Chester & Wirral League
There is just no stopping Clubbies AFC in the Chester & Wirral League.
The Saltney side made it four wins on the spin to maintain their five-point lead at the top of Olympic Trophies Division One on Saturday.
Tom Booth (2), Liam McGovern, Ash Reid, Nick Whittaker and Kevin McGovern shared the strikes as Clubbies neatly dispatched Upton JFC 6-0 at their Mount Pleasant ground.
But Upton can take a lot of positives from their performance, especially considering their line-up contained three players from the club’s under-17s team.
Second-placed Elton Athletic bounced back from their defeat to Clubbies the previous week with a 2-0 triumph at home to Chester Nomads 3rds.
John Heaton and Billy Sammut did the damage.
Cestrian Alex (Nial Peaker, Josh Camy, Adam Crimes) moved up to third after they won a close contest 3-2 at home to Helsby Reserves (Adam Newbolt, Charlie Roberts).
But Blacon Youth Reserves (Trey Lattie, Lewis Coppack) slipped to fifth after they were beaten 4-2 at an improving Hoole Rangers side, for whom Ash English, Alec Hutchinson, Matty Sharpe and Harry Hornsby were on target.
James Pierce hit a last-gasp winner as St Saviours won 3-2 at Princes Villa (Steve Morgan, Kieran Wedge) to take over fourth spot.
Jack Sheppard had earlier scored twice for Savs.
Hat-trick hero Allen Jones, Matty Elson, Luke Reece and Nathan Rose fired FC Uber to a 6-3 success at home to Chester Argyle (Lee Harrison, Zack Caveney, Josh Brown).
Queensferry Sports Premier Division leaders Shaftesbury Youth (OG) saw their 100% winning start ended as they lost 2-1 at Higher Bebington Kelma (Kenny Mahon, Mark Lawler), who had also won the recent Wirral District FA Amateur Cup tie between the team.
AFC Essar were thrashed 8-0 at Franklyn’s (Steve Rothwell 3, Nana Eneh 3, Colin Singleton, Andy Merner).
Upton Bears Paw cemented second place in Link Up Division Two with a 4-2 victory at Saughall Colts.
Carl Griffith, Adam Kelly, Chris Larsen and Luke Williamson netted for Upton with Luke Roberts and Cal Williams replying for Saughall.
Malpas Reserves (Luke Woolam, Jordan Lee) were unable to stop table-topping Ellesmere Port Reserves (Josh Forster 4, Danny Hale 2) from making it nine wins from nine with a 6-2 away success.
Orange Athletic (Garry Owen 2, Iain Thomas, John Webster) were 4-1 winners at home to Eastham Athletic (Mario Monti).
Crossway (James Simpson) were beaten 6-1 at Rockville (Danny Allen 2, Liam Judge, Kyle Hulse, Scott Ainsworth, Lewis Tarbiat) while Beehive (Brian Barber 2, Tyler Grattan) won 3-2 at Rossmore Rangers (Dave Greenaway 2).
Chester & District Sunday League
Callum Bratley was the match-winner and debutant Jake Jones made an instant impression as Spital Vaults won 3-2 at home to Westminster to go top of the early Chester & District Sunday League Concorde Trophies Section A table.
Spital twice took the lead through Alex Smith and Bratley only to be pegged back by Carl Frost, who fired in a rebound off the woodwork, and Phil Coffin.
Before the second Westminster equaliser, new goalkeeper Jones, who was making his first appearance for Spital, pushed a penalty around the post.
But it was the two-goal Bratley who stole the show late on when he scored at the near post from an acute angle.
Axis United recorded their first win of the season by triumphing 3-2 at FC Blacon.
Mike Hall (2) bagged a brace for Axis with their other effort coming from a penalty converted by George Farrell.
Sam Pickering and Jake Zahringer took Blacon close.
Two games also took place in Section B.
