Herts Sunday Intermediate Cup Round Three

Old Danes Athletic had a good Sunday as, at the second attempt, they managed to play their County Cup tie against Church End in St Albans and were rewarded with an impressive 4-1 win.

On a partly frozen pitch, Old Danes went ahead mid-way through the first half when Ross Bennett crossed for Colin Spooner to tap home from close range. A second goal soon followed when Bennett was again the provider, this time for Rupert Brown.

Spooner went on to score his second after the break following good work from Chris White. The home side did pull a goal back but it was Danes who completed the scoring when Liam Janusz headed in a White free-kick.

Athletic now face FC Jubilee from the Berkhamsted Sunday League at home in the next round on December 13.

Herts Sunday Junior Cup Round Three

The league’s other remaining representative in County competition, AFC Green Machine, also enjoyed a victorious trip to St Albans with a 2-1 win over Athletico Quat.

After weathering heavy early pressure from the home side, the visitors went ahead from their first attack when Charlie Fowler headed home a Toby Spicer delivery just ahead of the keeper.

Athletico equalised before the break thanks to a penalty, but in the second half it was Green Machine who booked a home tie against Broxbourne Bears in the fourth round when Nathan Shepherd volleyed home.

Birkdale Challenge Cup Quarter-Final

First division Meriden are the first team through to a league cup semi-final after coming back from 3-1 down to beat Premier Division Phoenix United.

Josh Shaw put Meriden ahead but Phoenix struck back to take the lead before the break with goals from Darren O’Brien and Andrew Owusu.

Matt Byrne scored his 14th of the season early in the second half and that looked to have sealed a semi-final place before Meriden staged a great comeback.

Tom Dettmer started the turnaround before Aarron Crawford scored twice in a minute to complete it.

Despite heavy pressure from Phoenix, they were unable to force extra-time.

Premier Division

Despite a poor start to the season, AFC Bovingdon now seem to be hitting their stride after they sealed a second win of the campaign with a 6-1 defeat of Bedmond.

Jordan Davies gave Bedmond an early lead and then Clement Asante struck the Bovingdon crossbar. But that close call turned the game in the visitors’ favour as they went on to take control of the game with Tommy Grey scoring a hat-trick, supported by further goals from Alan Tikerpae, Martin Tebbs and Ollie Hammond.

Hertfordshire Lions were unable to build on their previous week's first win of the season as they suffered a 4-1 home defeat to Oxhey Hall Stars, who took over at the top of the table by virtue of goals scored.

Darren Insley, Harrison Jones, Daniel Fury and Dave Smith were on target for Oxhey with Tom Carroll netting Lions’ consolation.

Chairman’s Cup Group A

In what likes like being the proverbial ‘group of death’ South Oxhey Labour Reserves beat Batchworth 2-0 to go top of the group, although the defeated side still hold onto second place.

Batchworth had the better of the first half and missed several good chances not least due to an impressive performance from South Oxhey keeper Jake Andrews, who helped keep his side level at the break.

In a more even second half, it was South Oxhey who took their opportunities as Joe Barton scored with a long-range effort before Gavin Bowen completed the win with a goal in the final minute.

Chairman’s Cup Group B

Roundbush completed the double in the cup over last season’s beaten finalists Watford Labour Club with a 5-2 win, who are a disappointing shadow of the side that enjoyed a good campaign last year.

The game was effectively over in the first half as Bush built up a 4-0 lead. They added a fifth before Labour pulled two goals back in the final quarter of the game.

Liam Wigg struck a brace for Bush, with singles from John Catterson, David Flannery and Brian Sweeney. The Labour goals were scored by Rob Gill and Declan Lyons.