Riverside Hibernian Blue 1 Edson Vasco de Gama 4

Riverside.

WITH noses glowing as red as Rudolph's in the chill winter air, Edson supporters made the long journey north to meet Riverside in this pre-Christmas fixture, and saw Edson conclude 2001 with a hard fought victory away from home.

Edson opened in typical "sleepy" fashion, allowing Riverside to dominate territorially for the first five minutes and conceding an own goal from a corner. This aspect of the defence needs addressing as Edson rarely concede from open play with perhaps 60% of goals conceded coming from this direct route.

Again, typically, Edson came strongly onto their game to dominate the rest of the half, with the efforts of the home keeper, a disallowed goal, and inaccurate finishing of chances, preventing them drawing level before the interval.

Edson opened the second half in determined mood, desperate to sit down to turkey and pud with a seasonal victory to add to the feast.

The vocal away support was not to be disappointed . Yusef kept up his impressive finishing record scoring twice as a second half sub (shades of Oleg Gunnar Solskjaer here!), after Mattie Walsh had advanced his season's total with an impressive opener for Edson.

Joseph Casey delivered a superb corner into the heart of the Riverside box which forced an own goal to add a fourth. This concluded the scoring although it must be noted that the heroics of the Riverside keeper and some stout defending played a substantial role in keeping the score down.

By the conclusion the glow had spread from the noses of the away support to leave a warm feeling all over as Edson conclude 2001 with a very satisfactory half season.

Report by Tim Casey

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Evergreen Youth (Under 8) 2 Wood Boys 0

South Way, Abbots Langley.

This top of the table clash between leaders Wood Boys and second place Evergreen was always going to be a competitive game which ended in a 2 - 0 victory for the home side.

In very cold conditions both teams battled hard to make the initial break through and it wasn't until mid-way through the first half that the deadlock was broken.

Following good work by Ashley Talbot and Sean Murray on the right wing, an opening was created for Tommy Twelves to side foot home the opening goal.

The lead was increased shortly after half time when Tweleves shot from the edge of the penalty area to beat the Wood Boys' keeper at the near post, bagging his brace.

It was a close game between two evenly matched sides, with Evergreens' victory making up for the defeat Wood Boys inflicted earlier in the season.

Report by Greg Denyer

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Chipperfield Corinthians 1 Sarratt Rebels 3

Primrose Hill, Kings Langley.

A very exciting game was held on the birthday of Sarratt Rebels manager Dave Calcutt. The manager pointed out it was not just a birthday treat to see his side win, but also it was quite "weird" that he turned 31 on the day his side won 3-1.

The Rebels goals that gave them a much-needed victory came from Connor Calcutt, Matt Sawyer and Jamie Eamer, with some fantastic saves coming from Rebels' keeper Kyle Minas.

The game was very exciting with Chipperfield going in 1-0 up at half time. However, the Sarratt players did not let this lower their hunger to win and came out after half time with heads up, playing a very skillfull second half and passing around the pitch.

A penalty plea went unseen by the ref after Calcutt was sandwiched by two players and pushed to the ground, but he didnt let this stop him and went on to put the ball past Joe Slade, who Rebels hold in very high respect as probably being one of the best keepers in the Yellow Division.

Report by S Robson

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Under 8s and 9s Review

WILLIAM KING'S 25-yarder gave Leverstock Green under nines their 1-1 draw with Berkhamsted Raiders.

St Albans City put out two teams against Bovingdon, drawing 1-1 thanks to Harry Gray's strike, but losing 4-2 in the other game, despite goals from Tom Rainsford and Mark Wilson.

Two Tommy Twelves goals earned Evergreen Juniors a 2-0 win over Wood Boys in the under eights. Jamie Denyer, Ashley Talbot, Michael Lee and Sean Murray earned praise from their manager. <

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Under 10s Review

RORY SUTTIER and Harry Jones converted crosses by Chris Wilkinson to set up Evergreen Juniors for a 3-1 win over Berkhamsted Raiders Blue in the under tens, with Tommy Dettner also finding the net.

Matthew Cousens helped maintain Chorleywood Red's unbeaten run with four goals in a 9-0 win at Riverside Hibs. William Hayter completed a hat-trick, and there were two for Chris Bellotti.

Craig Gorham claimed his first goal of the season and Mike McQuade found the net as well as Leverstock Green overcame Gadeside Rangers 2-0.

A Javonne Molloy equaliser helped Northwood to a 1-1 draw with Borehamwood 2000.

Toby Irish, Luke Campion and Nathan Byrne gave St Albans North a 3-1 win at Harvesters North.

Keeper James Tipple was man-of-the-match as St Albans West won their table topper against Enfield Rangers 1-0, thanks to a strike from Elliott Goward.

