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Weekly News Report
Match Round-up for 4 October 2008
(Report by Andy Wells)
Danny’s double
sends Town through in County Cup
Danny Courtney fired two
second-half goals to send Faringdon
Town through to the next
round of the Berks & Bucks Intermediate Cup, with a 2 – 0 win over a
valiant Harwell Village.
Both sides had key players
missing before the game but Harwell had six first team players out for
this tie and they picked up more injuries during the game. Despite this
they produced a stubborn display to deny Town until Courtney glanced home
his first in the 59th minute.
Both teams played good, neat,
patient football, without resort to the long ball, in the first half. It
seemed the right thing to do with the strong wind but with both teams well
organised at the back there was little penetration. Matthew Pill put in a
strong right-wing run on the half-hour and his low cross into the box
caused problems but the Faringdon forwards were unable to convert.
Pill turned saviour minutes
later as a right wing cross was met by Grant Goodall’s head. The beat Town
keeper Chris Webb but Pill was in the right position to head off the line.
Danny
Courtney (no. 3 in red) glances in a right wing cross to give Faringdon
Town the lead in the County Cup match against Harwell Village.
Photo
© Andy Wells
Fourteen minutes into the second
period, Courtney rose to head into the far corner to give Town the lead
and they started to assume control of the match, with Seb Kolodzijeyczyk
hitting the left upright after determined play took him in the Harwell
six-yard area.
Goodall and Louis Maciak had
particularly good games in defence for the visitors and in their prompting
runs further forward. However, they were caught napping with ten minutes
remaining, when Courtney received the ball in space in the centre, ran
forward and finished low inside Andy Junkinson’s left-hand post.
Just before the end Courtney
was denied a hat-trick when his close range shot was well-saved by
Junkinson.
In other ties, the North
Berks League had a fine day against Hellenic League opposition.
Blewbury went 4 – 0 up against
Shrivenham Reserves through Jack Hogan (2), Adam Bailey and Lawrence Hoey
before going down to ten men when Jon Hedges received an eye injury.
Shrivenham managed to claw back two goals in the final minutes as a result
but could not prevent Blewbury’s 4 – 2 progress.
Saxton Rovers
travelled to Letcombe and goals from Ryan Johnson and Danny Parry
continued the North Berks’ hoodoo against the Hellenic Division 1 West
side, who are second in the league this season.
Lambourn Sports
were equally too strong for Wantage Town Reserves and goals from Danny
Pearce, Matty Pedder and Ben Matthew gave them a 3 – 0 lead before the
visitors’ consolation.
Crowmarsh Gifford,
leaders of Division 1, fell behind after only five minutes to
Steventon but recovered with
goals from Dan Keeler and a 35-yard strike from Andy Allum. The only blot
on the North Berks’ success story was
A.F.C. Wallingford’s slide to a
4 – 1 home defeat by Kintbury Rangers; Tom Hammond getting the
Wallingford
goal.
In the North Berks Cup, the
holders Ardington & Lockinge came from being behind after only two minutes
to win 4 – 2 against Harwell
International. Gareth Fenton (2), Chris Roche and Mike Farrelly were
on target for the visitors Ardington, while Johnny Eudell kept his
personal scoring form going with both Harwell goals.
Third Division
Botley United, who went all the
way to the Charity Shield Cup Final, took their hurdle in the North Berks
Cup with a resounding 8 – 0 win over
Challow United. Chris Potter
(3), Andy Potter, Mark Penner, Dan Hill, Kevin Cooper and John Stribling
striking the goals for Botley.
Drayton
went ahead midway through the first half against
Stanford in the Vale but the
Division Four side hit back just before the interval through Steve Holder
to go in level at the break. Drayton reasserted their authority with
second-half goals from Danny Curran and James Brown to finally take the
tie 3 - 1.
A below par performance from
Marcham in their match against
Hanney United forced the
manager to make some tactical substitutions, which led to a 6 – 1 win.
While Long Wittenham Athletic
got the better of higher division opposition, as they won 2 – 1 at
Coleshill United.
In League Division Two, James
Hawthorne scored a first-half hat-trick to put
Saxton Rovers Reserves in
control against Faringdon Town
Reserves. Faringdon pulled a goal back just before the interval
through Jason Smith but with no further scoring, Saxton Reserves won 3 –
1.
Leaders
Didcot Casuals had to work hard
for their 3 – 2 victory at home to
Lambourn Sports Reserves. Jake Chaffey, Jamie Newport and John Wilson
scored the Casuals’ goals which opens up a five point lead at the top as
second-placed Benson A.F.C.
went down to a 3 – 2 defeat at neighbours
Warborough & Shillingford. Andy Wright gave Benson a half-time lead
but goals from Liam Barson, Tom Davies and Adam Oram swung the game
around, with Benson getting a late second through Will Clements. Both
sides had a player dismissed for an ‘altercation’: Wayne Rudman for
Warborough and goalscorer Wright for Benson.
Goals for
Sutton Courtenay from Pat Clark
and Kearan Russell and for Oli Tabor and Luke Faircloth for
Grove Rangers resulted in a 2 –
2 draw.
It was fairly quiet in
Division Three as only two games went ahead.
Ardington & Lockinge Reserves
drew 0 – 0 with Blewbury Reserves
to secure their first point of the season, while
Shrivenham ‘A’ leapt into
second place in the table, thanks to a goal apiece from Oliver Bailey and
Sam Roberts in a 2 – 1 home win over
Coleshill Reserves.
It’s getting a bit tight in
Division 4, with leaders Hagbourne
United losing for the second week running but still being able to hang
on to top place.. they lost 1 – 0 at
Faringdon
Town
‘A’ where Troy Redman got the only goal.
Uffington United
picked up their first win of the season with a comfortable 3 – 0 win over
Marcham Reserves, thanks to
goals from Stuart Rolfe (2) and Nick Frost, while
Didcot Casuals Reserves also
picked their first 3-pointer, with a 4 – 2 win at
Steventon Reserves. Gareth Cole
(2), Danny McGibbon and Daryl Harper netted for Didcot with Sean Follows
getting both goals for the home team. Only three points separate top from
bottom now.
Finally in Division Five,
Challow United Reserves hit the local night spots ready to celebrate
after their first points of the season. Their record was no goals scored
and thirty-three against before the home match against
Hagbourne Reserves but goals
from Jason McDowall (2), Matthew Tupper (2) and an own goal gave them the
nod in a 5 – 4 victory.
John Mildenhall got the only
goal for Uffington Reserves in a 1 – 0 win at
Sutton Courtenay Reserves and that result preserves their 100%
record at the top of the Division.
Long Wittenham Reserves
kept up their good start with a 6 – 2 home win over
Kennington Reserves to move
into fourth place. Wittenham goals came from David Jones (2), Ollie
Saunders, Andy Robbins, James Bagdadi and Andy Gregson with Liam
Buckingham scoring both goals for Kennington.
Kevin Dawson scored from all
of 40 yards on the half-volley for
Didcot Casuals ‘A’ side but it was al to no avail as they lost 5 – 2
to Benson Lions Reserves: Tom
Wapshott got the other Didcot goal.
Stanford in the Vale Reserves are in third place, following a 2 – 1
win at Hanney Reserves, thanks
to goals from Matthew Webb and Grzegorz Krawczck.
Hanney United’s marksman was Steve Weeks.

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