Edson Vasco de Gama 2 Bedmond Ajax 1

Edson Park.

An enthralling clash between two absolutely committed sides lit up this grey, cold and horrible Sunday like a ray of sunshine piercing the gloom.

Edson seemed to have learnt the lesson of the previous week and this time were up and at it from the first blast of the ref1s whistle (who incidentally was sporting a splendid outfit of silver anorak and green wellies).

Bedmond similarly were ready to play their part and were probably shading it territorially, forcing several corners before Joel dispatched a low hard shot into the bottom corner to open the scoring for Edson.

Bedmond struck back very quickly with a long cross-field pass tucked away with some confidence when met first time by the oncoming forward.

One each at half time with the promise of an exciting second half to come.

Both sides pushed hard to gain the upper hand with the defences limiting chance to the opposition forwards, Edson possibly asking more questions with the back pairing of Daniel and Joseph Casey taking it turns to push forward into the midfield. Half time substitute Mattie Walsh added his pace to the continual hard running of Michael Harriman and it was the latter of these who found the target half way through the second half.

The game remained hard fought with Edson unable to create another breakthrough whilst at the other end Bedmomd had several dangerous free kicks around the box culminating in a direct effort which skimmed the bar.

The final whistle blew with Bedmond still trying to get to equal terms and Edson pleased to have taken the spoils from a very well matched fixture.

The rain drenched home crowd put away their various multi coloured brollies and trudged off home with their Sunday considerably brightened.

Report by Tim Casey

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Everegreen (Under 8s) 6 Nascot Wood Rangers 0

South Way, Abbots Langley.

This was an exciting game played between the teams currently second and third in the Red Division.

Rangers started strongly but midway through the first half Evergreen turned the tables with a superbly taken hat-trick from Tommy Twelves effectively killing off the game by half time.

In the second half Evergreen extended the lead through Sean Murray with one of his trademark 'net buster' specials and Ryan Ward added a further goal from close range.

The final goal was the result of a fine cross from Sean Murray that was met on the volley by Ashley Talbot to crash home from close range, rounding off another outstanding performance for the two hard working midfielders.

Great credit to Rangers who never gave up but in the end it was a comfortable win for Evergreen who put in one of their best performances of the season.

Report by Greg Denyer

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Comet Sports 3 Nascot Wood Rangers 2

League - Blue Division.

A heroic ten-man performance from Nascot Wood, saw them almost snatch a deserved draw from a game that had everything.

Josh Armstrong, again came to rescue Nascot with 2 goals and, with Harry Rutledge walking off with the man of the match award, they were very unlucky to be on a losing side.

Armstrong opened the scoring on two minutes when a long kick from the keeper Daniel Youngs was carried by the strong wind to the 18 yard box, where Josh met the ball with a clean strike.

Nascot battled well for the next 15 minutes against a strong Comets side determined to avenge the defeat earlier in the season.

Mathew Morgan, Robert West and Hussaan Ahmad, all carrying sore foot and leg injuries surpassed their fitness levels to put in determined performances.

Never to be denied, Phillip Thomas moved forward to support his below-strength colleagues and at times being the side with a player down did not show.

Adnan Ahmed and Janie Cooper both battled well to keep the flanks clear and with Craig Valentine supporting Harry Rutledge in central midfield, it was left to Armstrong to plough the lone position up front and in attack, supported by Hussan Ahmad.

Daniel Youngs, again performed superbly in goal to keep the score down.

The decisions from the official, almost let the game run away and the temperature certainly rose towards the end when it became apparent that Nascot could snatch a draw; Josh Armstrong powering a great shot past the keeper six minutes from the final whistle.

With no substitutes available and more injuries to add to the current list, the players gave every single ounce of energy available and never gave up the chase. It was a real shame to come away with no points, but the spirit of the team showed passion and determination that will carry it forward to more success in future games.

Report by Pieter Johnson

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Riverside Red 4 Riverside Blue 3

Watford Fields.

It was a miserable day at Watford Fields but both teams went out there and played some decent football.

Both teams this season have been struggling but Riverside Blue had made some recent signings with Daniel Chick and Chris Dennehy joining the squad for the 2002/03 challenge.

It started off with a blinding shot from Steven Tearle to give the home side the lead, but the Blues came back with a cross from Chick which floated to the head of Ben Marshal.

A header from Matthew Bonnet saw the ball go pass the keeper and into the bottom corner. Later in the first half, Chick hit a superb shot which the keeper could not hold onto and Marshal got the follow on.

The second half brought some superb football from both sides. The Reds nearly went ahead but Chris Ladmore cleared it off the line.

They did go ahead with Matthew Bonnet graping his second of the match. The reds scored another with Steven Tearle hitting the post and Shane got the rebound.

The Blues' subs came on and they started to attack more with Ladmore being pushed onto the left wing and he always caused trouble for them and on the 75 minute mark Ladmore got Riverside's third goal with a beatiful lob from the edge of the area, which followed his amazing strike last Sunday when he scored from the edge of this own box. The match finished 4-3.

Man of the Match: Everyone deserved it.

Report by Joe Fas

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