Wild weekend weather doesn't stop flood of goals

The Abacus Lighting Floodlit Cup got into its stride in midweek with four ties in the first round settled.

The most eye-catching outcome was at Church Lane where Linby Colliery came from three goals down to beat Frickley Athletic Reserves 5-4.

In a whirlwind start the visitors raced into a three goal lead in the first twenty minutes, Dionysus Bykou pulled one back on 36 minutes. Charlie Tassi came off the bench to reduce the deficit further five minutes after half time only for Frickley to reopen their two goal lead.

Linby kept in touch with a Harry Thorne strike in the 64th minute. As the visitors tired in the closing stages, Linby pulled off the ultimate smash and grab, Oscar Trigg equalising ten minutes from time before Tassi delivered the killer blow with 89 minutes on the clock. The scorers for Frickley were Cory Stables with two, Ashton Johnson and Joe Cooney.

There was nearly another surprise result as Glapwell, next to bottom of the Premier North, with just one win to their credit, were narrowly beaten by Holbrook Sports, leaders of the South division, the final score ending up 2-1.

Alex Curd put Holbrook in front in the 18th minute, Josh Wooliscroft levelling the scores a minute before half time. Again it was a late goal that settled it, Brad Daly netting on 81 minutes to send Holbrook through.

Worksop Town Reserves also made it into the second round.at the expense of Borrowash Victoria, the score again 2-1. Rhys Butterworth put the Tigers ahead with 41 minutes played, going two up with a goal on 75.

Although Alex Quigley got one back for Vics a couple of minutes later, that was as near as they were able to get. Dinnington Town progressed with a 2-0 defeat of Rossington Main Reserves thanks to goals from Luke Thorpe after 5 minutes and Ashley Cooper on 73.

The weekend fixtures endured so heavy weather and on a foul afternoon which won’t have done pitches too many favours, the gods looked favourably on AFC Phoenix, who, after several close run things in recent weeks, got a very welcome three points with a 4-0 win over Worksop Town Reserves. The goals came from Dillon Gregory with two, Rhys Alsop and Max Wadsworth and lift Phoenix out of the bottom two.

With Harworth Colliery idle for the second Saturday, Burngreave United went four points clear after beating a depleted AFC Bentley. The visitors found themselves two goals down after 4 minutes as Mohammed Shebani and Abdulrahman Alghamdi gave Burngreave the ideal start, Umar Muhammad adding a third ten minutes later.

Bentley were reduced to ten men before Abdulrahman Asad made it four before half time. The second half proved to be closer, Hisham Awadh’s 68th minute goal the only one until a disastrous end to the match for Bentley concede two more in the final two minutes, Aymane Amine and Mohammed Tahir taking the total to seven. Interestingly, Asad was credited with the assist to six of the goals, the other one he scored himself.

Evo recorded their biggest win so far, winning 5-0 at Ollerton Town. Oliver Beautyman struck first after 26 minutes, Noah Kilcoyne following it up three minutes later. The second half was only three minutes old when Sam Owen got the third, Ben Gott (69 minutes) and Finn Hagin (82) rounding off an encouraging display.

A close game at The YMCA saw SJR make the most of their chances to defeat RHP 3-2. RHP dominated the first half hour but only had one goal to show for it, Ryan Attwood scoring after 6 minutes, SJR fighting back with Callum Lytham levelling the scores on 41 minutes. The visitors had the better of things in the final half of the game and although a Luke Horne penalty put the hosts back in front after an hour, two goals in four minutes from Matty Templeton and Kyle Wesley took the points back to Worksop.

There was just a single goal separating Brodsworth Main and Rossington Main Reserves scored by Brodsworth’s Callum Verhees a minute before half time. There was nothing to separate Staveley Reserves and Elite AFC. in fact no goals at all.

In the Camper UK Premier South there was a rare away game for Linby Colliery, only the third out of thirteen first team matches this season. The points were shared with hosts Mickleover Athletic whose goal came from Kaelin Cole Tonks with Mason Moore replying for Linby.

it was top against bottom as Holbrook Sports travelled to Cromford & Wirksworth Town. As might have been predicted, Holbrook took the points but the result was in doubt until the final minute. Holbrook went in front with a Brad Daly goal in the 23rd minute and that was how it remained until a minute before the final whistle when sub Joel Searcy got the clincher.

Holbrook now have a four point lead over Wirksworth Ivanhoe having played the same number of games. There was an eventful match at Bakewell with both the home side and visitors Holbrook St Michaels had spells in front before sharing the points. Bakewell scored first with a goal from Leighton Mycroft, Sam Pegg with the equalising before the interval.

Josh Edwards scored from distance to restore Bakewell’s lead. A Rich Hanslow double put the visitors in front for the first time with the clock running down but a near post header from Alfie Woodhouse made the final score 3-3.

The weather conditions were obviously not to Blidworth Welfare’s liking as they subsided to a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Borrowash Victoria with four of the goals coming in a seven minute spell. The opening goal didn’t arrive until the end of the first half , Charlie Tovill breaking the deadlock.

The same player scored his second on 53 minutes, paving the way for Jakeem Jennings to complete a hat trick in the space of just six minutes to kill the game off as a contest. The goal frenzy ended as quickly as it started leaving Vics inside the top six.

Gresley Rovers B were 3-2 winners at an out of form Sunnyhill, whose impressive start to the season has been followed by a run which has produced one point out of the last fifteen. Ethan Watson scored twice for Gresley, Stevie Savage also on the scoresheet, while Callum Wilson and Josh Gardner replied for Sunnyhill. The remaining game in the division resulted in a 2-1 win for Mickleover RBL against Ripley Town.

There were two ties in the second round of the Buckingham Insurance League Cup. At Dinnington, Bradley Hall gave Teversal a 2nd minute lead, but they peaked rather too early, the hosts running in five of their own. Three goals in a six minute period put Dinnington firmly in the driving seat. Lewis Fretwell levelled the scores on 24 minutes with Nathan Jessop adding a second four minutes later and Cole Thorpe netting on the half hour. The second half produced two more goals for the home side, Deniz Guldede scoring on 68 minutes with Thorpe getting his second eight minutes from time.

Glapwell won their first Cup tie since 2023, winning 3-0 at Armthorpe Reserves. It took 34 minutes for Kaine Britton to open the scoring for Glapwell, Harvey Nunn scoring on his debut midway through the second half, Dylan Thornley sealing the win in stoppage time.