Chester & Wirral League

UPTON JFC created and Newton Athletic were the victims of a cup shock in the Roodee Web Designs Tom Gerraghty Memorial Trophy third round.

Upton ran out 3-1 winners at home to Queensferry Sports Premier Division basement boys Ellesmere Port Town Reserves (Luke Williams) thanks to goals from Joe Williams, Curtis Priday and Tom Berry.

But Newton, who are challenging for the top-flight title, went down 4-3 at home to Upton’s Link Up Division Two rivals Overpool Athletic, for whom Steve Rothwell hit a hat-trick to take his tally for the term to 45. Neil Pilkington was also on target.

Newton are now 10 points behind Birkenhead Town (Dave Bowe, Jamie Smith) in the race for the Premier Division after the leaders returned to winning ways by edging a tight tussle 2-1 at home to Blacon Youth (Sam Henry).

Hat-trick hero Ben Gregory fired Christleton Celtic to a 3-0 home win over Lodge Bar that moved them up to fourth.

Christleton Celtic beat Lodge Bar 3-0 thanks to a Ben Gregory hat-trick

MBNA went down 6-0 at home to third-placed Shaftesbury Youth (Ryan Griffiths, John McGraa, Danny Smith, Ian Crawford, Danny Whitehead 2).

AFC ESSAR (Adam Storton, Jamie Johnson) took a massive step closer to claiming the Olympic Trophies Division One title with a 2-0 victory at home to fellow high flyers Franklyn’s.

Clubbies got back on track with a 4-1 success at home to New Ferry Rangers (Adam Bagley).

FC UBER (Matt Elson, Aaron Rowland 2) won 3-0 at Elton Athletic while Neston Nomads (Paul Johnston, Jack Lloyd, Harvey Price) edged a five-goal contest at Eastham Athletic (Neil Edwards, Lewis Stevenson) 3-2.

Hoole Rangers were the day’s big hitters, winning 11-0 at home to Whitby Athletic with goals from Matt Sharpe (4), Ash English, Josh Hasledine, Andy Johnson, Ali Thompson, Adam Roper, Ali Hutchison and Stuart Schreiber.

Overpool Athletic stunned Newton Athletic

Sutton Athletic (Paul Butler 2, Danny McKevvitt) reclaimed top spot in Division Two with a 3-0 win at home to Princes Villa.

Jake Dean hit a hat-trick and Kieran Ball and Harvey Bennion also found the net as Blacon Youth Reserves won 5-2 at home to AFC Quays (Tom Reece, Nathan Cooper).

Crossway (Paul Seddon, Phil Goss, Matty Macaulay) were 3-1 winners at Chester Argyle (Zach Caveney) but Hoole Youth went down 6-4 at St Saviours (Callum Wynne, Liam Wall 2, Luke Edwards, Carl McLeod, Joe Burns), who moved into third.

Upton Rangers’ home match with Elton Rigger was abandoned after 75 minutes after an Upton player sustained an injury that required medical treatment.

Rigger were leading 4-0 at the time through Lee Marshall (2), Stefan Jones and Wayne Clark strikes.

In Tarvin Precision Vets Division A Frodsham Park drew 4-4 at home to George & Dragon (Will Barrow 2, Jeff Tate, Liam Goulding).

M&S Bank

Liam Clarke scored the only goal of the game as El Porto beat M & S Bank 1-0 in the Friday Night 11s Division.

In the evening’s other match Blacon Vets (Jamie Rogers 3, Paul Dowridge, Vernon Keep) moved back to the summit after seeing off CBP (Shaun Anderson, Mark Lui) 5-2.

In the Monday Night 11 Division, Wirral United took over second spot after a fine 5-1 win over Cemex, while Sykrop hauled themselves up to third after beating Bears Paw 4-0.

Chester & District Sunday League

The Bill Gresty Memorial Trophy final will be contested by The Cat and Groves Athletic.

Fresh from reaching the Wirral District FA Sunday Junior Cup showpiece, Cat won 6-1 at Tattenhall thanks to a first-half hat-trick from Jason Farley, further strikes from Jamie Easton and Ryan Pleavin, and an own goal from Charlie Cooke, who also scored at the right end, from the penalty spot.

