West Herts Saturday league results and reports

West Herts Premier Division:

Caddington 2 Hemel Hempstead Rovers 6.

Glenn Sports 4 The Engineer Harpenden 2.

West Herts Senior Charity Cup, league stages:

Pool B: Croxley Community 1 Langleybury Cricket Club 0; Tring Athletic A 6 Bovingdon A 1.

West Herts Division One:

Oxhey Academy 0 Global AFC 3.

West Herts Junior Charity Cup, league stages:

Pool A: Tring Corinthians Reserves 1 Harpenden Rovers Reserves 4; Tring Town AFC 2 Croxley Community Reserves 0.

Pool B: Hemel Hempstead Rovers Reserves 6 Oxhey A 0; Sun Sports Rovers 3 Potten End 2.

Match reports, by Keith Hammond, West Herts FA honorary fixtures secretary and press secretary

So, it was a good start to the new year with a full compliment of league and cup games played for the West Herts Saturday clubs

West Herts Premier Division:

Hemel Hempstead Rovers consolidated their top of the table position with a strong 6-2 away win at Caddington.

Jack Samuel scored a hat-trick, while John Edey, Rhys Stonebank and Joe Boggins netted the others. They remain six points clear of second-placed team Glenn Sports, who jumped into the second spot after a 4-2 home win against The Engineer Harpenden.

However, Glenn have three games in hand, so, it’s now all down to them. Glenn quickly took the lead with a fantastic header from Jack Bishop from a perfect cross from Darrel Hennessy. Bishop soon scored a second, after finishing a ball over the top of the Engineer defence from James Hocking.

Glenn made it 3-0 when a long throw-in was cleared but only to the edge of the box where Darrel Hennessy caught the ball perfectly on the bounce with his left foot to find the top corner, which will definitely be a contender for goal of the season. Sam Clarke made it 4-0 from the penalty spot after the break.

The Engineer scored two late goals, through Mark Hitchcock, to make for a tense ending, but Glenn held out for their 11th win in a row.

West Herts Senior Charity Cup - league stages:

Pool B:

There were two crucial games in Pool B. Croxley Community narrowly beat bottom side Langleybury Cricket Club 1-0, with a goal from Robbie Martin. It means Croxley are the Pool B champions and will play Hemel Rovers in the semi-finals in March.

Tring Athletic A had to beat second-placed Bovingdon A to climb above them into the second qualifying place and duly did so with a convincing 6-1 win. A hat-trick from veteran Andy Humphries and goals from James Butler, Ollie Butler and Martin Travers sealed the win. Michael Buttleman replied for Bovingdon, who will now have to win by a clear eight goals in their final pool game against The Engineer Harpenden, to take second spot and reach the semi-finals.

West Herts Division One:

Global AFC played away at Oxhey Academy and gained just their second win of the season with a 3-0 triumph.

West Herts Junior Charity Cup - league stages:

Pool A:

Harpenden Rovers Reserves are now in second place after beating Tring Corinthians Reserves 4-2 away from home. Ross MacNiven scored a hat-trick and Michael Grey adding the other. It now depends on Croxley Community Reserves’ clash with Hunton Bridge with Croxley needing to win by six goals to take the second slot from Harpenden.

Tring Town AFC became Pool A champions after beating Croxley Community Reserves 2-0 to secure their place in the semi-finals, where they will play either Potten End or Sun Sports Rovers.

Pool B:

Sun Sports Rovers fought hard to win 3-2 against Potten End and open up the contest for the top-two spots in Pool B. It was 1-1 at the break, but two goals from Glen Cook and another from Danny Hall enabled Sun to grab the close win.

Drew Duggan and Kieran Hopkins scored for Potten.

Hemel Hempstead Rovers Reserves had to win well to stay in contention for the top-two positions and their 6-0 win over Oxhey A enabled them to climb over Potten into second place for now. Kai Lewis grabbed a hat-trick with Luke Hewitt (two) and Charlie Rance (one) scoring the others.

It now depends on the results of the final games in Pool B, where Sun Sports take on Global AFC and Potten meet Oxhey A.

Fixtures for this Saturday, January:

Herts FA Junior Cup third round (last-16):

Evergreen U21 v Tring Athletic A.

Glenn Sports v Northchurch Baptist.

Hemel Hempstead Rovers v Broxbourne Badgers.

West Herts Premier Division:

Langleybury Cricket Club v Caddington.

The Engineer Harpenden v Croxley Community.

West Herts Division One:

Croxley Community Reserves v Potten End.

Global AFC v Hunton Bridge.

Oxhey Academy v Tring Town AFC.

Sun Sports Rovers v Hemel Hempstead Rovers Reserves.

Tring Corinthians Reserves v Oxhey A.