Lincolnshire County Football Association – County Sunday Cup Final
The Coach House FC 4-0 Hykeham Town TRFC
The Premier Division Champions from our League were unable to produce the kind of form that has seen them challenging for 3 domestic trophies this Season and in the end they were comfortably defeated on the day. They now look forward to 12th May and a visit to Sincil Bank in the final of the Ron Eaglen Challenge Cup where they will find a Golden Eagle side waiting and ready to try and keep their treble winning aspirations down to just the League title that they secured a week ago.
Premier Division: Champions are Hykeham Town TRFC
Second place – Lincoln Moorlands Railway FC
Metheringham FC 1-9 Anglers FC
Last Seasons Champions lead the game by just a solitary goal at the break but a strong and potent second half saw them scoring almost at will. Bridge scored 2 goals with the remainder coming from Wilkinson, Moore, Coo, Mann, Ward, McDonald and Stephen Bowden, yes Stephen Bowden! Well done to him for notching again, something that he has done magnificently over the years, and great to see a player who is the wrong side of 40 still prepared to turn out when necessary for the cause. Metheringham finish a difficult Season by their standards in 7th position with Anglers finishing in 4th place.
Division One Champions are Trent Valley FC
Second place – FVA Jerusalem
FVA Jerusalem 3-2 Trent Valley FC
Stanney, Frecklington, and Russell got the goals that saw the hosts inflict only the second League defeat of the Season on the Division One Champions and in doing so claim the coveted second spot in the table which will see them return to the League’s Premier Division once again next Season. Munro scored both goals for Trent Valley but in the end it proved to be Jerusalem’s day between the top 2 teams in this Division.
Division Two Champions are Nettleham FC
Second place – Plough Sturton
Nettleham FC 2-0 AFC Rustons
Kerrigan and Taylor hit the goals for the hosts that broke the hearts of the boys from Rustons who have headed the Division for much of the Season in this final game of the Season. As I predicted a couple of weeks ago this Division was always likely to go down to the last 2 games of the Season where the title challengers faced each other twice within the last 7 days. With Nettleham running out winners in both games they regained the top spot right at the death which as we all know is the only time of a Season that actually matters. This result, together with the win by Plough Sturton, sees AFC Rustons actually drop out of the top 2 positions as they started the day at the top but actually finished in third place.
Plough Sturton 7-0 Old Boys United
The hosts were after goals as well as points from this contest as they chased down a top 2 finish if the result of the game between the top 2 teams went in favour of Nettleham. History now proves that it did. Plough’s scorers were Long, Light, Cawkwell, Lansdall, Blanchard, Pell, and a penalty from Mangham, which elevated the Sturton based team up into second place to earn them promotion to Division One next Season.
Witham FC 0-1 Coningsby FC
Coningsby FC grabbed a 4th place finish when a goal from Rylett, 10 minutes from time, broke the home team’s resistance to earn maximum points against the team who have finished in last place in the Division at the end of their first Season in the League.
Saxilby Athletic 6-3 Cherry Willingham FC
Beaumont hit a hat-trick for the hosts and further goals from Bocock, Hicks, and Brown, saw their side finish the Season with a victory against a Cherry Willingham side who responded with 2 goals from the prolific scoring Foster Mathieson, and Ip. Saxilby finish the Season in 7th place whilst Cherry Willingham finish in 9th place, 3 places above the bottom team.
Division Three Champions are Morning Star FC
Second place – Ruston Sports FC
Shakespeare Imps 0-3 Horncastle Town
The visitors had O’Callaghan to thank for his hat-trick, his second in the last 3 games, which sealed the points for the visitors to end their Season on a high. Horncastle finished their Season in 5th place with Shakespeare Imps a couple of places behind them in 7th place.
Division Four Champions are Railway Inn United
Second place – Swanpool FC
Bottle & Glass 5-3 Railway Inn United
The Scothern based side gained a League double over the Division’s Champions with their second win against them within a month. In doing so they became only the second team in the Division to record a victory against the Champions with a brace apiece from both Wright and Taylor plus a goal by Stocks doing the damage. Markham hit 2 goals for the visitors and Antell also got on the score-sheet but this proved insufficient on the day. Railway Inn will lift the crown after their relegation last Season and appear to be well placed now to return to Division 3. Bottle & Glass will now look forward to their Sincil Bank date with Morning Star in the final of the Jock Mitchell Memorial Trophy on Tuesday 7th May having finished in a very credible 4th place, just 3 points behind the team that finished second in the table.
Swanpool FC 6-0 M.H.Blue Lion
Yet another hat-trick from Liam Bentley and solo efforts from Stokes, Horry, and Craig Bentley, saw the home side to victory and a second place finish against the much improved M.H.Blue Lion. The Lion finished in 8th place this Season, by far their best League placing in this, their 3rd, Season in the League.
HBW United 3-3 The Ferryboat FC
This game saw 6 goals and the points shared in an entertaining game out at Moor Lane Branston. The home side’s goals came from Read, Good, and O’Callaghan with Flintham, Adams, and MacDavid all netting for the visitors. After two long cup runs this Season HBW have had to fit in 5 midweek games in just 4 weeks since the change of the clocks so they have done remarkably well to complete all of their fixtures within the limited time available. HBW finish the Season in 7th place in the table with The Ferryboat finishing a couple of places higher in 5th place after their maiden Season in the League.
Crown & Arrows P-P Metheringham Reserves
Disappointingly this game had to be postponed as Metheringham Reserves were unable to raise a side and the points have been awarded to Crown & Arrows in accordance with League rules. Crown & Arrows finished the Season in 3rd place after enjoying a very good first Season in the League whilst Metheringham Reserves finish in last place after what has proved to be somewhat of a turbulent Season with player availability proving to be a problem for them on occasions.
Ian Stephenson