Groves fell behind to Steve Finley’s sixth-minute opener before running out 3-1 winners at Waverton courtesy of Sam Moore’s 23rd goal of the season and later efforts from Tom Douglas and Mike Page.

One game took place in Concorde Trophies Section A with Nathan Mapletoft netting to earn AFC Bears Paw a 1-1 draw at home to fellow high flyers Sutton Casuals, who had led through Peter Barnet.

Sutton Casuals before their clash with AFC Bears Paw

Captain Alex Carlton netted a late winner as Spital Vaults battled back to triumph 2-1 at Spital Vaults in the big Section B clash.

Charlie Jones broke the deadlock early on before Robbie Plant equalised and thus paved the way for Carlton to secure a victory that moved Tarvin above their opponents and into second.

Handbridge Lions are up to third after Jordan Jones, Graham Dodd and Marc Moorfield fired them to a 3-0 win at Custom House.

A Dewi Adamson penalty earned Dee Rangers a 3-2 success at home to West Park Rangers, who had cancelled out first-half strikes from Mathew Tarbuck and Arian Ghobadi with a second-half Josh Wilderspin brace.

West Cheshire League

Upton AA’s superb form continued as they won 1-0 at home to Division One leaders Mossley Hill Athletic to book their spot in the Pyke Cup semi-finals.

Last year’s runners-up, Mossley Hill, were favourite for the last-eight clash in spite of their opponents’ impressive run.

But Upton made it five victories in their last unbeaten six matches thanks to a stunning strike from Alan Dorrian.

Chester Nomads’ run in the competition came to an end after they lost 2-0 at home to Heswall.

Upton will travel to Redgate Rovers in the semi-finals.

Nomads’ conquerors Heswall will host Richmond Raith Rovers.

Meanwhile, Helsby’s struggles in Division One go on after they were beaten 4-0 at high-flying Maghull.

Helsby Reserves were also on the end of a defeat, 5-0 at home to Neston Nomads Reserves in Division Three.

Jaz Ashbrooke pulled a goal back for Chester Nomads Reserves in their 2-1 loss at Cheshire Lines.

Welsh Premier League

Leon Clowes goes up for a header for Airbus against Rhyl

Airbus UK Broughton look doomed to relegation after they lost their big basement battle 2-0 at home to Rhyl.

The defeat means the rock-bottom Wingmakers are now eight points behind closest rivals Rhyl and 10 from safety with seven games of the season to play.

Airbus had the better of the first half with Obi Anoruo spurning a golden chance when he could only fire straight at goalkeeper Dan Lavercombe.

But they conceded two goals in five second-half minutes with Steve Lewis and their former striker Toby Jones the men to do the damage.

Wingmakers boss Andy Thomas said: “We were by far the better team in the first half and should have been leading but goals change games.

“It’s going to be very difficult for us now but we can’t look any further ahead than our next game.”

Cheshire League

Malpas snatched a 1-1 draw at Premier Division high flyers Wythenshawe Town to the delight of manager Tommy Lloyd.

The third-placed hosts took an undeserved 76th-minute lead through Douglas Carroll moments after their impressive goalkeeper Ben Daniels had made a brilliant double save from Pavel Abramowicz.

But Malpas, for whom Alex Hughes, Danny Lloyd and Lee Smith had earlier gone close, refused to surrender.

And, after Abramowicz was denied again by Daniels, Hughes headed in a quality cross from Lloyd to earn a richly merited point.

Lloyd said: “We’ve got a great squad at the moment and I’m trying to give all the players a chance to show me what they can do.

“From our young goalkeeper Lloyd Chesters, who impressed me, right through the squad, I couldn’t pick our man of the match.

“It was a fantastic team performance which I hope the loyal travelling Malpas fans enjoyed as much as I did.”

Joe Marley (2) and Andrew Rodgers were on target as Tarporley Victoria drew 3-3 at home to Cuddington in the President’s Cup.