The SLN Aylesbury Sunday Football Combination

News, results and some match action from today's league and Cup games
Sunday 24th February 2008

HEADLINES -
  Nags come from behind to win and are now just the one hurdle away from the big final
  In The Tony Higginson Cup, Aston Clinton S&SC put out holders VTS and Unique FC beat Yeoman on penalties to join them in the semis
  FC Aristocrat go top of The Prem tonight after victory over Ickford
  In Div One, The Topboys can almost see top flight footie next season.  Bucks beat Belgrave and continue their late run for promotion and Halifax widen the gap over Stone
  In Div Two, Exiles win again to pull well clear of The Nags.  Cheddington hit 4 without reply against Walton Street Rangers and Excel Dents win comfortably at basement boys Winslow Town

In The Berks & Bucks FA Sunday Junior Cup Quarter Finals, Nags Head FC travelled to Bourne End in South Buckinghamshire this morning to take on Hedsor Social Club of The High Wycombe Sunday Football Combination Division Five.  They fell behind after just 30 seconds but recovered to win 2-1.  League Vice Chairman Jim Wallace went along to support the and Nags here are some of his photos from the game:

Things weren't all they were cracked up to be with the pitch over in South Buckinghamshire today!!

Nags Head FC in their pre match huddle!

Nags went behind after 30 seconds and on a difficult playing surface, Fraser Lamble goes close here.

Nags skipper Dave Dyke (center) claims the equalizer...

...and Fraser Lamble seals the win for Nags as they go on to book a semi final place in this seasons County Cup on March 16th.

In The Tony Higginson Cup, Aston Clinton S&SC took on holders VTS FC in a repeat of last seasons final.  Here's some of the action from Haywood Way:

After weeks of **** weather, it was nice to get back to some sort of normality this morning!
Despite a few weeks without rain, the River Thame still looks worryingly high, but it has subsided enough for the pitch at Haywood Way to dry out.

VTS striker Lee Parrack makes sure the corner flag is where it should be.
Unfortunately for him, it would prove to be his only worthwhile contribution of the day!!

Good save!

VTS striker Pat Callaghan takes one from Aston Clinton's Neil Roberts...

...and just for good luck, he gets another from Lewis Foster.

Referee Paul Bateman didn't like some of the words used by VTS's Lee Parrack, so he is given a yellow...

...moments later he is bundled over...

...and after a few more naughty words, he gets his marching orders...

...an early end to the day for Lee Parrack as he heads back to the changing rooms.

The only time the ball hit the net in the first half was ruled out for offside
Half time score 0-0.

With a combined age equaling exactly 100 - referee Paul Bateman and VTS legend Nigel Sibley.

Aston Clinton laid siege to the VTS goal throughout most of the second half and it seemed just a matter of time before they made the one man advantage count.

Neil Roberts's free kick comes to nothing...

...but moments later the visitors took the lead.

And moments later it's 2-0, surely game over?

Chris Davies (far left) pulls one back for the cup holders, but it's too late.
Final Score, VTS FC 1, Aston Clinton S&SC 2.

In the other quarter final, Yeoman FC took on Unique FC in a midday kick off at Fairford Leys.  Only a few weeks after the sides fought out an entertaining 5-5 draw in the league, this one went all the way and with the sides level at 2-2 after extra time, it was Unique FC who held their nerve once more in the penalty shoot out to make it through to the semis.

In The Chris Payne Trophy, FC Wanderers were reinstated into the competition after Walton Street Rangers fielded an ineligible player in the last round and they made the journey to face Ickford Reserves in the next round.  They came away with nothing after the home side made it through to the semis with a 3-0 win.

This leaves just the one outstanding tie in The Chris Payne Trophy and Nags Head will play Aylesbury Exiles next week.  If all goes well, both sets of semi finals will go ahead on March 9th as planned and you can see the draw for the semi finals of both our cup comps online soon.

In league action, FC Aristocrat had the opportunity to go back to the top of the Premier Division table if they were to get a point or more from their game with bottom club Ickford.  They ran out 3-0 winners in the end and now look favourites for the title.

In Div One, the top five were in action and the four them played each other.  

Leaders The Bell Topboys took one more step to promotion to the top flight after a 4-0 win away to Grenson.  Second placed Halifax (Aylesbury) started the season in some style but results have gone against them of late.  Today they came up against third place Stone FC and they increased the gap on Terry Medd's men with a 6-2 win.  Bucks (Aylesbury) are on the up after a slow start to the season and they faced AFC Belgrave who are experiencing a few stutters of late.  Bucks are now unbeaten in the league since late October and now claim that third spot in the table tonight after a stunning 6-1 victory.

In Div Two,  Aylesbury Exiles have taken advantage of Nags Head’s continuing cup exploits to make second place their own in the table.  They extended that gap to five points this weekend after they took all three points off visiting Chearsley Cricketers, 6-0 the final score.  Excel Dents beat bottom club Winslow Town 5-2 and Cheddington Reserves beat Walton Street Rangers 4-0 in a game that went without a qualified referee - more on this later.

Here are all of today's results:

The Berks & Bucks FA Sunday Junior Cup Quarter Finals

The Tony Higginson Challenge Cup Quarter Finals

The Chris Payne Trophy Quarter Finals

Premier Division

Division One

Division Two