Herts Junior Cup Semi-Finals
It will be an all-Watford Sunday League affair at the County Ground in Letchworth on April 13 after Hertfordshire Athletic and Woodside secured a place in the final.
Athletic won away 6-3 at Waltham Abbey Wanderers, while Woodside had a far easier time of it as they beat The Wrestlers FC Hopfield Football Club 5-0.
Hertfordshire Athletic (lighter shirts) will meet Woodside in the county cup final. (Image: Supplied) It will be the sixth time in the competition’s history it has produced an all- WSL final, and the first since 2012.
Athletic had to recover from the setback of conceding in the first minute when a long throw into the box was headed home.
But they were soon level through Matt Ingram’s strike and then went in front when Evan King guided a header into the far corner.
A third goal followed when Ed Rogers stood up a cross and Henry Gibbor leapt and planted a header back across the keeper and into the net.
Just before the break Rogers drove up the right wing and drilled a cross to the back post for Jack McLaughlin to tap in.
The second half saw the home side commit more players forward in an effort to get back into the game and they were caught on the counter attack when Rogers raced clear and slotted home for 5-1.
The contest was not over as Waltham netted twice, their second goal of the tie coming thanks to a long ball over the top and the third from a penalty, but any hope of a dramatic comeback was ended ten minutes from time after Gibbor was brought down in the area and King stepped up to convert the penalty.
Woodside swept The Wrestlers FC Hopfield Football Club aside by netting five times without reply.
They never looked back after Luke Dolan rose and headed home a Josh Towle corner after 15 minutes.
The lead was doubled seven minutes later thanks to Towle's free-kick from an acute angle.
Luke Dolan then turned provider just before half-time when Anthony Kalli met his cross and his header looped over the keeper.
Two more goals followed in the final 11 minutes of the tie, as first Dane Weimar combined well with Tyrone Brandy before crossing into the box for Towle to add his second.
Brandy then scored the fifth to complete the victory five minutes from time as he ran in unmarked to tap in an Elliott Smith's cross.
Hertfordshire Athletic shield the ball in their semi-final victory. (Image: Supplied)
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First Division Watford Town caused a major upset as they knocked out Premier Division leaders North Watford 4-2 on penalties after a 2-2 draw after 90 minutes.
In a dramatic tie, Town went ahead when they took full advantage of a goalkeeping error as Zack Inyang slotted home into an empty net from ten yards.
A crazy period in the game followed as North Watford missed a penalty which was slammed against the bar, before levelling minutes later when Ben Alexander found Lee Armitt to score.
North Watford were then awarded a second penalty which again they missed, this time keeper Luke Freeman saving the kick down to his right.
In the second half, the Town defence had to soak up a load of North Watford pressure before they broke away to retake the lead when Cass Lee played a ball through for Inyang to net his second, but Karl Penny scored with the final kick of the game to take the tie to a shoot-out.
Town converted all four of their penalties, with Freeman saving two more kicks, adding to the one he had already made during the match, to send his team through to the quarter-finals and dump the favourites out.
Premier Division
St Joseph’s and WD Bushey Rangers shared the points in a 2-2 draw which helped neither side’s title hopes.
Joes took a 2-0 advantage into the break thanks to goals from Dan Griggs and Owen Deamer, but their opponents battled back after the break.
Ten minutes into the second half, Gianluca Demare delivered a cross into the box for Corum Chase to score.
Chase then completed his brace, converting another cross from Stevie Ward.
Cassiobury Rangers kept in the title hunt as they beat Evergreen by a single goal scored in the first half.
Conor Callanan saw a penalty saved but Jayden Chamberlain followed up and slotted home the rebound.
Division One
Sparta Phoenix inflicted on Everett Rovers just a second league defeat of the season with a thumping 7-2 victory.
Phoenix went ahead when Ralph Thompson’s cross from the left found George Pascoulis, who finished clinically.
A second goal followed when Ralph Thompson capitalised on a fortunate deflection at the edge of Rovers’ six-yard box and calmly slotting home.
It was soon 3-0 when Pascoulis showed determination to chase down a loose ball, beat a defender and coolly fired home.
Phoenix added a fourth just before the break following good work from Matt Lewis on the right, his well-placed pass found Nelson Gomez in the penalty area and his strike gave the keeper no chance.
The goals continued to flow in the second half when a misjudged back pass to the Everett keeper led to hesitation, allowing Pascoulis to score into an open net, and five soon became six when Philippe Clarke converted a well-placed low cross.
Everett did pull a goal back through Charlie Frost but almost from the restart Thompson netted his second of the match to restore the six-goal advantage.
In the final minute, Rovers scored a second consolation with a long-range effort from Jordan Standley.
Chess United beat Old Fullerians 3-2 to move above them in the table to third from bottom.
United controlled the first half, taking the lead when Rory Hemmings fired home from close range after Sam Blackwood managed to get away from three defenders and square the ball to his teammate.
Chess doubled their lead through Hemmings’ second from close range following a George Adams effort on goal.
Fullerians pulled themselves level thanks to two goals from Chris Colman, and then missed a penalty as well, but it was Chess who won the game in the final minutes when Hemmings completed his hat-trick.
Division Two
There were goals galore in the Second Division as the three games played produced 21 goals.
With the top two in county cup action, Watford Youth Sports 2nd consolidated their hold on third place and moved within two points of second-placed Hertfordshire Athletic after a 5-3 home win over Batchworth.
It was Batchworth who had the better start as they went ahead due to a defensive blunder that allowed Dylan Rose to snap up the loose ball and convert with a low drive across goal, and then a well-worked set piece was headed home by Marcus Rivers.
The home side responded and pulled a goal back thanks to Oliver Frost when he netted with a low drive across the keeper, and just before the break Frost scored directly from a corner kick to make it 2-2.
The home side went ahead for the first time early in the second half when a cross from Louis Taverner was headed home by Jack Darnell-Brown.
The game was far from over as within five minutes Batchworth equalised thanks to a long-range free-kick from Rivers, but Batchworth could not contain Frost as he smashed home a vicious drive from around 20 yards out to restore the lead.
The match was finally settled when excellent work from Aldo Petagine and Oliver Brown set up a fourth goal for Frost and his team’s fifth inside the six-yard box.
Langleybury produced their best performance of the season as they beat WD Bushey Rangers Reserves 6-0 away.
Oliver Ilott and Rajan Sanghera both netted doubles with the other goals coming from Alex Murphy and Tom Hedger.
The match between the bottom two sides saw West Herts gain a third win of the season with a 4-3 victory over Frances George.
Dylan Caton netted twice for the Stags, alongside goals for Roscoe Tebbs and Charlie Smith.
Dexter Franklin-Beck, Alex Ellwood and Ethan Fleming replied for George.
Division Three
Bricket Wood Acorns won the big top-of-the-table clash against second-placed Chorleywood Club AFC 2-1 as Charlie Buss and Conrad Holland scored.
George Blanks replied for the home side, but the narrow victory was enough to take Acorns six points clear of their opponents.
Nascot AFC and Abbots Wanderers shared the points after a 2-2 draw.
Wes Moore and Connor McNicholas scored for Nascot, with Ollie Miller and Ed Marsh replying for their opponents.
