Watford Sunday League: St Josephs and North Watford into cup quarters

The Watford Sunday League is guaranteed to have two sides in the quarter-finals of the county’s senior cup competition as both North Watford and holders St Josephs came through difficult away ties, and they could be joined in the last eight by Evergreen whose game on Sunday was postponed.

North Watford beat Herts Advertiser Sunday League club Plough & Harrow 3-1.

Conor Flanagan opened the scoring after a quick throw and a one-two he found himself in the box and slotted home. Ashley Lewis then scored with a half-volley after his original free-kick had been blocked, leaving the keeper with no chance. A third goal followed in the second half through a Daryl Brown left-footed effort.

The home side were then reduced to ten men, but they did manage a late consolation.

It could be an all-WSL quarter-final tie as North Watford could face Evergreen for a place in the semi-finals if they come through their delayed tie against Southbury.

Holders St Josephs came through a 12-goal thriller as they beat Maccabi London Sunday Geez Park Rangers 7-5.

Harry Seabrook netted a brace with Luke Peerless, Dean Brinton, Jonny Hopkins, Ronnie Blagden and Taylor Cobb also on target.

Joes’ reward is another away tie, this time at FMW Wanderers.

Dome Bar celebrate scoring in their defeat to West Herts. (Image: Len Kerswill)

Herts Intermediate Cup Second Round

AFC Hatch End narrowly missed out on the chance of taking on fellow WSL side Watford Sports for a quarter-final place as they went down 2-1 to Oceans XI.

Hatch End dominated the first half but only had a single goal from Mark Bennett to show for their efforts.

In the second half they paid the price for conceding two sloppy goals and missing a host of chances late on.

Herts Intermediate Cup Third Round

It was not a good morning for Langleybury CC who had hopes of joining Woodside in the last eight, but they suffered a 7-1 defeat at The Bull, never recovering from conceding three goals in the opening 15 minutes.

Oliver Illott netted the late consolation goal for Langleybury.

Premier Division

Both top-flight games to be played ended in 5-2 home wins for WD Bushey and Cassiobury Rangers.

WD Bushey moved level on points with leaders St Josephs after they beat Abbots Langley Club.

Daniel Moss started the scoring after tapping home from a Dion Belle cross. Nathan Ravenscroft finished inside the box to make it two, and Joshua Quinlivan scored the third after he was put through by Moss and rounded the keeper to slot home.

Abbots brought themselves back into the game when a Mike Porter run and cross was met with a volley from Alieu Gibril which struck the bar, but bounced back down into the goal.

But Just before the break Callum Davies restored the home side’s three-goal advantage when he slotted home a cross from Ramon Salami-Rasheed.

Abbots pulled a second goal back in the second half when Alex Diaz ran onto a Tom Bourke through ball and slotted into the bottom right corner, before Moss sealed the win by heading home from close range.

Cassiobury Rangers overcame Old Fullerians by the same scoreline for their third league win of the season.

Fullerians actually took an early lead when Jake Entwistle played in Luke Carey who calmly slotted past the keeper. But Rangers soon equalised when Conor Callanan played a nicely-weighted pass in behind the Fullerians left-back to Nathan Page, who drove into the box and fired home on his weaker foot past the keeper at his near post.

Page got his second of the game soon after when a Zak Green goal kick was flicked on by Sam Mortimer and then Aidan Lesslie to put Page in behind the Fullers back line with his first touch, his second taking him around the goalkeeper to slot home.

However, Fullerians levelled on the stroke of half-time when a right-wing cross from Jake Entwistle was headed in at the far post by Charlie Hailey.

Cassiobury controlled the second half and resumed the scoring with a penalty dispatched into the bottom right corner of the net by Callanan after Rob Ladmore was hauled down.

They doubled their lead not long after when a pin-point ball from Jon Burch put Sam Mortimer in, he timed his run well to get round the centre back and to the ball ahead of the keeper.

The victory was sealed when Mortimer was tackled on the edge of the box and the ball fell nicely for Ladmore, who calmly rounded the keeper for a tap-in to make it five.

Division One

The race for promotion is shaping up to be a close as just five points separate the top five teams.

Leaders Watford Sports suffered a first defeat of the league campaign as they went down 4-2 at home to Forza Watford.

Sports fell behind early on before Taylor Kemp equalised.

The second 45 minutes belonged to Forza as they netted three times to take a 4-1 lead before Sports pulled a goal back late on from Harry Bennett.

Giuseppe Delgaudio netted a hat-trick for Forza with the other goal coming from Peter Rock.

Those three points moves Forza up into third place, two points behind Hertfordshire Eagles who suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Woodside.

Ollie Lawford has been a vital signing for Woodside since coming in from folded Watford Town and he struck a second-half hat-trick to take his tally to 18 goals in just seven games in all competitions.

Fourth-placed SOCA beat Chess United 2-0 with a goal in each half.

Chris Dowling headed home a corner in the first and this was followed with a well-taken effort from Conor Maher in the second.

West Herts scored four times to get the better of Dome Bar in Division Two. (Image: Len Kerswill)

Division Two

Glenn SSC moved into second place after a 8-0 win over the leaders at Christmas King George.

Chris Blunden and Sam Clark both struck hat-tricks with the other two goals coming from George Davies and Simeon Armstrong.

West Herts edged out Dome Bar 4-3 in a hard-fought physical game, Liam Andrews hitting a hat-trick for the Stags with Chris Colman also on target.

Nathan Pooley hit a double for the visitors with the other goal coming from Jamie Beaumont.

Dunnings Bar and Sparta Phoenix shared the points after a 2-2 draw.

Flynn Duncan and Ben Brown scored for Dunnings with Sam Groves and Humza Khan replying for Phoenix who remain second from bottom in the table.

Division Three

Inter have opened up a six-point lead at the top of the table after they secured a second successive 1-0 home win, this time over Abbots Wanderers with Harry Carroll getting the vital goal.

Batchworth head the chasing pack after they beat Bricket Wood Acorns 6-1.

They are the division’s top scorers and took their total to 43 goals in 12 games. In Mikel Walsh they also have the division’s top scorer as he took his tally to 15 with a hat-trick, with Lloyd Milliken, John Robertson and Dave Brennan also on target. Jack Micklewright netted the Acorns reply.

Everett Rovers suffered a first defeat of the season as they went down to a 4-2 home defeat to Chorleywood Club AFC.

George Blanks struck a double supported by goals from Jordan Allen and Adam Smith. Charlie Frost and Michael Dankwa netted the Rovers goals.

Woodside Reserves saw off PTH United 8-0 to move up into third place.

Andre Federico scored a hat-trick, with Tom Garrett adding a brace and David Smith, Alex Faur and Jonny Lappart also getting in on the scoring act.