Rivacre FC made it 3 out of 4 teams for The Houlihan’s Birkenhead Sunday Association Football League into the Cheshire County Football Association Sunday Challenge Cup.
Rivacre beat local Premier Division rivals Rock Ferry Social on penalties. Jay Harvey put Rivacre 1-0 up after good work from Michael Burkey, who got past his man to send over a superb cross for Jay to leap high and head firmly into the net.
Jay Harvey notched his and Rivacre’s 2nd from the penalty spot midway through the 1st half. Johnny Breeze got one back for Rock Ferry Social also from the penalty spot just before half time.
Rivacre had plenty of chances to put the tie to bed early in the second half but the Rock boys scored a dramatic equaliser 5 minutes before the end, after a free-kick that wasn’t fully cleared. It was left to Liam Driscoll to get the ball over the line.
Both teams scored the mandatory 5 penalties each, Rock Ferry Social missed their sixth and then Rivacre converted their penalty to win 6-5.
Rivacre FC will now play fellow Premier Division rivals Dock AFC in one of the semi-finals at The Shaftesbury Memorial Ground on Sunday 6 March. The second semi-final will be between Neston Nomads, who won their tie last week, and AFC Prestbury who knocked out a valiant Bromborough Rake 2-1 on a very difficult pitch. Connor Hughes was the marksman for Bromborough Rake.
Domestic cup action saw Lewis Wellingham hit a last-minute winner for Wellington FC and also the only goal of the game to shoot down JPL Jets in The Tony Houlihan Memorial Challenge Cup 3rd round tie and to claim their place in the quarter-finals.
At the fourth attempt, North Wirral Saints and Glenavon Athletic were able to compete in their David Keith Tacy Memorial Cup 2nd round with Glenavon running out winners 3-0 thanks to Mike Roberts with a brace and a single from Dave Roberts.
It was a similar story for Saughall FC and Oval FC with the 4th attempt, Saughall FC advanced to the last 16 with strikes from Owen Wharton, Scott Nickson, and Tom Ashcroft. Oval FC replied with goals from Kane Wilson and Patrick Bell,
Third round action saw a Ben Glover effort for Bushell Grange Athletic put them in the hat for the quarter-finals with a 1-0 win over New Ferry Rangers. MSC Eastham (Jack Woods) also proggressed to the last 8 after winning their tie on penalties 3-1 against Victoria Colts. The score was level at 1-1 at 90 minutes of regulatory time.
The Lukes called the tune with a 4-2 success over Wirral Radio (Dillon Thomas, Connor Egan) and claimed a spot in the draw. Will Bulpin with a double and singles from Ben Kearney and Elliss Jones doing the damage.
Queens Park, who have lifted the beautiful Veronica Conway Premier Cup on 12 occasions, earned a place in the semi-finals of the competition after inflicting a 5-3 defeat on Corsair FC (James Bayley, Lewis Clarke 2.) Finding the net for Queens Park were Harvey Sample with a hat-trick, supported by further strikes from Liam Owen and Max Herbert.
Neston United had a comfortable 4-0 win at Lions FC in the Presidents Cup quarter finals with singles from Liam Peacock, Joe Ward, Josh Davidson and Chris Bushell.
A Ben Kierman treble and a Matthew Langford strike for Old Parks FC produced a slightly surprising result in the Jimmy Core Cup defeating highly fancied Whitby Rangers 4-2 (Tom Ruffer, Rowan Whelan) confirming a place in the semi-finals.
Also through to the semi-finals are Barkers Armchair FC who eased through their quarter-final tie with a 6-0 result over AFC Raeburn, thanks to Lee Doyle 2, Jack Catterall, Mike Searson, Chris Sutcliffe and Louis Brown.
There could be a new name on The Ryan ‘Gigsy’ Atherton Premier Division Trophy with a solitary goal from Tommy Harris for Great Float Sports & Social sinking early season leaders Dock AFC 1-0. Dock who are the current holders and have 10 Titles to date will not give up their crown so easily in the coming weeks.
It looks like a five-team race at the moment, with one of the most exciting ends to a season for many years. With other teams playing in various cup competitions, Woodchurch Hotel FC took full advantage with a thumping 7-1 win over Cheshire Cup semi-finalists Neston Nomads (Luke Blondel.) Finding their names on the scoresheet were Shay Roberts, Keith Lewis, Jordan Deer 2, Ben Holmes 2, and Stewy Jackson. It was a bad day for Nomads who brought the score back to 2-1 but fell apart in the 2nd half against a quality team.
A mid-table clash in Division One saw Poulton Victoria Sports & Social earn maximum points as they hosted AFC Shaftes (Anthony Povall.) Goal getters for Vics were Tom Price with a pair and a Jay Little single. It was sweet revenge for Poulton as they were well beaten in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
AFC Park North maintained pole position in Division Three with a fine 4-2 win at AFC Rangers (Billy Newman, Dave Martin.) On the mark for the leaders were Leighton Clarke 2, Harry Morris, and Tyler Gill.
AFC Tima have kept up their recent run of good form and are hoping to clinch the third promotion place after recording a 4-1 scorline at Wirral Athletic (Aaron Thomas.) Helping themselves for that push were Mike Redgrift, Phil Bibby, Jack Grimes and Mark Redgrift.
In a mid-table clash, there were more goals with West Kirby United (Ben Austin, Harvey Dean, Ethan Cartwright 2) taking the honours in a seven-goal thriller 4-3 over Parkgate St Germain (Sean Lunt 2, Luke Hall.)
