Last-minute penalty drama in West Herts Premier top-table clash

There was plenty of excitement in the West Herts League at the weekend, including last-minute penalty drama in a top-table Premier clash and a mammoth 11 goals from Caddington in Division One.
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The full results and scorers were as follows:

West Herts Premier:

Langleybury Cricket Club 2 (Ollie Ilott, Leon Mason) Croxley Community 5 (Samba Gaye, 3, Joe Perrin, Harry Brock).

Potten End 2 (Dale Jenkins, Ben Pearce) The Engineer Harpenden 2 (Tom Beasley, Ben Warren).

West Herts Division One:

Caddington 11 (James Anthony Ray 6, John Cartwright, Thomas Payne, Jonnie Shoemaker, Martin Stevens, Connor Arnold) Oxhey Academy 0.

Herts FA County Junior Cup first round:

Croxley Community Reserves 5 (James Pimlott, 2, Nick Rogers, Alex Simmonds, Billy Bywater) Tring Corinthians Development 1.

Hemel Hempstead Rovers 8 (Asher Alleyne, 3, Marcus Tower, 2, Charlie Rance, Dan Perry, Tom Dean) Evergreen Reserves 0.

Match reports:

Premier Division:

Potten End hosted The Engineer Harpenden, with both teams starting the match unbeaten in the league and the winners to top the division.

Potten made changes to the side and gave their younger players an opportunity. It looked as if it had worked when 16-year-old Ben Pearce lobbed the Harpenden keeper to make it 1-0.

However, the visitors battled back minutes later with a goal from Ben Warren to make it 1-1 at half-time.

Engineer continued to play good football after the break, while Potten End looked dangerous on the counter.

Engineer took the lead in the 80th minute via Tom Beasley, but Potten responded by chucking everything forward in the hope that an opportunity would come.

In the 90th minute, a Harpenden player cleared the ball off the line with his hand, resulting in a red card and penalty. Dale Jenkins stepped up to take the spot-kick but missed.

However, the referee ordered a do-over as he deemed the keeper had left his line too early. The re-taken penalty was the last kick of the game as Jenkins converted to make it 2-2 in a very tight game.

Elsewhere in the Premier, a hat-trick from the dangerous Samba Gaye helped Croxley Community to come away from Langleybury Cricket Club with a 5-2 win.

Joe Perrin and Harry Brock added the others, while Ollie Ilott and Leon Mason replied for Langleybury.

Division One:

Hunton Bridge moved into second place with a confident 5-1 away win against Evergreen A.

An Archie Mboto hat-trick, with one goal each from Joe Zazzera and Dan Moss earned the win.

A Brett Whitehead brace enabled Global AFC to win 2-1 away at Oxhey A in a very close game to move up to third in the table, having spent lots of time in the bottom-two for much of last season.

Croxley Green jumped into fourth when a Dan Walsh winner gained a tight 1-0 result against Sun Sports Rovers.

After three straight losses Chesham United (Youth) Men’s gained a hard-fought point with a 3-3 draw in an exciting end-to-end game with Hemel Hempstead Rovers Reserves.

Josh Babumba, Ewan Philpott and James Waller scored for Green, while a Reece Philips brace and an own goal levelled it for Rovers.

Caddinton had not won for the last three games but made amends with an overwhelming 11-0 home win against bottom team Oxhey Academy.

James Anthony Ray grabbed an astonishing double hat-trick, while John Cartwright, Thomas Payne, Jonnie Shoemaker, Martin Stevens and Connor Arnold were the others on the scoresheet.

Herts FA County Junior Cup first round:

In an evenly-contested first-half, early goals by Marcus Tower and Asher Alleyn gave Hemel Hempstead Rovers a 2-0 cushion against Evergreen Reserves at the break.

Rovers began to pile on the pressure and Charlie Rance scrambled their third goal.

Tower missed an open goal from just two yards, but Tom Dean quickly notched Hemel’s fourth with a tap-in.

Although the visitors continued to play hard, it was the hosts’ pressure that eventually produced more goals.

Daniel Perry grabbed a fifth with a smart effort, Marcus Tower found the target again for his second and Asher Alleyne scored two more, his hat-trick goal coming after Rhys Stonebank went on a brilliant run before passing to Alleyn to ensure an 8-0 win.

They now play Sun Sports Rovers at home in the second round.

Croxley Community Reserves had a comfortable 5-1 home win against Aylesbury & District Division One side Tring Corinthians AFC Development.

Goals from James Pimlott (two), Nick Rogers, Alex Simmonds and Billy Bywater did the trick.

They now play at home in the second round against Long Marston, also from the Aylesbury & District League.

Fixtures this Saturday:

West Herts Premier:

Croxley Community v Bovingdon A.

Kings Sports v Hemel Hempstead Rovers.

Potten End v Langleybury Cricket Club.

The Engineer Harpenden v Tring Athletic A.

West Herts Division One:

Croxley Green v Chesham United (Youth) Men.

Evergreen A v Oxhey A.

Hemel Hempstead Rovers Reserves v Global AFC.

Hunton Bridge v Croxley Community Reserves.

Sun Sports Rovers v Oxhey Academy.

Beds FA County Junior Cup second round:

Caddington v Real Haynes.