the odd goal, winning 6 – 5 to confirm a home quarter-final against DTFC. Oakside’s scorers were Brandon Burgess, Kieren Huddart, Jed Ofori, Luke Caston, Demi Elegushi and Mussa Jamanca.
FENTON TROPHY
In the Fenton Trophy, there were four further ties completed with Royal Forest Reserves’ perfect record put to the test as the Division Three leaders faced Division Two St Francis. A very closely fought contest was won by a youthful Saints side as Ross Basunda’s goal proved the pivotal moment in the game in a 1 – 0 victory.
Division Two’s Loughton Lions also had a stern test ahead of them as they welcomed an in-form Melbourne Sports side to Debden for their second round clash. Lions have been in some decent form themselves in recent weeks and progressed with 3 – 1 home victory thanks to strikes by Thomas Osmond, Lucas Maxwell and Jordan French to ensure their run in the cup continued.
Another Division Two side safely through are Rainham Working Mens Club as they navigated what proved to be another very competitive game against Division Three’s Glendale. An own goal midway through the first half of the game in Rainham’s favour proved to be the only scoring moment of the game as the Dales couldn’t convert second half pressure into chances, Rainham winning 1 – 0.
The final game from this competition saw six goals as Together United looked to cause a surprise as they were paid a visit by Division Two’s Unitey at Peter May. But it was the higher placed side who made their advantage count with Bubintende Masadi’s hat-trick doing the damage with Mohammed Abaker and Jordan Vib also finding the back of the net in a 5 – 1 win.
SENIOR DIVISION
There was plenty of Senior Division action too over the weekend, despite some sides being involved in cup action, and Chadwell Heath Spartans opened up a five point lead at the top of the table after coming out on the right side of a 2 – 1 win at FC Baresi. Abdirahman Sabriye struck for the hosts but Jack Evans and Aaron Hunwicks replies for Spartans gave them a crucial three points. Lymore Gardens also took advantage of others being out of action to move into the top four, earning themselves a solid win away at FC Petrocub in Noak Hill. Another close game was settled by the odd goal with Andre Rashford and Dylan Roberts efforts the difference as Garden won 2 – 1, their fifth win of the season so far.
Moving into mid-table, Leyton Royal have joined a cluster of clubs sitting on thirteen points following a terrific win on Saturday, defeating Tower United in a 4 – 0 scoreline at Fairlop Oak. That result saw Royal confirm a fourth league win and with games in hand, could still be pushing for a solid top half finish. For Tower, they remain in the bottom three, four points adrift of safety approaching the half way mark. Not far behind Leyton Royal are CSM London who moved to the cusp of mid-table themselves after a hugely important win at Lakeside, beating Rapid Chingford 5-2 to pick up three points. Munnir Saad scored twice with Kamran Khan, Ramone Senior and Leon Barnard goals completing the win in favour of the visitors.
Just a point behind CSM lie Blue Marlin who moved themselves out of the relegation zone on Saturday with a local derby victory against Chigwell Town in Hainault. The journey of just a few yards proved a fruitful one for Marlin, overcoming a John Lye goal for Town with strikes of their own from Nile Laidlaw and Lindsey Marsh to win it 2 – 1.
PREMIER DIVISION
In the Premier Division, there was a huge result affecting the top end of the table as Wapping produced a top performance to send leaders Frenford A to their first defeat of the season. Meeshaq Malone scored twice and Shahid Ali grabbed the other to overturn the only goal in response by Damilola Olaiya for the visitors and give Wapping a 3 – 1 victory to move second, albeit eight points behind the leaders. The top goal scorers in the division are Eastside with thirty-five so far this campaign and they now sit third after coming through an entertaining game against All Prospects. Michael Dager and Abid Haque scored twice each and Basekou Gassama netted the other to overcome a Prospects fight back to win it 6 – 4. It was also a winning Saturday for another side sitting on thirteen points as Dagenham United continued their promotion push with a solid performance on the road away at London Park City. Iaia Jau netted a brace and Shaquille Mathurin grabbed the other to win 3 – 1, United’s fourth league win and placing them just goal difference away from a spot in the promotion places.
With games in hand, Crookz United are one of the sides who could still spoil the party in the promotion places and presently sit eighth in the table from five games after defeating North East Lions in a 2 – 1 scoreline at Peter May. Ben Joao and John Afrane-Kesey goals were the difference between the side, Mace Johnson striking the Lions consolation off the bench.
DIVISION ONE
Belfry have moved to the cusp of the promotion places once again in Division One as they secured a big win at the Marshes, defeating Francis Luke in a 9 – 0 scoreline. Kieran James was in fine fettle with a five-goal haul for his side with Victor Davis, Warren James, Gabriel Ogunwomoju and Luke MacDonald also scoring to confirm a fifth league win on the spin. Second placed RCXI moved a point closer to the leaders but missed the chance to go top as they were held to a 2 – 2 draw away at Something From Nothing. Despite the eleven point gap between the sides going into the game, SFN put in a solid performance against their promotion chasing opponents to earn a big point.
Wanstead remain well placed to make a charge for promotion, sitting fourth and on the back of another league win, having defeated Barkingside A 5 – 0 at the Flats on Saturday. That win saw the in-form Wanstead move to twelve points, five adrift of the promotion places as Edson Lami’s tremendous form continued with another four goals, adding to Suhaib Abeid’s strike. Just a few goals behind Wanstead sit their local rivals Newham Wanderers who are fifth in the table after seven games following their weekend’s efforts, defeating Forest Green 5 – 1 at Leyton Sixth Form College. Nuno Dentampol netted twice off the bench with Seco Embalo, Robertson Morais and Macane Caleir goals rounding off the scoring.