Tom Williams (2), Aaron Rowlands (2), Tom Berry and Graham Dodd swept Handbridge Lions to a 6-1 success at Tarvin Rex (Neil Astbury).
Border BA (Liam McGovern 2) and Vauxhall SC (Tony Wedge, Dave McInerney) played out a 2-2 draw at Mount Pleasant.
There were four ties in the Sunday League Cup first round.
The Cat were impressive 6-3 winners at Waggon & Horses thanks to a second-half treble from Cheney Lloyd and single strikes from Matty Cavanagh, Jamie Easton and Mike Simmons.
Joe Henry, Danny Davies and Harley Bennion were on target for Waggon, who were level at the break.
FC Hickory’s also produced a superb second-half performance to win 7-3 at Upton Youth Centre (Mike Webb 2, Sam Harries pen).
Jack Gittins (3), Jonny Lawrence (2), Sam Kilner and Dean Ennion did the damage.
Custom House also cruised through to the second round after recording a 6-2 victory at home to AFC Tattenhall (Deyontae James, Kieran Hughes pen), Alex Hutchinson (2), Danny Hinchcliffe (2), Matty Jones and David Tasker the men on target.
And St Theresa’s (Neil Birch 2, Matty Jones) won 3-2 at improving Dee Rangers (Louis Toseland, Aaron Morton).
West Cheshire League
Draw specialists Chester Nomads shared the spoils with title hopefuls Mossley Hill Athletic in West Cheshire League Division One on Saturday.
The 0-0 stalemate means that Nomads have now drawn five of their opening seven league games of the campaign.
Mossley Hill finished second behind champions Newton last season.
But, like their opponents, they could not find the breakthrough at Boughton Hall.
That said, despite the absence of goals, there was no little goalmouth action.
But determined defensive play, and a lack of a finishing touch from both sides, contributed to the eventual scoreline.
Mossley came close after eight minutes when a 20-yard shot rattled against the bar.
Early in the second half Nomads thought that they had taken the lead only to be denied by a raised flag from one of the referee’s assistants.
Time was running out when Mossley sliced through the home defence and looked odds on to net only for the potential scorer to run inexplicably offside when poised to run the ball into an empty net.
The draw left Nomads in 10th in the standings.
Neighbours Upton AA are 14th after they suffered a 2-1 loss at leaders South Liverpool.
But boss Todd Reid could take heart from a performance that deserved and should have merited more.
Sean Finch was on target for battling Upton.
But goals from twin strikers Alex Woodcock and Cameron Dalton ensured South Liverpool won to move four points clear at the summit.
Upton will look to return to winning ways this Saturday when they welcome Mallaby, who are one place below them in the table, to the Cheshire County Sports Club.
Chester Nomads are at home to 11th-placed Heswall.
With Upton AA Reserves having recently handed in their resignation, the only other Chester team operating in the league is Chester Nomads Reserves.
They slipped from top spot in Division Three on Saturday after they went down to a 3-1 defeat at Marshall Reserves.
Simon Andrews grabbed what proved to be a consolation for Nomads’ second string, who head to new leaders Mersey Royal this Saturday (3pm).
Cheshire League
Blacon Youth booked their place in the Cheshire League J A Walton Challenge Cup second round on Saturday with a 3-1 win at home to Moore United given to them by goals by Harley Bennion (2) and Danny Davies.
But Tarporley Victoria (Daniel Ball 2, Joe Marley) are out after losing 4-3 at home to higher-league Garswood United - as are Deva Athletic after going down 1-0 at home to lower-league Vulcan.
Malpas (Alex Hughes) were beaten 2-1 at Congleton VR in the J B Parker Challenge Cup.
Malpas have a chance for instant revenge this Saturday when they welcome Congleton to Wrexham Road for a Premier Division clash.
Deva are back in Division One action at Styal while Tarporley head to Sandbach United Reserves and Blacon host Moore for the second weekend running in Division Two.
