Chester & Wirral League

Christleton Celtic made it two wins from two to start the new Chester & Wirral League season.

Celtic ran out 7-1 winners at Ellesmere Port (Stephen Lewis) in the Queensferry Sports Premier Division on Monday thanks to doubles from Cal Bratley, Charlie Jones, Aaron Hinchcliffe and a Joe Kirk single.

MBNA (Andre Clark 2, Paul Jones) got up and running by banking a 3-2 victory at Sutton Athletic.

AFC Essar (Matty Crank) drew 1-1 at home to Ellesmere Port Town A (Connor Howley), Newton Athletic lost 3-0 at home to Higher Bebington Kelma (Gregg Biggs, Ben Kierman, Kenny Mahon), while early leaders Shaftesbury Youth (Lee Griffiths, Tom Hodson, Ryan Griffiths) won 3-1 at home to Franklyn’s (Sam McLachlan).

That followed a 4-2 victory for Shaftesbury (Liam Massey, James Osbyrne, Danny Smith, Jay Drayton) at Ellesmere Port Town A (Howley, Corey Blaylock) on Saturday.

Christleton (Paul Broster, Mike Collins, Ben Gregory) edged a close contest at Sutton 3-2 while Essar went down 4-2 at Ellesmere Port (John Britton, Ian Johnson, Stephen Morgan, Mike Newman).

Upton JFC were edged out 8-6 at Cestrian Alex

Ben Woodman hit a hat-trick for Newton in their 3-3 draw at Franklyn’s, who earned a point courtesy of a last-minute equaliser from Steve Smith following earlier strikes from Steve Rothwell and Phil Founds.

There were goals aplenty in Olympic Trophies Division One on the same afternoon.

The prolific Adie Gough grabbed a hat-trick and Mark Blake (2), Adam Crimes (2) and Josh Camy were also on target as Cestrian Alex shaded a 14-goal thriller 8-6 at home to Upton Juniors.

Blacon Youth Reserves (Jake Jones 2, Lee Bryce 2, Lewis Coppack 2) won 6-2 at home to Chester Argyle (James Pemberton 2) while Clubbies AFC (Tommy Booth 3, Mikey Edwards) triumphed 4-1 at home to Princes Villa.

FC Uber (Matt Elson, Graham Dodd, Paul Joyner) won 3-1 at a much-improved Helsby Reserves (Reece Dwyer).

Elton Athletic (John Horton, Jack Owen, Adam Brown) drew 3-3 at home to Hoole Rangers (Ally Thompson, Matty Sharpe, Alex Hutchinson) while Chester Nomads 3rds fell 3-0 at home to St Saviours (Luke Edwards, Cameron Forster, Liam Wall).

Crossway ran out 10-2 winners at home to Beehive

Nomads (Sam Jones, Callum Bowness, Matt Petts, Will Yardley) were then just beaten 5-4 at Blacon (James Lloyd 2, Jake Dean 2, Callum Barlow) on Monday.

On the same evening table-topping Clubbies (Booth 2) dropped points for the first time this season after losing 3-2 at St Saviours (Tom Hopley, Jack Shepperd, Wall).

Joe Williams blasted a double hat-trick for the second time this season as Upton won 7-3 at home to Helsby (Charlie Roberts 2, Wes Wright). Tom Berry got their other goal.

Elton (Horton) drew 1-1 at Princes Villa (Ryan Stanyer).

Crossway (Bryan Mills 2, Chris Gray, Ryan Gledhill, Dean Millington 2, Dean Ratcliffe 2, Matty McCauley, Sam Colclough) were the big winners in Link Up Division Two on Saturday, triumphing 10-2 at home to Beehive (Tom Reece, Scott Wilson).

Upton Bears Paw (Jamie Hughes 2, Joe Yates, Chris McCaffrey) were 4-1 winners at Eastham Athletic (Kevin Yates) while FC Duddon United (Martin Fitzsimons 2, Robbie Plank, Lewis Neal) drew 4-4 at home to Saughall Colts (Jack Booth 2, Jack Beeton, Liam Gough).

Beehive before their 10-2 defeat at Crossway

Malpas Reserves (Adam Kightley 2) lost 3-2 at Princes Villa Reserves while Ellesmere Port Reserves (Josh Forster 5, Lewis Fearon, Danny Hall, Callum Lind) romped to a 9-0 success at Rossmore Rangers.

