WSL President’s Cup Semi-Finals

First Division leaders Old Danes Athletic knocked out St Josephs 3-1 to book a place in the final on April 22 against Oakview after they beat Reed Rangers by the same scoreline in the other semi-final.

Old Danes had already put out another Premier Division side Chorleywood Club in the second round and to reach the final of the competition for the league’s top two divisions is a fine achievement for the Rickmansworth-based club.

St Josephs had the better of the first half with a strong wind in their favour, and they went ahead five minutes before the break when Lawrence Olorunfemi lost his marker and turned and shot past Danes goalkeeper Oli Burks.

Despite going behind, Athletic drew level within two minutes of the restart when Chris White’s run and shot from the left deflected into the path of Tom Coles, who finished smartly from close range.

Ten minutes later Old Danes went ahead with a goal that was a mirror image of their first, with Coles again scoring after being helped by a deflection from a White effort.

St Josephs battled back, forcing several corners and free-kicks, but the visitors’ defence remained firm, and they booked their place in the final when Will Keddy brought down a clearance held up by the wind and rounded the keeper to score his team’s third goal.

Holders Oakview beat Reed 3-1 for the second time in three weeks in a cup tie.

Tom Inch, Luke Beardsworth and Daryl Brown scored for Oakview with Chris Blunden replying.

WSL Intermediate Cup Semi-Final

Fox & Hounds are through to the final although they needed extra-time to beat Evergreen 3-0.

Evergreen were the only league side to have inflicted a defeat on Fox this season, 3-1 in the Challenge Cup on October 2.

With the game scoreless after 90 minutes, Rob Partington struck a hat-trick in the extra half-an-hour to put them through to a final with Third Division Tudor Athletic on April 2.

Premier Division

Having conceded 20 goals the previous week, Green Dragon will probably have been relieved to have only let in five against mid-table Rifle Volunteer as Nick Kerley and Andy Lomas both scored braces with the other goal coming from Liam Hanley.

Two other teams in mid-table with little left to play - Chorleywood Club and Old Fullerians - drew 1-1; Ryan McMahon netting for the home side and Sam Parker for Fullers.

Division One

Colne Valley showed once again why they are the most inconsistent team in the league’s five divisions.

Seven days after being beat 7-2 by North Watford, they went and put seven goals themselves past a struggling Croxley Community Centre in a 7-1 victory.

Dave Rooney led the way a hat-trick, with Krasi Makaveev, Tom Seamons, Charlie Benning and Karl Booth scoring the others. Jordan Sterling got the Coxley goal.

A single goal from Matt Green was enough for RD FC to beat AFC Oddfellows 1-0.

Division Two

With Fox & Hounds in cup action, Langleybury Cricket Club took over the leadership of the division after edging out mid-table Cassiobury Rangers 2-1 thanks to Jamie Madden and Greg Cook. James Mortimer responded for their opponents.

The win means Langleybury have a single point lead over Fox, who have three games in hand.

Having looked destined to finish bottom all season, Oxhey Rangers have now given themselves hope of at least avoiding finishing in last place after gaining a second league win of the campaign, 3-0 over Compasses North.

Perry Smith, Rob Duncan and Dan Pipin got the goals to move their side to within two points of Bricketwood Social and with two games in hand.

A goal from Tim Minton was not enough to save Bricketwood from a 2-1 defeat at Rickmansworth Athletic, who secured the points through Shane Kitts and Jamie Exley.

Despite starting the game with ten men, Rifle Volunteer Reserves beat Bedmond 7-1.

Once Rifle reached their full complement of players, they raced into a three-goal advantage by the break.

Bedmond did pull a goal back early in the second half thanks to a Jack Barr penalty, but that was as good as it got for the home side as the visitors went on to score four more times.

Dan Bourne struck three times for Volunteer and Harry Blagden and Ronnie Blagden netted a brace apiece.

Division Three

Bell Rangers gained a vital 3-1 win in the big top-of-the-table clash with fellow title contenders Tudor Athletic.

Rangers’ player-manager Jamie Calvin was his team’s inspiration as he struck twice in the first half, both times linking up with Callum O’Connor.

Bell seemed content to sit back in the second half and soak up pressure from Tudor before breaking on the counter-attack to score a third from George Kus.

Tudor did get a goal back late on from a Dean Renphrey free-kick.

Bottom-of-the-table Sun Postal Sports enjoyed a 5-1 away win over Hertsmere through goals from James Airey (2), Martin Jamieson, Jerrome Driscoll and Darren Boyce. Nathan Slinger replied for Hertsmere.

Division Four

FC Woodside warmed for up for this weekend’s Junior Cup final by putting 11 goals past bottom-placed Railway Arms.

Drew Snailham netted four times, John Croft got a double and further goals from Tom Ford, Joe McCarthy, Nathan Gullen, Michael Griffin and an own goal ensured Woodside cut the gap to leaders Ardent to 11 points. Although they do have two games in hand, it does look likely the cup finalists are playing to cement runners-up spot.

One of the sides fighting Woodside for that place, AFC Green Machine, beat Inter 5-2 to keep up their own hopes of finishing in second.

Max Palfrey and Lee Puddephat both netted twice and Josh Burt got the other for the victors. Daniel Kosmin and own goal were not enough for Inter.

Division Five

Leaders AFC Batchworth won the ‘Batchworth derby’, beating Batchworth 4-1 to remain top and open up a three-point lead over The Tree, who could only draw 1-1 with third-placed AC Little Silhouette of Milan.

Batchworth actually had the better of the opening half-an-hour against their higher-placed opponents, but failed to take two good chances, before Shaun Wheeler scored a superb shot from more than 30 yards out to give AFC the lead after 30 minutes.

It looked like the game was over eight minutes into the second half when Danny Lewis’ low corner found its way into the net as goalkeeper Luke Parry lost his footing going for a simple catch.

Batchworth were not finished and they pulled themselves back into the game when Charlie Kimpton scored from close range, but three minutes later Jake Knight lobbed home from the edge of the box.

With six minutes left Joe O’Neill saw his penalty for Batchworth strike the left-hand post and go behind. But the game was ended two minutes later when Bradley Foot volleyed back a clearance from keeper Parry back past him.

Sam Haslam and Alex Simmonds scored the goals for their respective teams as AC Little Silhouette of Milan drew with The Tree.

Jacob O'Hanlon gave William Morris the lead in the first minute before they wrapped up a 3-0 win over Chess United with goals from Gavin Bowen and Sidney Burton.