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FEB – LEAGUE CUP –
Statham treble snatches a semi final date for Sixers –
The line-up for the League Cup semi-finals was completed by CBC Premier
Wadsley Bridge Sixers after a hat-trick by centre half Josh Statham
(right) helped them to
a 6-1 victory over Division 1 Crookes on the all-weather
pitch at Hillsborough
College. They will now face a local derby in the semi-final against old
foes Stannington Village in March.
In a fast and furious start
Crookes veteran Pete Smith took advantage of a goalkeeping error to give
Crookes a shock lead on 16 minutes, but Sixers equalised when Danny
Barnsley finished off a good move. Five minutes later Sixers snatched the
lead when Statham showed he was the one when he turned home a corner.
Before Crookes could regroup George Rudd showed he’s no expendable by
adding another to make it 3-1 at half-time.
Crookes had some early
pressure in the second half, but before they could turn it up Statham got
his second by heading home from a corner to effectively make Sixers
progress into the semi-finals safe. It was no surprise that Ethan
Wilkinson added a fifth when he took advantage of chaos in the box to turn
home Ben Southwell’s cross and the blitz of goals wasn’t over as Crookes
couldn’t stop any further collateral damage when Statham showed he was no
crank by completing his hat-trick with a brilliant volley from 40 yards
for a goal of the season contender.
1 FEB – CBC PREMIER –
Southey move out of the bottom 3 for now –
The only CBC Premier game to survive the weather saw Southey Social move
out of the bottom three with a point from a 1-1 home draw with Woodman,
but Southey have played many more games than the two teams directly below
them so will not be able to relax just yet.
It was Southey that started
the quickest, but it was Woodman that took the lead when a quick break
ended with Otis Pyle scoring into the bottom corner. The Woodman keeper
was forced to make several good saves after that
and the nearest Southey got to an
equaliser in the first half was a Jay Slocombe header that came back off a
post.
Southey finally beat the
keeper soon after the break when a Jack Dickens corner was headed home by
Kieran Hopkinson. After that more Southey pressure saw new signing Luke
Bennet head over when well placed and Carlton Carty denied by the keeper’s
feet when through one-on-one. The Woodman keeper had to make mpore crucial
saves after that to earn his side just their third point of the season.
All the other CBC Premier
games were postponed after heavy rain over the previous few days.
1 FEB - DIVISION 1 –
All games postponed –
The weather was the only winner in Division 1 with all games postponed.