WEEK 8 ROUND-UP
OCTOBER 5TH, 2025
Leigh Utd 5 Tean Reserves 0.
On a very blustery morning I took the short trip to the picturesque village of Leigh, were Utd were hosting Team reserves. Firstly I would like to say both teams showed the up most respect and it was a pleasure to ref. The pitch was in excellent condition apart from the left touch line that had been marked with tipex. Leigh got out of the blocks on the B of bang with the mercurial Will Whitehust scoring after a minute with a hard hit near post shot. 2 minutes later Whitehust was folded in half by the center back and scored from the resulting penalty. Whitehust completed a first half hatrick when his free kick was deflect in. Tean never stopped working throughout the match. Leigh got a 4th when a shot come cross snuck in. The fifth and best goal was an unbelievable strike from Ian Whitehust, top bins. I went back for a pint at the Cross in Leigh, if you haven't been I would highly recommend it. A gorgeous country pub.
Cheadle SMU 2 Stone Town 1
Cheadle started brightly with the wind at their backs and made the early running and should have been ahead but missed chances by Matt Goodwin, Louie Welford and Alfie Bonehill meant it stayed level until during a rare attack into the wind a good move down the Stone left led to a ball across which was finished by Owen Brown at the second attempt. Cheadle SMU tried to force they way back into the game and were awarded a penalty when after good work by Marzuq Iddirisu-Osman he was bought down by the Stone defender and Matt Goodwin made no mistake from the spot HT 1-1. In the second half Stone Town had the wind and made most of the running but after 60 mins a great ball to the back post by Chris Hackney was headed back across goal by Matt Goodwin and Bruce Pell was there to apply the finish. Stone were then well on top looking for an equaliser but a for a great save by Sam Thomas and great defending by Sam Rushton they would have been. They were however handed a lifeline on 80 minutes when Sam Rushton was adjusted to have pushed the Stone centre forward and the ref awarded a penalty. To the relief of the large home crowd Jake Rogan smashed his penalty against the underside of the crossbar and Cheadle were able to scramble away the loose ball. FT 2-1
Bramshall 5 Ball Haye Green Dev 3
It took a while for Bramshall to get going but only 50 seconds for captain Zac Turner to put the visitors 1.0 up. First real chance for fell Bramshall on 10 mins to Ezra but missed the target. The visitors capitalised on a mistake in the hosts penalty area saw the visitors go 2 up. This stung the hosts into action with the impressive Oxley creating chances. Kieran Coates pulled a goal back by taking 2 players on before placing the ball in the bottom corner. The visitors responded with a powerful 35 yard strike which was well saved. Alkins made it 2.2 with a good strike from a free kick just outside the box. 2.2 HT
The second half saw an end to end affair which saw Bramshall being more clinical than the visitors with the pick of the goals coming from Coates again, converting a great cross the left hand side. Ball Haye were still in the game playing some decent one touch football especially from Cam and Ashton Barker who were also on the score sheet. A great strike from a free kick saw the visitors hit the post and they couldn’t quite get to the rebound. The game fizzled out in the last 5 mins and finished 5.3.
Victoria FC 3-1 Marchington FC
Marchington travelled to Wolverhampton league side Victoria in the Staffs Cup. The first 25 minutes very even with no chances for either side and both trying to get used to the strong wind that was affecting both teams from being able to play their natural games.
After 30 minutes the home side were awarded a penalty when the referee through the crowd deemed to ball to have struck the hand of a defender, which they duly converted to take the lead.
Unfortunately Marchington conceded again before half time when after a well timed block tackle by Craig Swinfield the ball ricocheted to their striker who tapped in from 2 yards out.
The lads came out 2nd half and were probably the better side in that period. But went 3-0 down on 75 minutes with a 25 yard strike to the the top corner leaving the keeper with no chance to save.
We kept battling and got a goal back 12 mins from time when a run from Kyle Esplin took him past the home defence and then squared to ball to Corey McLaughlin to pass in to an empty net. A couple of late half chances but the hosts were victorious.
Charlie Bassetts 3-3 Brownhills (4-5 on penalties)
Charlie Bassetts welcomed West Midlands based Brownhills in the first round of the Sentinel Cup and despite starting well were behind on 20 minutes after Brownhills had broke the offside trap and finished well.
It was soon 2-0 and looked like the usual scenario for Bassetts but they started the comeback through veteran Chris Lockett and then a Dave Harper delivery was converted by Jack Kay’s back to see the scores 2-2 at half time.
Bassettts changed to a 3-4-3 in the second half allowing returning captain Ethan Clarkson to move into a more familiar role in midfield and he put them in the lead on 60 minutes.
The game seemed to be heading to Charlie’s and they had numerous chances to see the game out but failed to convert and with 2 minutes left their defender had a moment of madness and gave away a free kick after rugby tackling one of the Brownhills men down. The resulting free kick failed to be cleared and Brownhills equalised to take the tie to penalties.
The first 9 penalties were comfortably converted but the final one for Bassetts was send high and wide and Brownhills progressed 5-4.
