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North Berks Football League Roundup

12^th September 2009

(Phil Annets)

In Division One Faringdon Town made it three wins out of three with an exciting 3-2 victory over Wootton and Dry Sandford with Paul Hulme and a brace from Derren Harrington on the scoresheet for the home team and goals from Tom Srawley and Tom Cooke for the visitors. Saxton Rovers made amends for their Didcot Festival Cup final defeat by winning 4-1 at Crowmarsh Gifford. A Paul Hannigan penalty for the home team was responded to by two from Benny Sutton, one from Danny Parry and one from Paul Churchouse for the defending champions. AFC Wallingford put the disappointment of their FA Vase defeat behind them with an emphatic 4-1 victory at home to Warborough and Shillingford. Tristan Lewis’ first half free kick was added to by a second half hat-trick by substitute Sean Kelleher. Warborough’s goal came from a spectacular effort by Stuart Evans straight from kick-off lobbing the Wallingford keeper from his own half. Didcot Casuals broke their duck for the season thrashing Lambourn Sports 6-2 with two goals from Lawrence Hoey, one each from JR Willis, Richard Knight and Danny Norton, and a fabulous strike from Fletcher Hoey. The final match in the division resulted in a 1-1 draw between Drayton and Harwell Village. Danny Curran headed the home team in front with a well-taken goal, whilst Matty Hinchcliffe volleyed a 30 yard thunderbolt to equalise with just five minutes remaining.

In Division Two Harwell International also made it three wins out of three with their 3-2 home victory over Steventon. Wayne Robins, Mike Yardley and Dave Bartlett scored for the home team with goals from Danny McArdle and Stuart Coppock for the visitors. Long Wittenham Athletic maintained their perfect start with goals from Andy Marriott and Luke Saunders in their 2-0 win at East Hendred. Two goals from Dave Stebbings and one from Ben Williams gave Grove Rangers a 3-0 win at Botley United. Benson AFC won 4-2 at Lambourn Sports Reserves who lost their third consecutive match. Goalscorers for Benson were James Oliver with two, Joe Fowler and Nick Skiller, whilst Steve Crame and Andrew Arnold netted for the home team. In the other match, Marcham won an exciting encounter at Saxton Rovers Reserves 3-2. Phil Jeacock, Stuart Armstrong and Dave Tunnah netted for the visitors, whilst Adam Greenaway scored a couple for the hosts.

Kintbury Rangers Reserves head Division Three following their 4-1 victory at Wootton and Dry Sandford Reserves having played one more game than the two teams with 100% records. Hanney United eased past Faringdon Town Reserves 3-0 with goals from Chris Hunt, Nathan Page and Johnny James. Neal Smith scored the only goal for Harwell Village Reserves in their 1-0 win over Harwell International Reserves condemning their local rivals to their third successive defeat. Benson Lions recorded their first win of the season beating Drayton Reserves 4-2 with two goals from Alex Smallshaw and one each from Matt Sims and Will Wardell. Bampton Town won 1-0 at home to Shrivenham ‘A’.

In Division Four Appleton Stars were on the wrong end of a 14-1 defeat at the hands of a rampant Stanford-in-the-Vale side. Jason Evans grabbed five goals, Mike van der Mortel netted four times, Gus McDonald scored a brace, and Adam Clay, Steve Holder and Dan Bradbury completed the rout. Liam Odley did however score Appleton’s first ever NBFL goal. Elsewhere, the top two, Coleshill United Reserves and Challow United, played out a 2-2 draw with James Glock netting twice for Coleshill. Grove Rangers Reserves won a ding-dong battle with Hagbourne United 5-4 thanks mainly to a four goal haul for Igwasi Owusu-Asomaning and one from Matthew Hale. Luke Ambler’s double and goals from Kevin Jones and Hathaway proved fruitless for the visitors. Didcot Casuals Reserves beat Marcham Reserves 2-1 with goals from John Pearce and Luke Hammond.

