The excitement of Cup Football returned for our participants and followers for the first time this Season when the prestigious Ron Eaglen Challenge Cup opened the League’s Cup programme with 21 Preliminary Round games played at the weekend.
RON EAGLEN CUP – PRELIMINARY ROUND
Waddington United pulled off perhaps the most impressive giant killing act of the day by defeating North Scarle 4-1 at Mere Road. Waddington have found scoring goals to be somewhat of a challenge in Division Two this Season with just 2 League goals scored from their opening 3 games. Having registered just one point from their opening games this result was even more impressive as it was achieved against a side sitting third in the League above them. Harvey Melladay gets star rating for his 2 goals with the others coming from Ryan Pell and Dean Cox.
Witham FC will be delighted to progress after their game against a team from two divisions higher in the pyramid finished all square at two apiece when they entertained Cherry Willingham. Joshua Searle and a spot kick in normal time by Stephen Rowe accounted for their goals before the dreaded penalties took centre stage. Witham held their nerve and came out 6-5 winners on penalties.
AFC Bailgate put five goals past Active Arena without conceding any to book their place in the next round of the Competition. Now for the weekly question – how many did Josh Schofield get? The answer is only a hat-trick this week as Ben Good and Brandon Caller got the other goals to see the team through.
A goal from Jonny Clamp for AFC West End and a goal from Jack Hobson for Old Boys United saw their game end all square at 1-1 in regulation time at Ravendale Drive. Old boys slotted four of their penalties home to take the tie 4-3 on penalties and at the same time give them some comfort from recording their first win of the Season having lost their opening four games in the League programme.
Bottle & Glass hit 6 in their 6-2 win at home to new comers Hospital Club FC. Sam Brown scored two with Jack Houltby, Ollie Wright, Carl Newberry, and Tommy Johnson completing their scoring. Kyle Logan scored for the visitors as did Aaron Bee once again. Last week Aaron scored direct from a corner and it appears obvious that my report wasn’t seen by the Coach of Bottle & Glass as he scored again this week – direct from another corner!
Cranwell FC and M.H.Blue Lion shared 8 goals out at Ruskington in a thoroughly entertaining 4-4 draw. The home team’s scorers are unknown but the visitor’s goals came from a Richard Wood brace with the other goals coming from Rob Carter and Tom Hirons. With the 90 minutes proving entertaining so were the resulting penalties with Cranwell running out winners by 6-5 on the penalty kicks.
When Cherry United defeated Engine FC 16-1 in the League recently I am sure the Engine players could be forgiven for not fancying this Cup tie which paired the same two sides together on Sunday. Engine failed to score this time round but did marginally better that in the League game in terms of conceding as Cherry United hit 13 goals this time around. Their marathon scoring spree came courtesy of a double hat-trick from skipper Kieran Helsdown, as well as another hat-trick hero in the shape of Jordan Curtis who notched 4 of his own. The remaining 3 goals were shared between Zidane Disley, Harry Ormsby, and Will Allen. Engine can now turn their attention back to the League for a couple of weeks before the return League fixture takes place at the end of the month!
A penalty by Craig Good wasn’t enough for HBW United as 2 goals by Paul Masters, one coming from the penalty spot, and a further by Stuart Cook saw the visitors progress to the next round and in so doing record their first win of the Season.
Heighington FC came through a potentially tough tie at home to AFC Lincoln Imp when they came out 3-2 winners. 2 goals from Heighington’s Gregory Brown and another goal from Josh Leay paved the way for the win with Thomas Ardron and Mark Pitchford’s replies for Lincoln Imp seeing the visitors come up just short on the day.
It was raining goals at Helpringham, at least for the home side as Helpringham Rovers rammed home 11 of them against Shakespeare Imps. The home marksmen were Ryan Anderson with 4, Mackenzie Smythe and Daniel Broughton each scoring 2 apiece, plus solo efforts from Alex Dickinson, Ryan Goy, and Kurt Smyth. Dek Binnington scored a consolation for the visitors from the penalty spot.
Horncastle Town and Hykeham Memorial FC shared 4 goals in a 2-2 draw out at Horncastle. Isaac Ward and Mathew Jamieson were on target for the hosts with Mark Newman and Sean Cooper on target for the visitors. Horncastle won the penalty contest 4-3.
Chris Betts and Christopher Ellis were each on target for Hykeham Tigers when they entertained free scoring Lincoln High Street in this game but 5 goals from the visitors saw the Lincoln side safely through to the next round.
