In their crunch Somerset Cup Quarter-Final clash, Uxella League leaders Tiger Old Boys cruised through to the semi-finals with a 7-4 home victory over Young Guns United of the Keyline Taunton Sunday League.
The Tigers played the more stylish football throughout and could well have racked up a double-figures tally had they not been so wasteful in front of goal. That said, they still managed a 'magnificent seven' thanks to a hat-trick from substitute Richard Onslow and further goals from Shawn Pople, Paul Hooper, Darren Chillingworth and, from the edge of the box by another impressive substitute, Mark Pope.
Meanwhile, in the first of the Uxella League's Bill Brown Division One Cup semi-finals, Clearwater progressed to the final after a 4-2 victory over Durleigh. Clearwater took the lead in the first half through Danny Palfrey and then put the result beyond doubt with three further strikes after the interval from the usual suspects: Steve Spencer, Wayne Spencer and Mike Stone, but their outstanding man on the day was Paul Thompson who held everything together at the back with a magnificent defensive display. Clearwater will now have to wait on the result of next weekend's other semi-final clash between Tiger Old Boys and Woolavington to discover who stands between them and this particular piece of silverware.
In the Danny Markhall Division Two Trophy both semi-finals were contested this weekend with a surprising result in the first where Second Flight leaders Tiger OB Reserves crashed out of the competition in a 2-6 defeat at the hands of Ashcott, despite goals from Greg Ribbons and Paul Irvine.
Ashcott's opponents in the final will be Cross Rifles following their hard-fought 2-1 win over Black Horse. The Rifles had fallen behind to an own goal early in the game but kept their resolve and came firing back to first equalise, directly from a Paul Cornish corner, before top scorer Lee Stentaford bagged the winner with a superb header. After the game a clearly delighted Chris Lawson-Blake, the Cross Rifles' Secretary, was in ebullient mood as he commented: "When we play at our best no one, and I mean no one, can beat us... and you can quote me on that!"
In the first semi-final of the Geoff Harvey Third Division Cup lowly Tor Sports took advantage of a weakened Artillery West Huntspill Boys side to progress to the final of the competition after a 2-1 victory over the Third Division leaders thanks to two goals from Paul Pentney.
The situation in the other Geoff Harvey Cup semi-final is somewhat less straightforward, having been subject to eleventh hour readjustments in the light of indiscretions on the part of Countryman FC, who have been found to have fielded ineligible players in both their First and Second Round victories in the competition over Glastonbury and Sportsman respectively. To redress the balance it was decided that Countryman should be ejected from the competition and Glastonbury and Sportsman should face each other in a play-off Quarter-Final tie to decide who should face Pig & Whistle Reserves in the second semi-final.
The play-off duly took place this weekend and it was Sportsman who emerged victorious with a 3-2 win, but only after coming from two goals down to snatch the win in the final minutes of the game. Paul Organ had given Sportsman a glimmer of hope with a headed effort before Steve Davis levelled the scores with a well-placed free-kick with eight minutes remaining on the clock. Jordan Meaker then completed the comeback and booked Sportsman's unanticipated place in the last four of the competition.
With their run in the Geoff Harvey Cup coming to an enforced end Countryman consoled themselves with a point from their Uxella League Division Three encounter with the team that they would have played in the cup semis, Pig & Whistle Reserves, after an evenly contested 1-1 draw. The Pig Reserves goal was again bagged by Aaron Huxtable who has now scored in each of his last four games after converting from a central defender to a midfielder.
The Division Three table has been the subject to considerable conversion itself this weekend, taking into account the demise of two teams. Following on from last weekend's announcement that Glastonbury Backpackers have folded comes the news that Middlezoy Athletic have also withdrawn from the league. All results from games featuring these two sides have now been removed from the third division table.
One final point to note - at the time of writing, although the fixtures for next weekend have been posted on this website, there is the distinct possibility that all scheduled fixtures for Sunday 27th March, apart from the Dave Hobbs Cup Final, may be postponed, thereby allowing the prestigious final to receive the attention that it deserves. The final decision will be announced at the monthly league meeting tomorrow (Monday) evening.
(Story First Published: 21.03.05) |