The big winners in Division Five were Warborough and Shillingford Reserves winning 7-2 at Sutton Courtenay Reserves. David Cox scored twice and Darren Smee, Luke Dewar, Ray O’Neill, Alan Welman and Marcus Charman each scored once. Matt Hooton and Max Rawlinson scored the home team’s goals. After two heavy defeats Challow United Reserves did well in losing only 1-0 at home to high flying Didcot Casuals ‘A’ who have now won three out of three. Long Wittenham Athletic Reserves also maintained their perfect start defeating Steventon Reserves 2-1 thanks to goals from Oliver Saunders and Richard Hastings. Stanford-in-the-Vale Reserves recorded their first victory with an impressive 4-0 win at Hagbourne United Reserves with Jamie Gregory twice, Josh Vaughan and James Baker all on the scoresheet. In the final match of the day Bampton Town Reserves ran out 4-3 winners at home to Uffington United Reserves.

A spectacular Beckham style goal from inside his own half by Warborough and Shillingford’s Stuart Evans was the only high point in their heavy defeat at AFC Wallingford. The home side dominated the match from the off and should have had more than the one goal half time lead that came from Tristan Lewis’ cross-cum-shot free kick in the 30^th minute. In fact the Wallingford player/manager himself had three other clear cut free kick opportunities to score in the half, in better more central positions, all of which were squandered.

Four other Wallingford players made key contributions to the impressive victory. Courtney Amos was a rock in defensive midfield allowing captain Ben Gladwin the time and space to orchestrate all the best Wallingford attacks, most of which came through the excellent dribbling skills of Jordan Brown, switching wings throughout the match and causing havoc in the Warborough defence wherever he went.

It was the half time introduction of Sean Kelleher that finally allowed Wallingford’s dominance to pay off as he collected a second half hat-trick. The first came in the 59^th minute via one of Jordan Brown’s mazy runs into the box where he was upended by Luke Dewar, who having already been booked in the first half, was fortunate to stay on the pitch. Kelleher calmly placed the spot kick low and hard to the keeper’s right. His second and third were real poacher’s goals latching onto a loose ball in the area to score from close range twice in the last 10 minutes.

Immediately after the second of those two goals Stuart Evans scored his outstanding strike that everyone watching will be talking about. Unfortunately for Warborough the league table will only remember the three points to Wallingford.

Tristan Lewis (goalscorer) of AFC Wallingford clearing the ball in their game with Warborough & Shillingford

In a closely contested match the points were shared between Drayton and Harwell Village. Drayton applied the early pressure and they were rewarded with a well taken goal on the 15 minute mark. A poor kick by Drayton debutant goalkeeper Ian Purvis fortunately found his team-mate John Eldridge who deftly flicked the ball into the path of the advancing left full back George Brewerton. The Drayton No. 3 took the ball in his stride and played an excellent early cross for his captain Danny Curran to head home from the edge of the Harwell box.

Drayton continued to apply pressure to increase their lead, but as the half wore on Harwell Village started to come into the game. Both sides had chances to add to the scoreline, but it remained 1-0 at half time. The second half continued as per the first, with Harwell gradually getting more and more into the game. The score was still unchanged, but in the 81^st minute Harwell’s Simon Barlow latched onto a long kick from his keeper Simon Matthews to fire a volley from 30 yards which skimmed off the top of the Drayton bar.

Five minutes later, from an almost identical position, Matty Hinchcliffe went one better than his team-mate and saw his volley sail into the top right-hand corner of the net. Both sides had opportunities in the final minutes to win the match, but a draw was a true reflection of how the game had been played.

Wootton and Dry Sandford took the lead after only four minutes of their game against the league leaders Faringdon Town, after a well-worked move and fine finish from Tom Srawley. Wootton even threatened to extend the lead with more enterprising football, but Faringdon keeper Chris Webb made a superb reaction save from Sam Pointer. However it was the home side that levelled on twenty minutes when a cross from the right was headed in by an unmarked Paul Hulme.

Faringdon took the lead early in the second half when a long range shot was spilled by the Wootton keeper Chris Dales and Derren Harrington scooped home the loose ball. Town increased their lead on the hour when a left wing cross by Hulme picked out the run of Harrington, who volleyed home for his second of the match.

Wootton pulled a goal back in the 81st minute when substitute Tom Cooke shot low into the net to make it 3 - 2 and they poured forward in search of an equaliser. In the last moments of the match they looked like getting it as Sam Pointer hit a shot from ten yards out, but Webb made a superb one-handed save to keep the ball out.

Faringdon Town’s Derren Harrington volleys past Wootton’s Chris Dales to make it 3-1

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