Lincoln Green were another side to score 5 goals, this being without reply, in the day’s early kick off away at Jolly Scotchman FC at Sleaford. Oliver Newell netted twice with the remaining goals coming from Jordan Rudd, Joe Aitken, and Matthew Rudd.
Substitute Ryan Smith scored for Nosey FC when they hosted Wragby FC at King George V Playing Field but strikes from Jonathan Seymour and George Jones saw the visitors book their passage through to the next round.
Plough Sturton and Ruston Sports have been involved in some tight games in the League over the years but 2 goals from Oliver Blanchard and additional goals from Owen Poole and Tom Everington saw Plough through to a comfortable looking score line despite Ash Stephenson slipping home a penalty for the Ruston’s side when the two sides met at Sturton. 4-1 to Plough being the result on the day.
Plough Swinderby FC are enjoying life since their name change and 6 goals at home to Broadley saw them progress safely at the expense of visitors Broadley FC. The Plough goals were scored by Billy Munro who scored twice for the hosts, as did Thomas Hewitt. Richard Ekins added to the score, as did Stuart Ross. Magill and Foss got the goals for Broadley as the score finished 6-2 to Plough Swinderby.
There was a high scoring game when Queen Athletic from Division Three hosted Potterhanworth FC at Skellingthorpe Road. The game saw 10 goals scored with the away side hitting their opponents for 6 as they gave a run out to some of their fringe players in this game. The ploy certainly worked as the free scoring James Stephenson added another 3 goals to his already outstanding collection. Gavin Lilley scored twice with the other goal coming from Anthony Mills. The Queen Athletic scorers are not known at the time of compiling this round-up.
The tie between Railway Inn United and Morning Star had to be decided on penalties after the game finished 3-3 at the end of the regulation period of play. The Railway’s goals were scored by Okiele Akieme McCalla who hit 2, one from the penalty spot, with the other coming from Ben Smith. Brandon Onyon, Tobi Mayhall and the ever-reliable Joe Walukiewicz scored yet again to take the game to penalties with Morning Star winning that contest by 4 penalties to 3.
FVA Jerusalem visited nearby Saxilby Athletic and goals from Shandan Millican, Jack Wood, and Jon Wren saw them return home with a 3-1 victory under their belts. Ryan Beaumont scored a consolation for the home side.
Swanpool FC’s stuttering start to the Season seemed smoother with a comfortable 5-0 home win against new boys Sleaford Athletic. Liam Wright claimed 2 goals, with Liam Bentley, Karl Horry, and Harry Wright completing the win for Ant Roberts’ side to ease the self-imposed pressure that the Manger puts himself and his team under.
The final tie in this round saw James Hobson get the goal for The Ferryboat Inn FC but strikes from Mark Walker and a penalty from Matt Dale saw vistors Bassingham Bugle Horn FC take the tie to look forward to progressing to the next round.
PREMIER DIVISION
With the top 3 sides without League fixtures Welton FC continued their excellent start to the Season when they entertained Metheringham FC at their new home at Dunholme. Goals by Ben Garrick and Matt Robinson for Metheringham saw the game heading for a 2-1 victory for the visitors but a last-minute equaliser by the home side saw the points shared to deny Metheringham their first win of the campaign. That said, this result did see them gain their first point of the Season, whilst Welton FC moved up to the dizzy heights of fourth place, ironically nudging ahead of neighbours Welton Sports AFC on goal difference.
Welton Sports AFC were, in effect, experiencing the exact opposite of what Welton FC had done when they entertained rivals AFC Saxilby at Ryland Road. Having defeated the Saxilby team recently in the Kelly Read Cup Semi Final in August, Welton Sports’ were looking to put one over on their rivals in the League. A Cameron Duke goal for the home side saw them heading into the last seconds of the game heading for a slender victory but with Craig Bridge in the opposition ranks you can never count your chicken, as the saying goes. Mr Bridge underlined that saying by netting the equaliser with the very last kick of the game to ensure that each team went home with a share of the spoils with the game ending 1-1.
The final game in this Division saw Lincoln Moorlands/Railway get their Season firing when they secured a comfortable 4-0 home win over newly promoted Nettleham FC thanks to 2 goals from Thomas Cooke plus goals from George Aspin and David Robertson. This saw the Moors record their first win and points of the Season at the third time of asking.
COMING NEXT WEEKEND
Sunday 11th October sees the first round of the Lincolnshire County Football Association County Sunday Cup get under way with 21 of our League’s sides in action.
Ian Stephenson
League Secretary