Herts Junior Cup Round One
The Watford Sunday League had a very successful morning with nine teams going through from the 12 games it was represented in, although this did include three all-WSL ties.
In one of those matches, Third Division Carpenders Park Royals continued their impressive start to the season as they beat Second Division Inter 6-2.
Royals had a dream start when they went ahead in the first minute thanks to a Liam Coles volley from around 12 yards out, with Jordan Aston-Woods doubling the lead after 15 minutes with a close-range effort.
Daniel Homer made it 3-0 ten minutes before the break, but Inter pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time through Dan Kenna.
Coles repeated his trick from the first half when he scored in the first minute of the second period. Ten minutes later he completed his hat-trick with a long-range effort from around 25 yards, before scoring his fourth 15 minutes from time, this time with a fine solo effort.
Inter scored their second late on through Reigan Gardener-Young.
There was another upset as fellow Third Division side Bricket Wood Acorns beat Second Division opponents Watford Youth Sports 6-3.
Alex Michael and Jack Micklewright both netted braces for Acorns, with Charlie Barton and Charlie Micklewright also on target.
Louie Muncie scored his own double for the home side, with Oliver Frost getting the other goal.
Second Division Sparta Phoenix had no troubles against Third Division opposition as they swept aside PTH United 6-0 with six different players getting on the scoresheet.
Nelson Gomes opened the scoring with a well-struck effort and Floyd Thompson added a second before the break.
Joey Pascoulis, Craig Putman, Ridhwan Shodeinde and Philippe Clarke all netted in the second half to give Sparta their first win of the season.
Putman's finish was the pick of the bunch, finding the bottom right corner with a neatly taken volley.
St Josephs Reserves will be hoping to emulate the county cup exploits of their first team, who have won the Herts Senior Cup for the last two seasons, and they got off to a great start with an 8-2 away win over Landrovers.
Even without a recognised keeper and playing usual forward Robbie Tocher in goal, they had a good morning with Luke Stallard helping himself to a hat-trick, supported by two goals each from Taylor Cobb and Mitchell Tearle and Ewan Tocher scoring the other.
Dunnings Bar enjoyed a 4-0 home win over Hatfield Seniors Reserves, with their early pressure and efficient finishing resulted in three smartly-taken first-half goals, two from Nima Mohammad Aghaei and one from Callum O’Grady.
The second half saw Dunnings defend sensibly to eliminate any chance of a Hatfield fight back, before Mohammad Aghaei completed his hat-trick in style with a rocket from outside the box into the top corner.
Everett Rovers, whose previous team won this competition back in the 2017/18 season, had a 4-1 home win against Rose & Crown Mosquitos.
Rovers recovered from conceding an early goal to lead 3-1 at half-time through Sam Waller, Michael Dankwa and Archie Potton.
A further goal in the second half through Jordan Standley sealed the win.
Woodside Reserves are another team who are hoping to emulate their club’s previous success in this competition, as the first team lost on penalties in the final in 2022.
They beat Classified FC of the Berkhamsted Sunday League 4-2 with all the goals coming in the first half through Josh Towle, Tom Garratt and two from Andre Federico, including one from just inside in his own half.
Chorleywood Club AFC overcame Monday Night Football Club 5-0 thanks to goals from Jack Billings, George Blanks, Joe Berzins, Nicky Thomas and Neal Pearson, while Abbots Athletic beat FC Boca Seniors 2-0 with Dan Lomax and Cassian Lee on target.
Hertfordshire Athletic went down to a narrow 2-1 home defeat to Chaulden Athletic, with Matt Ingram netting their goal.
FC Railway were knocked out 4-2 by Hemel Ghosts, Nathan Tannian and Callum Littleboy with the goals, while AFC Watford suffered a 7-0 away defeat to Alban Dynamo Reserves.
Eric Hand Challenge Cup Round One
Premier Division Abbots Langley Club had to come back from a goal down against First Division The Cross to eventually ran out 3-1 winners.
The upset looked on when Dave Flannery headed The Cross ahead following a corner after half-an-hour, but in the second half the top-flight team’s class shone through.
Kachi Njoku turned and shot into the top corner from the edge of the box for the equaliser, but it was two players coming off the bench who secured the win, as Sam Hardie curled the ball into the net before Ben Knights netted the third with the last kick of the game.
