Houlihan's Birkenhead Sunday Football League
HUNT THE PRIDE OF LIONS
Mark Hunt was the main man in the Houlihan’s Birkenhead Sunday League Division 2 this weekend, with his hat-trick keeping leaders Lions Athletic ahead of the pack. Further goals came from Anson and T. Jones, in a 5-2 win over AFC Houlihans (Walklett, Withy). Hot on their heels are Shaftesbury Youth C (Thompson 2), following a 2-0 win at FC Ridger. A Steve Davies double, one from Morgan and a 30 yard screamer from Brown, gave Bushells Athletic a 4-0 success at Shaftesbury Youth B. Midweek action saw a great goal from Andy Cefai help seal a first win for Rangers Breaks (Davies, Hughes), 3-2 against Bebington Legion (Ballard, Graham).
A tough week for defending champions Dock FC (Head, O’Hanlon, Hammond) in the Premier Division, with a midweek 3-3 draw against Bidston Hotel (T. Taylor 2, D. Taylor), followed by a 1-0 defeat at home to The Towers, who had an 83rd minute Max Blood goal to thank for their victory. Heygarth (Forbes) and Parkside (Mayes) fought out a 1-1 draw, whilst Stirrup (Upton, Devey) kept up their run of form beating New Ferry Wirral Hotel 2-0. It was Stirrup’s 2nd clean sheet of the week as they had beaten Brow 4-0 in midweek. Other midweek games included victories for Rock Ferry Social (Hesketh 2, Stewart 2) 4-2 at The Tower, a 3-2 win for Woodchurch over New Ferry Wirral Hotel and a 2-1 success for Queens park over Heygarth.
The Division One top of the table clash between Argyll (Rushton) and Shore Villa, ended up honours even at 1-1. This gave Wellington (McNally 2, Breeze 2, Major) a chance to close the gap, which they did in a 5-3 success over Saddle Club, following on from their midweek 5-2 success against AFC Mississippi. The Mississippi’s (Woods) woe continued into the weekend when they were beaten 6-1 by a rampant FC Fender (David White 3, Comber, Naughlty) whose goals included one from goalkeeper Daniel Rixon when clearing from his own area! A depleted Lions (Parry)side put in a brave performance against Lancelyn Glenavon, but couldn’t follow up on their first win of the season midweek, 2-1 at Shaftesbury Youth A. Goals from Corris, Fletcher and Morrell, gave Lancelyn the 3-1 win. King’s Arms (Machin, Edge) had their 2nd win of the week when beating Shaftesbury Youth A 2-0, after beating Saddle Club 2-1 earlier in the week.
Two of Division Three’s early pacesetters, who had both had victories earlier in the week, Noctorum Athletic (Williams, Morgan) and Neston Athletic (Brennan, Fewtrell), shared the points in a 2-2 draw. FC Vaults (Henderson 2, McLean, Jackson) got their first win of the season, 4-1 at struggling New Ferry Rangers. New Ferry also lost heavily in midweek 7-0 to Pollard’s Inn and Pollard’s (Williams 2, Dodgson, Pollard) followed that up with a 4-0 victory over Comecon B. Doubles from Fleckner and Povall, with another from Vinny Duong helped Birkenhead Youth B to a 5-0 result at Blue Anchor. Ellesmere Port (Mapletoft 2, Chaddbourne) maintained their unbeaten start, overcoming The Avenue 3-0.
The Youth Division’s high scorers of the day were Eastham Rangers who beat Oxton Athletic Youth (Watterson) 9-1. John Skipsey was the biggest thorn in Oxton’s side as he hit 5 of his team’s goals, closely followed by Liam Walsh who hit a hat-trick, Danny Reid grabbing the other. Newton Athletic (O’Brien 2, Evans, Ashworth) followed up their midweek 10-1 success with a 4-1 victory over Shaftesbury Youth (Richards) and Ashville Panthers (Tom Anglesey, Dave McNeilis) enjoyed a 2-1 win over Vauxhall Youth.