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Under 11s Review

AS USUSAL, Chorleywood Red under 11s conceded the first goal in their 3-2 success against Omonia. But strikes from Edward Swirls, Joseph Payne and Danny Page saw them through.

Chris Howard returned from a long-term injury and claimed the Leverstock Green reply in their 5-1 defeat against London Colney Blue.

Four goals from David Maurander and a Kemo Maphella hat-trick gave Northwood White a 7-3 win over Echoes Gold.

Joe Cowderoy scored twice and earned man-of-the-match honours as Gadeside downed Palace Youth Rhodes 2-0. Keeper Fraser Hufford earned special praise.

Chris Hamilton scored twice as St Albans East lost 4-2 at Edmonton Eagles.

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Under 12s Review

JAKE LOVICK and Sam Colbeck scored two each as Croxley Guild took a 7-4 win off Chesham under 12s, with Toby Bryan, Tom Bennett and James Burch providing the other goals.

Byron Mills and Matthew Ryan hit two apiece in Leverstock Green's 4-2 win at Tornadoes.

Steve Faux and Nick Pearce bagged hat-tricks as Northwood overcame Bedmond Eagles 7-0, with Scott McCue scoring the other goal.

Lyndon Ryan scored for Chorleywood Red in their 1-1 draw at home to Evergreen Colts, whose goal came from Chris Duffy.

Sebastian Mann's first ever goal for St Albans North was not enough to stop them losing 4-1 at Whetstone.

Scott Painter-Bull and Danny Veasey scored but Robbie Phillips was named man-of-the-match as St Albans South won 2-0 at Bovingdon.

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Under 13s Review

JONATHON KIRBY opened the scoring with a fine individual goal as Abbots Youth beat Cassiobury Rangers 4-1 in the under 13s.

Lee Davison thundered home a great shot after breaking through the middle, Andrew Burton's clever flick hit the back of the net, and Thomas Bancroft was also on taget with a far post header.

Leverstock Green pulled off a 3-1 win at Borehamwood Youth thanks to superb finishing from Gavin Porter (2) and Adam Hallissey. Ed Norris was voted man-of-the-match for a great midfield performance.

Louis Austin and Matt Armstrong put Comets Cobras ahead, while Ben Fermor, returning from a long lay-off, came on to claim an equaliser for them in their 3-3 draw at home to Bushey Rangers.

Ricky Miller hit all the goals as St Albans North got past Sun Postal 5-2 - the fifth time he has scored that many times in a match this season, and his tally is now 52.

John Hearn's goals were not enough as St Albans South lost 5-2 at home to Palace North.

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Under 14s Review

JACK CAIRNS scored three minutes from time to give Cassiobury Clarets a high scoring win over neighbours Croxley Green.

He and Craig Nicol got two apiece in their 5-4 victory in the under 14s, with Ryan Hodgman scoring Clarets' other goal in a see-saw game in which they trailed by two at half time.

Dean Higgs' hat-trick and two more from Scott Webster guided Hemel Celtic to a 5-1 win over Comets Mustangs.

Tom Clark's first half goals gave St Albans East their 2-1 win oer Chiltern.

Garston Juniors beat Sun Postal Preditors 5-1, James Glass netting twice. Jamie Norman scored against his former club, and there were other goals for Gary Warne and Lee Taylor.

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Under 15s Review

JIMMY THOMPSON'S hat-trick guided Garston Boys under 15s to a 4-0 League Cup win over Harvesters South, with man-of-the-match Mark Hanson completing the scoring with a 20-yarder.

Mark Oakley and Steve Easterbrook scored twice, and reached the 50-goal mark for their club, as Harpenden Tigers overcame Kings Langley 9-2.

Oliver Spicer claimed a hat-trick, and there were singles for Chris Sheridan, Lee Ganderton and Colin Arnsby.

An individual strike from Martin Smith was not enough for Harpenden Pumas as they went down 3-1 at Comets.

Adam Chaplin's double helped Echoes Amber to a 6-0 success against EDRS Stonegrove, with David Green, Craig Dobson, Jack Denham and Kevin Price also on target.

Alex Addison scored twice as St Albans West overcame Evergreen 4-1, with Sandie Sokhey and Charles Smith also netting.

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Under 16s Review

FOUR goals each from Andy Ealy and Stephen Hirst set up Herons for a 9-4 victory over Nascot Wood at under 16 level.

David Adams scored the other goal, while Carl Blowers was excellent in midfield for the winners.

Garston Boys took until the second half to score in their 4-0 win at Riverside Hibs, with Graeme Chesters producing a cool finish 15 minutes after the break.

Defenders Dave Wright and Adam Miller pushed up to add to the score, before Adam Loughton hooked in a debut goal.

Krispin Lamb, Ricki Greenidge, Peter Taylor and Michael Wade helped Leverstock Green fight back for a 4-2 win over Echoes Amber.

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