Herts Senior Cup Second Round

St Josephs’ hopes of winning the senior county cup for a third straight season were ended on Sunday, but North Watford made it through to the next round, defeating the side Joes beat in last season’s final Borehamwood Rovers 2-1.

All the goals came in the first half, with North Watford taking the lead when Gurkan Gokman slotted home after the ball fell to him after a defensive mix up.

The advantage was doubled when good work from Ben Alexander released Jevan El- Kaffash who calmly slotted home.

Rovers pulled one back just before the interval, but despite coming under heavy pressure in the second half the North Watford defence held firm.

The victory sets up a rematch against Southbury FC, who ended North Watford’s interest in last season’s competition at the quarter-final stage, for a place in this year’s last eight on December 3.

St Josephs’ bid for a third successive cup triumph was ended by Little Heath 3-1.

It all looked to be going the way of the holders as they took a first-half lead thanks to a goal from Harry Seabrook, but they fell apart in the second period as the home side netted three times to end their opponents’ wonderful run in the competition.

Herts Junior Cup Third Round

It was a good morning in the Junior Cup with the Watford Sunday League achieving a maximum number of sides reaching round four.

Although two ties were all-WSL fixtures, there where some impressive wins for teams going up against opposition from outside the league.

Sparta Phoenix enjoyed a 5-1 away win over The Old Bull.

Dan Clark opened the scoring for Sparta, stabbing home from eight yards.

The lead was shortlived, with The Old Bull levelling from a corner within a couple of minutes of the restart, but Ralph Thompson restored Phoenix’s advantage on the stroke of half-time, bundling the ball home from close range after some fine work by Ridhwan Shodeinde.

The second half became the Phil Clarke show, whose two assists for Florjan Belegu and Matt Lewis sandwiched a goal for himself.

The win means the league will have a guaranteed representative in the quarter-finals as Phoenix will play fellow WSL Second Division side St Josephs Reserves who beat Marshalwick Rovers 3-1 in the third round.

The victory was secured thanks to a fine second-half performance which came after a change in formation at the break following a goalless first 45 minutes.

Mitchell Tearle opened the scoring with a great strike from the edge of the box into the top corner.

Dillon Hemington and Luke Stallard then both netted with neat finishes into the bottom corners before the visitors struck a late consolation goal.

Both Carpenders Park Royals and Everett Rovers enjoyed 4-0 away victories.

Royals beat Khoi with two goals in each half.

Danny Lewis opened the scoring after ten minutes with a lob, before setting up Bradley Foot to double the lead just before the break.

Liam Coles completed the win with two well-taken efforts in the final 20 minutes of the tie.

Everett knocked out Wheathamstead 89 by the same scoreline.

Rovers were composed on the ball and controlled the game throughout, but only had a Sam Waller goal to show for their efforts at half-time.

Everett upped the tempo in the second half and confirmed their supremacy with goals from Jordan Standley, Michael Dankwa and Waller’s second.

The two remaining ties were the all-WSL affairs.

The all-Second Division fixture between Frances George and West Herts ended 2-2, with Dexter Franklin-Beck netting a brace for the home side and Brandon Whitman doing the same for the Stags, who went through thanks to a 4-3 win on penalties.

The all-Third Division clash saw Abbots Wanderers beat Chorleywood Club AFC 3-1.

Tommy Ash gave Wanderers the lead in the first half, Ebenezer Essiam equalised for the home side in the second period, but two late defensive lapses allowed Abbots to win thanks to goals from James Fitzgerald and Josh Felton.

Terry Devereux President’s Cup First Round

Langleybury recovered from 2-0 down with just half an hour left to beat Batchworth 3-2.

The tie looked to be Batchworth’s as they took a deserved lead on the stroke of half-time, Matt Hunt with a pin-point corner picking out Harry Lord for a fine header at the back post for his first goal of the season.

They continued where they left off after the break and soon doubled their advantage, Hunt again with a corner which curled all the way into the top corner.

Sean Lindsey started the comeback when he netted from a free-kick before two goals in 15 minutes from George Piekarczyk sealed the victory.

It was a far tighter affair between The Cross and Abbots Langley Club, which Abbots won thanks to a goal from Kyle Clifford who slotted home a cross in the second half.

Premier Division

The only game in the top flight ended in a 1-1 draw between Evergreen and WD Bushey, meaning Bushey remain unbeaten but have now drawn four of their six games.

WD took the lead in the first half thanks a bit of quick thinking from Joshua Keane who spotted the keeper off his line and lobbed him from around 30 yards out.

Evergreen levelled in the second half when a through ball from Tom Verbana was slotted home by Jake Sahota.

Division One

Old Fullerians got the better of CF Watford Continentals 3-2.

Fullerians took the lead midway through the first half when Ryan Woosley squared to Chris Colman who found the bottom left corner from the edge of the box.

Aamir Khan equalised for the home side early in the second period but Fullerians regained the lead soon after, a ball over the top from Mark Needham found Jake Entwistle who went through and scored.

He then added his second and Fullerians’ third after Woosley prodded it through to him and he once again beat the onrushing keeper.

Continentals pulled a goal back with two minutes left from Damian Jastrzemski.

Chess United and Watford United shared the points after a 3-3 draw.

Watford went ahead thanks to a goal from Adam Anwar before Cameron Murray drew Chess level with a first-time effort into the top corner.

However, Watford looked to have all three points in the bag as they scored twice more before half-time through Nolian Agimi and Mayvin Vigneswaran.

With half an hour left, Chess battled back to take a point when first Daniel Jovanoski drilled home a free-kick, and then the scorer turned provider for James Todd to finish from a tight angle.

Division Two

Hertfordshire Athletic won a third league game of the season with an impressive 7-0 away victory over Inter.

Evan King struck a hat-trick, supported by a brace from Jack McLaughlin and a goal each for James Hicks and Matt Ingram.

Watford Youth Sports moved into second place in the table with a 4-2 victory over Dome Bar, whose recent run of good results came to an end.

Dome scored twice in the opening 15 minutes with goals from Jay Haynes and Ben Kelly, but that only served to spark Sports into life.

The comeback began when Louie Muncie set up Karnye Grant to fire home from ten yards out.

Then almost straight from the restart Oliver Frost beat two defenders to a loose ball behind the defence to slot home in a one on one from 15 yards.

The victory was confirmed in the second half when Oliver Frost laid a pass into the path of Callum Shellard to hit a curled shot from around 25 yards beyond the keeper.

The final goal was a shot blocked by a defender that ricocheted back to Jack Moore who drove home from 12 yards.

Division Three

FC Railway have cut leaders Woodside Reserves’ advantage at the top to just three points after a narrow 1-0 win over AFC Watford, Danny Wallis with the all-important goal.

Surely Wood have a second league win of the season, 3-1 over bottom-placed PTH United who are still looking for their first points of the campaign.

Brett Fincham, Jack Brady and Kyle Barnett got the goals for Wood with Tony Delaney replying for PTH.

The two teams directly above PTH in the table, Bricket Wood Acorns and Everett Rovers Reserves, fought out a 3-3 draw.

Alex Michael scored twice alongside a goal for Jack Micklewright for Acorns, with Nathan Fowler, Leo Broom and Regan Weiser replying for the away side.