Meanwhile, Vernon Keep has been selected to take on the role of the Chester & Wirral League representative team manager.

Vernon will be responsible for both the open age team and veterans team and brings with him a wealth of experience, most recently enjoying massive success in charge of Blacon Youth Vets.

The league are looking for referees to officiate games this season. Contact Liam Power on 07974 772095 or liam.power@yahoo.co.uk for more information.

West Cheshire League

Chester Nomads suffered their first defeat of the West Cheshire League Division One season on Wednesday.

They went down 2-0 at Vauxhall Motors.

On the same night Lee Gerrard scored what proved to be a consolation as Upton AA lost 2-1 at Neston Nomads.

Upton reluctantly agreed to postpone their home clash with Mallaby on Saturday after the league double-booked their Cheshire County Sports Club ground.

Chester Nomads were in action, though, snaring a 0-0 draw at Ashville.

Upton AA Reserves were 4-1 winners at home to Redgate Rovers Reserves in Division Three.

Will Kent, Sam Pickering, Joe Ormerod and Chris Melia struck.

Chester Nomads Reserves went down 5-2 at Mersey Royal.

Simon Andrews bagged a brace for Nomads, who then lost 2-1 at home to Neston Nomads Reserves on Monday, Cal Graham with the consolation.

Chester & District Sunday League

The Chester & District Sunday League Section B campaign got under way on Sunday with CDS Flooring Studio the big hitters.

Powered by professional boxer Paul Butler they produced a knockout display to win 12-4 at Waverton.

Having got his football season up and running the weekend before with a goal for his Saturday side Sutton Athletic, Butler bagged five times with Daniel McKevitt and Matty Hall each hitting hat-tricks and Callum Doyle also on target.

Steve Finlay (2), Josh Leach and Adam Hughes, with a free kick, replied for Waverton, who were very much in the match until the final 20 minutes.

Tarvin Rex before their 9-0 win at home to Travellers Rest

Jonathan Hallam took a pass from his brother Mike to score the opening goal of the new campaign as Tarvin Rex ran out 9-0 winners at home to Travellers Rest.

Jonathan went on to notch four times with Ben Thorpe (2), Ryan Cartwright (2) and Tom Axon sharing the rest of the Tarvin strikes.

Hat-trick hero Jack McGovern, Matty Jones, Andy Hornsby and Andy Riddell fired Custom House to a 6-0 success at home to Dee Rangers.

AFC Tattenhall (Deyontae James) lost 9-1 at Castrol SC (Sam Moore 3, Tom Douglas 2, Ryan Aslatt 2, Mike Page, Lee Chadwick) while Upton Youth Centre were beaten 4-0 at Vauxhall SC (Liam Burghall, Tony Wedge, Dan Carroll, Phil Aspinall).

Travellers Rest before their weekend match

Border BA (Rees Dowington, OG, Scott Beech) drew 3-3 at home to Holdi, who fought back from two goals down to earn a share of the spoils courtesy of Ryan Burns, Mark Lowe and Will Campbell.

On Tuesday, Holdi went down 9-0 at Castrol while Border won 6-2 at Upton.

Tarvin made it two wins from two, triumphing 3-0 at Dee, as did Vauxhall, following a 7-1 success at Travellers.

Handbridge Lions made a flying start with a 5-2 victory at Custom House while Waverton got off the mark by winning 5-4 at home to Tattenhall.

Cheshire League

Rising star Harley Bennion is in fantastic form for Blacon Youth in Cheshire League Division Two.

The young hot-shot was recently rewarded with the match ball from the final of the Cheshire FA District Youth Cup, in which he hit a hat-trick in the Chester & District FA’s 4-2 victory over the Crewe & District FA.

And Bennion, who finished as that tournament’s top scorer, has continued his hot streak for his club side.

He scored twice for Blacon in their 4-2 derby defeat at Tarporley Victoria on Tuesday and twice in their 2-2 draw at home to Broadheath Central on Saturday.

Harley Bennion receives the match ball after scoring a hat-trick in the Cheshire FA District Youth Cup final

On the same afternoon Tarporley went down 7-0 at Buxton Reserves.

Malpas picked up their first win of the Premier Division season.

Richard Sadler got the only goal of the game in their 1-0 success at home to Ashton Town.

Promoted Deva Athletic continued their perfect start to the Division One season with a 5-1 victory at Halebank.

But Deva were then beaten 1-0 at Middlewich Town on Wednesday.