Watford Sunday League: 105 goals scored in 17 fixtures

Herts Intermediate Cup Second Round

The league’s only winners in the second round of the Intermediate Cup were Everett Rovers who came through an 11-goal triller, 7-4 against Six Bells Sunday Reserves.

It was all one-way traffic in the opening 45 minutes as Rovers built up a four-goal lead.

Lucas Roberts gave them the lead after 11 minutes when he fired home a Jordan Standley cross from the left.

Standley then doubled the advantage ten minutes later as the roles were reversed when he converted a left-wing cross from Roberts.

Everett made it 3-0 on the half-hour mark when Harvey Mogford netted before Roberts slotted home a penalty a minute before the break.

The visitors pulled themselves back into the tie with goals after 50 minutes and 70 minutes, before Charlie McNally calmed Rovers’ nerves with two goals in as many minutes as the game entered the final 15 minutes, the first a strike from the end of the box after Regan Weiser laid the ball back into his path, while the second followed two minutes later after being set up by Standley.

The game was still not over as Six Bells scored twice more with five minutes left, but with just three minutes remaining Everett booked a place in the next round when Mogford completed his brace to set up a third-round tie away to Hemel Tudors.

Both Forza Watford and Sparta Phoenix went down to high-scoring defeats.

Forza lost 5-3 at home to SAWBO, with their goals coming through two from Harley Sells and one from Yemi Olofinjana, whilst Sparta were knocked out 6-5 away to The Cock, George Pascoulis and Floyd Thompson both scoring doubles with Joey Pascoulis also on target.

Old Fullerians suffered a 2-0 away defeat to BWSC with both of the goals coming in the first half.

2023-24 Terry Devereux Presidents Cup Second Round

In the heavyweight clash between two of the league’s premier sides, it was North Watford who booked a place in the last eight after a 4-2 win over WD Bushey Rangers.

The victory set up a quarter-final against Chalfont Saints to see who has the right to face St Joseph’s in the semi-final.

Marvin Sordell opened the scoring for North Watford from a free-kick which beat the WD keeper at his near post.

WD soon levelled when a cross into the box from Hodje Almeida on the right was met with a neat finish from Corum Chase from inside the six-yard box.

WD started the second half on top and went ahead when a goal-bound shot from Mario Campos struck the flailing hand of a North Watford defender. Gbohun Palmer Inyang dispatched the spot kick, putting WD 2-1 ahead.

North Watford equalised on the hour mark when Gorkan Gokman scored after some neat play by Sordell.

Gokman then scored his second when he turned a defender and unleashed a shot from 25 yards which clipped the crossbar before hitting the back of the net.

Robbie Fowlie made sure of the victory when he scored with just his second touch after coming on as a substitute to make it 4-2.

2023-24 Eric Hand Challenge Cup Quarter-Final

St Joseph’s, as expected, reached the last four but after they were given an early shock by Third Division underdogs Bricket Wood Acorns before running out 7-1 winners.

Acorns took an early lead thanks to a goal from Alex Michael but that was as good as it got for the lower-ranked side as Lewis Putman and Liam Smyth both scored hat-tricks, supported by a goal from Jake Swaine.

The semi-final draw sees Joes now face North Watford, whilst WD Bushey Rangers take on Cassiobury Rangers.

Chairman’s Cup First Round

The opening tie in this season’s league-wide competition saw Third Division Chorleywood Club AFC cause an upset as they easily beat Watford United 4-1, a team two divisions higher than them.

Chorleywood had a 2-0 lead by the break and although United brought themselves back into the tie 15 minutes into the second period after a well-worked goal by Sanjef Vigneswaran, the visitors sealed their place in the next round with two late efforts.

Felix Ansah netted a double for the victors and there was a goal each for John Gyabaah and George Blanks.

Premier Division

Evergreen have a three-point lead at the top of the table after they beat Cassiobury Rangers 2-1.

Jake Sahota scored both of the Evergreen goals, one in each half, before Rangers pulled a goal back late on from Conor Callanan who drilled home from around 40 yards out.

Division One

Chess United secured a second win of the season with a 5-4 topsy-turvy victory over Watford Youth Sports 1st.

Sports took an early lead before Chess struck four times in the first half.

They soon levelled thanks to Daniel Jovanoski's shot from the edge of the box which somehow snuck in before adding three more goals in a devastating ten-minute spell.

First Jovanoski bagged his second when the Sports keeper mis-kicked a free-kick straight to him and he lobbed home from around 30 yards out.

Waleed Malik made it 3-1, finishing a team passing move at the back post, before Tate Stone got the fourth with a low drilled shot to the keeper’s near post.

But the game then swung back to Sports in the second half, as they scored three times to level the scores at 4-4 with time running out, before Chess came back to gain the three points when Ali Shale headed home a free-kick.

Stevie Dowling, newly signed from the now folded SOCA, scored twice for Sports along with goals from Zak McNicholas and Kyle Davis.

St Joseph’s Reserves moved up into second place in the table with a 2-0 win over Watford Town.

An even first half ended goalless but Joes Reserves broke the deadlock with a deflected effort from Robbie Tocher, before the points were secured ten minutes from the end when a deep cross from the right by Luke Broad was finished off with a diving header from Mitchell Koch.

Division Two

Leaders Woodside beat Langleybury 6-3 thanks to a double from Ellis Constantinou and further goals from Dane Weimar, Tyrone Brandy, Josh Towle and Tom Garratt.

Alex Murphy, Oliver Ilott and Shaun Skutela got the Bury replies.

Hertfordshire Athletic are three points behind Woodside with two games in hand after they came from 3-0 down early in the second half to beat WD Bushey Rangers Reserves 4-3.

Charlie Long, Raphael Wiredu and Sabir Noor looked to have built an unassailable lead for WD before Athletic staged their comeback, started by a lob from Josh Greengrow.

The game then became the Ed Rogers show. First he pounced on a poor goal kick to break free of the defence and slot home, then minutes later he scored again, this time with a rebound from close range to level the scores.

The comeback was completed ten minutes from time when Luke Sutcliffe received the ball wide on the left and beat two defenders before laying it on a plate for Rogers to make no mistake to complete his hat-trick and the triumph.

There was another dramatic game as Batchworth beat West Herts 3-2.

Brandon Whitman scored twice for the Stags but he was upstaged by Marcus Rivers who scored a hat-trick, with the final goal coming with the last kick of the game to give his side all three points.

Inter overcame Frances George 4-2 to move up into fourth place in the table.

Tom Caton scored twice, alongside goals from Ajay Vasanthkumar and Sorin Craciun for the victors.

Lewis Taylor and Scott Stevenson replied for George who remain at the foot of the table without a single point so far.

Division Three

The bottom division looks the most competitive so far, with just nine points dividing the nine teams.

With the top two sides FC Railway and Bricket Wood Acorns not in league action, Everett Rovers Reserves missed the chance to go to the top of the table after they were held 2-2 at home by bottom-placed Nascot AFC who seem to be improving with every game.

Scott Daniels and William Powell netted for Everett with Graham Melsome getting both of the Nascot replies.

Dome Bar and Abbots Wanderers fought out a 3-3 draw, Scott Kilbane, Jay Haynes and Ben Kelly scoring for the home side, with Tommy Ash, Matt Taylor and Sam Breadin replying for Wanderers.

Two goals from Peter Rock and one from Tommy Edwards gave AFC Watford the points in a 3-0 win over Surely Wood.