It was also a good afternoon’s work for Kwanzas London Sport who will hope to build on an excellent result as they defeated Ilford Reserves 2 – 1 in Hainault to pick up their first points of the season. Despite a difficult start, that will give Kwanzas plenty of confidence and saw them move off the bottom, just a point adrift from safety.
DIVISION TWO
The high-scoring Old Esthameians have pushed themselves up into the promotion places following the weekend’s results as they earned a local derby victory at home to strugglers Newbury East, winning the game 5 – 0. That confirmed a fifth win in seven this season and became one of four teams level on fifteen points. Another side in the fifteen point club are Emerson & Upminster Reserves who reached that mark with a home win on Saturday as ninth placed Ryan Under 23s were the visitors to Hall Lane. Tobi Onafeko and Danny Gillham were the scorers in the game for Emerson to edge the game 2 – 1, netting their own fifth league victory in the process. Mekhi Charles-Armstrong got the only goal for the Ryan side here.
There was a five goal thriller in the division’s final game where Redbridge Community were the hosts to an FHN Athletic side, the teams beginning the game just three points apart. But that had increased to six by full time as FHN came through a five goal thriller, winning 3 – 2 thanks to goals from Carl Gbolade, Merrill Appiah and Kieran McKoy.
DIVISION THREE
With the leaders out of action in Division Three, FC Baresi Under 23 took full advantage of that situation by recording maximum points at home to Harlow Inter to go top, edging a tight game 4 – 3. Akins Subair scored twice and Jamal Harvey once for Harlow but two Kii Jean-Baptiste efforts plus goals from Harrez Aliane and Hanza Hafesji gave the points to Baresi.
Lymore Gardens Reserves also took advantage of other sides being out of action to move third in the standings following the weekend’s results as they came through 5-3 winners with Flyers Under 23s. Rob Small struck twice and Warren Isoka, Marcel Destouche and Omani Green one each to render Flyers goals from Kai Eaton, Ethan Sowonola and Aaron Weymouth as just consolation. There was an impressive win for ASA too who made home advantage count with a big 6 – 1 victory against Old Barkabbeyans Reserves at the Marshes, leapfrogging their opponents into the top half of the table. A hat-trick of braces done the damage with Jubayed Miah, Atif Haider and Arun Jeyashankar goals proving the difference, Klodian Meta netting the Old Barks reply.
Also in the top half, Buckhurst Way sit fifth in the standings approaching the half way point in the season, aided by their most recent success as they defeated Terin 3 – 0 at Oaks Park High School. Andrei Rizea, Dolapo Gbadamosi and Segun Dickson struck for the visitors to made it five wins from ten so far this campaign.
DIVISION FOUR
In Division Four, Dagenham United Reserves have moved to within three points of the promotion places after an entertaining away victory on Saturday against sixth placed Emerson & Upminster A where the teams share seven goals. Dagenham came out on the right side of a 4 – 3 win with two Cain Dash goals and one each from Mamadou Soumare and Tyler Leon handing their side the win, despite two Robert McKnight efforts and a Bradlee Birch goal for Emerson.
There was also an impressive win for the division’s third highest scoring side, Avondale Rangers, who picked up their third win of the season with a 4 – 2 win at Newham Royals to move their points tally onto nine. Daniel Bordman, Chris Harper, Mark Hayden and Harry Callagher were the scorers to render Gary Adams and Ashley Evett efforts as just consolation in the end. The remaining league game came from Romford where top half Flyers Under 21s were in action against an in-form Newham & Havering Borough side. The sides starting the day just two points apart and that was how it ended also with the teams sharing the spoils in a 1 – 1 draw. Andrew Elie scored for Newham to add another point to their tally, with Alex Grant responding for Flyers.
COUNTY CUP
Woodford East are into the hat for the next round of the BBC Essex Saturday Premier Cup as they came through a competitive game against May & Baker EC A over in Dagenham. East were 5 – 3 winners on the day, thanks to a brace from Billy Barr and one each for Ben Smith, Lucio Uare and Adam Tabbani. Halil Hassan’s side now face a trip to Dunmow Town in the fourth round in January.
It wasn’t such a successful afternoon for DT FC who saw their unbeaten run come to an end this season with a defeat away at Colne Athletic. They were beaten 4 – 1 against the Essex & Suffolk Border League side to end their run in the competition. In the Essex Saturday Junior Trophy, the delayed tie between Felsted Rovers and Fairlop Rovers finally got played and it was the Mid Essex League hosts who took the honours with a solid 2 – 1 win against a previously unbeaten Fairlop Rovers side.
Fixtures – Saturday November 27th (top two tiers only)
EAL Senior Division
Chadwell Heath Spartans v Jolof Sports | Chigwell Hall
DT FC v FC Baresi | Harlow Arena 3G
Kit Out London v Lymore Gardens | Noak Hill 3G
Rapid Chingford v Leyton Royal | Lakeside Sports Ground
Woodford East v Chigwell Town | Hackney Marshes
EAL Premier Division
Crookz Utd v London Park City | Peter May Centre, Walthamstow
Dagenham Utd v London Cranes | Castle Green Leisure Centre 3G
Eastside v North East Lions | Peter May Centre, W’stow
Oakside v Athletic Newham U23 | Fairlop Oak Playing Fields
Wapping v All Prospects | Victoria Park, E9
survivor16b 