Premier Division
Defending champions North Watford head the table with three wins and a draw from their opening four games, but they were given a real test as they ran out 5-3 winners against Glenn SSC.
Glenn started the better and went ahead through a fine finish from Owen Ayres, but North Watford hit back with two goals before half time to lead 2-1.
North Watford scored twice more after the break, but Lewis Putman pulled a goal back for Glenn, only for the home side to score a fifth, before Ayres netted his second late on.
Ashley Lewis scored a hat-trick for North Watford, with Jerome Federico and Jevan El-Kaffash also scoring.
WD Bushey gained a first win of the season after drawing their three previous games, as they beat FC Unicorn 2-0 with a goal in each half through Joshua Quinlivan and a strike ten minutes from time from Harrison Fisher.
Cassiobury Rangers are another team with their first three points on the board as five first-half goals saw them overcome Forza Watford 5-0.
The opener came when Rob Ladmore passed to Conor Callanan on the edge of the box, and his shot was parried into the net by the keeper.
A second soon followed when a ball down the right from Jamie McDougall was controlled by Nathan Page, he beat a man before hitting home a powerful finish one-on-one with the keeper.
The third came from a defence-splitting pass from Jayden Chamberlain, picking out Ladmore from deep on the left wing and he finished through the keeper's legs from close range.
A fine solo effort from McDougall made it 4-0, before the scoring was ended when Callanan’s over-hit cross found Page on the right wing, and he scored with an unstoppable shot drilled in at the near post.
Division One
Watford Sports moved joint top after they made it three wins from three with a 6-2 victory over Chess United.
Luke Carter opened the scoring for Sports with a cross-cum-shot, Chess equalised within two minutes when James Todd got himself on the end of a Cameron Murray cross, but Harry Bennett restored the lead with a tidy finish on the stroke of half-time.
In the second half, Taylor Kemp hit a double, with Harry Foley and Ben French also netting before Chess pulled a goal back with a long-range lob from Harry Hewetson.
Langleybury edged past Batchworth by the odd goal in nine, as they ran out 5-4 winners in an end-to-end game.
Langleybury went ahead through Oliver Illot, only for Batchworth to level almost immediately when Callum Danskine drove the ball down the right before cutting pit back to Marcus Rivers who finished from close range.
But in keeping with the pattern of the game, Langleybury restored their lead within two minutes when a routine ball was miskicked by the defence allowing Illot to score his second.
The first half scoring was not yet over though, as Batchworth struck twice to take a 3-2 lead into the break.
First Alex Hollis finished into the bottom left-hand corner, then keeper Luke Perry’s quick thinking after catching a long throw set up Rivers to score his second.
Batchworth’s naïve defensive play again caught up with them again in the second half when they made a hash of defending a free-kick which resulted in an own goal.
Once again Batchworth struck back to go 4-3 ahead, Callum Danskine netting, but their opponents equalised through Dan Coughlan, and with time running out he netted what turned out to be the late winner.
Old Fullerians and CF Watford Continentals drew 2-2.
The visitors looked on course for all three points as they led 2-0 at the break thanks to goals from Ryan Emmanuel and Joe Belloni, but in the second half Fullerians pulled one back through Charlie Hailey and then nicked a point with a goal from Joe Best in the last minute following a corner which wasn’t dealt with by the CF defence.
Humza Hussain put Watford United ahead against Chalfont Saints mid-way through the first half, before Sean Haugh equalised and Sam Hills then netted the winner in the second period to secure a 2-1 victory.
Division Two
West Herts beat Dome Bar 5-2, Lewis Wornham with a double supported by goals from Roscoe Tebbs, Aaron Eager and Robert Capitana.
Jay Haynes and Andy Noonan got the Dome Bar replies.
Luke Furlong, Dexter Franklin-Beck and an own goal helped Frances George to a 3-1 win over Abbots Wanderers, with Alfie Ball scoring their sole reply.
Division Three
Mill Hill Village made it two wins from three games, as they bounced back from their previous week’s 10-4 defeat to beat Everett Rovers Reserves 4-3.
Daniel Brockwell struck a brace with the other goals from Liam Saunders and Zaki Karimbhai.
Regan Weiser, Tolu Agarawu and Kenny Picton were on target for the home side.
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