In a huge week for deciding the North Division title, Runcorn Linnets extended their winning start to six game and are sitting pretty in first place with a five-point lead. In the South Division, Kidlington keep up the pressure on Rushall Olympic (Amber). We review all the action from #MatchweekEight.
North Division
In the North Division, Ossett United are enjoying an excellent run of form and carded their third win from three games. The #ESPFAWestYorkshire side beat Belper Town 3-1 at home to move up to fourth spot in the division. Jack Hepworth opened the scoring in the first half and Alex Taylor netted in the second half before Leslie Gumede pegged one back for Belper Town to make it 2-1 with 10 minutes to play. Pawel Topa put the icing on the cake in the 90th minute to secure another win for Ossett United. Brighouse Town dropped points again at the top of the division after a 0-0 stalemate with Witton Albion. In a tightly contested game neither side could find that all important goal. After defeat last week against Ossett United and another two points dropped here, Brighouse Town now slip to five points behind Runcorn Linnets. The Division leaders were also in action in #MatchweekEight and extended their winning run to six games with an impressive 15-0 win over Mickleover. Runcorn Linnets face Brighouse Town in #MatchweekNine in what could be a pivotal game in the hunt for the North Division title.
South Division
The ‘Key Matchup’ for #MatchweekEight saw Chesham United travel to Kidlington looking for their first win since the opening game of the season whereas Kidlington were hoping to stay level on points with Rushall Olympic (Amber) at the top of the table. In an all action first half it was Kidlington who had the first big chance of the match after they were awarded a penalty after Zach Evans was brought down in the box. Zak Rice stepped up to take the penalty but was thwarted by Chesham United keeper Dan Hosier who made a great save low down to his left. Kidlington were made to rue the missed spot kick after Chesham went down to the other end of the pitch and scored through Madison Wilkin to take the lead. The home side didn’t let their heads drop and got back into the game shortly after with Zak Rice making up for his missed penalty with a headed goal from a corner. Chandra Limbu got Kidlington in front just before half time with a nice finish into the bottom left corner, but the threat Chesham posed up front was still there. A solid defensive performance from Kidlington allowed them to seat out the 2-1 victory. After the game, #ESPFAOxfordshire student and Kidlington academy captain Chandra Limbu was impressed with the way his side got back into the game after going behind early in the game. He said: “I think it was a good team performance today, obviously we went 1-0 down and that’s not what we want, and we always try to get the upper hand, but I think our team showed great character to get back into the game.” Despite the result, Nathan Brown was happy with the way his Chesham United team played and thought they were unlucky with the result. He said: “I think the game went alright. It was a 50-50 game but unfortunately, we didn’t take the win. I think we’ve got to bounce back next week because it was one of the best games we’ve played.”
Elsewhere in the southern division, Rushall Olympic (Black) are the form team in the division of late and increased their winning streak to three in a row after a 0-3 victory over Yate Town. Elias Myers, Paul Akinbode and Kaylen Stacey were on the score sheet to hand Yate Town their first defeat since #MatchweekOne and moved the West Midlands side up to third in the division. Rushall Olympic (Amber) remain in the driving seat in the division. After another win. They out muscled Carlton Town with a dominant 11-2 win to stay in top spot and remain the only unbeaten team in the South Division.
Listen to the full post-match interviews from Kidlington v Chesham United below.
Team of the Week - #MatchweekEight
Well done to all the students who were nominated by their coaches for this week’s edition of #TeamOfTheWeek and also a special mention to #ESPFAWestMidlands student Tyrese Hall who was chosen as the #PlayerOfTheWeek for #MatchweekEight after an excellent performance up front for Rushall Olympic (Amber).
The Highlights Show
You can catch all of #MatchweekEights’s goals and match highlights in this week’s edition of The Highlights Show.
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