The Houlihan’s Birkenhead Sunday Association Football League are now accepting applications for the new season that is scheduled to start in August 2022 in both Open Age and Youth. Any Youth clubs that wish to enter two teams can do so, one team will be known Youth U/18’s and a second-team is normally known as a Colts U/17’s. Please visit the League website for contact details.
| Premier Division | |
| Dock AFC 0 | 1 Great Float S&S |
| Woodchurch Hotel FC 7 | 1 Neston Nomads |
| Division 1 | |
| Poulton Victoria S&S 3 | 1 AFC Shaftes |
| Division 2 | |
| Eagle Stirrup FC 0 | 0 Barcode FC |
| Prenton FC 5 | 1 Silva Athletic |
| Division 3 | |
| AFC Rangers 2 | 4 AFC Park North |
| Parkgate St Germain 3 | 4 West Kirby Utd |
| Wirral Athletic 1 | 4 AFC Tima |
| Cheshire Sunday Cup – Quarter Final | |
| AFC Prestbury 2 | 1 Bromborough Rake |
| Rock Ferry Social 2 (5) | (6) 2 Rivacre FC |
| Tony Houlihan Memorial Challenge Cup – Rnd 3 | |
| JPL Jets 0 | 1 Wellington FC |
| David Tacy Cup – Round 2 | |
| North Wirral Saints 0 | 3 Glenavon Athletic |
| Saughall FC 3 | 2 Oval FC |
| David Tacy Cup – Round 3 | |
| Bushell Grange Athletic 1 | 0 New Ferry Rangers |
| MSC Eastham 1 (3) | (1) 1 Victoria Colts |
| The Lukes FC 4 | 2 Wirral Radio FC |
| Veronica Conway Cup – Round 2 | |
| Corsair FC 3 | 5 Queens Park FC |
| President’s Cup – Round 2 | |
| Lions FC 0 4 Neston United | P Whitby Rangers |
| Jimmy Core Cup – Round 2 | |
| Barkers Armchair FC 6 | 0 AFC Raeburn |
| Old Parks FC 4 | 2 Whitby Rangers |
Premier Division Table
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | Pts |
| 1 | Woodchurch Hotel | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 33 | 15 | 18 | 23 |
| 2 | Rock Ferry Social | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 13 | 14 | 22 |
| 3 | Great Float S&S | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 19 |
| 4 | Rivacre FC | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 30 | 16 | 14 | 18 |
| 5 | Dock AFC | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 30 | 16 | 14 | 17 |
| 6 | Beechwood SC | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 33 | 23 | 10 | 17 |
| 7 | Queens Park | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 29 | 25 | 4 | 15 |
| 8 | Corsair FC | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 17 | 19 | -2 | 15 |
| 9 | Neston Nomads | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 27 | 39 | -12 | 13 |
| 10 | Lancelyn Glenavon | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 13 | 28 | -15 | 5 |
| 11 | FC Bidston | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 19 | 64 | -45 | 4 |
Division One Table
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | Pts |
| 1 | The Lukes FC | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 9 | 27 | 33 |
| 2 | Bushell Grange Athletic | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 27 | 20 | 7 | 22 |
| 3 | Bromborough Rake FC | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 28 | 16 | 12 | 19 |
| 4 | AFC Shaftes | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 27 | 33 | -6 | 17 |
| 5 | Upton Town | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 24 | 22 | 2 | 16 |
| 6 | Neston United | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 22 | 32 | -10 | 13 |
| 7 | Poulton Vics S&S | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 18 | 1 | 12 |
| 8 | Wirral Radio FC | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 19 | 23 | -4 | 12 |
| 9 | Woodchurch Rovers | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 11 |
| 10 | Lions FC | 11 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 42 | -29 | 3 |
Division Two Table
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | Pts |
| 1 | KRCT | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 71 | 13 | 58 | 33 |
| 2 | New Ferry Rangers | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 31 | 9 | 22 | 25 |
| 3 | Wellington FC | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 7 | 32 | 23 |
| 4 | JPL Jets | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 32 | 14 | 18 | 23 |
| 5 | MSC Eastham | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 29 | 28 | 1 | 16 |
| 6 | Prenton FC | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 31 | 22 | 9 | 15 |
| 7 | Saughall | 11 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 35 | 27 | 8 | 15 |
| 8 | Eagle & Stirrup FC | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 17 | 33 | -16 | 11 |
| 9 | Victoria Colts | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 25 | -16 | 10 |
| 10 | Silva Athletic | 12 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 9 | 64 | -55 | 6 |
| 11 | Barcode FC | 13 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 13 | 40 | -27 | 5 |
| 12 | Glenavon Athletic | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 14 | 48 | -34 | 4 |
Division Three Table
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | Pts |
| 1 | AFC Park North | 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 18 | 18 | 36 |
| 2 | Whitby Rangers | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 63 | 21 | 42 | 30 |
| 3 | AFC Tima | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 25 | 15 | 10 | 19 |
| 4 | Barkers Armchair FC | 12 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 27 | 24 | 3 | 17 |
| 5 | Old Parks FC | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 25 | 22 | 3 | 17 |
| 6 | North Wirral Saints | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 15 |
| 7 | AFC Rangers | 15 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 24 | 48 | -24 | 13 |
| 8 | Parkgate St Germain | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 16 | -2 | 12 |
| 9 | Oval FC | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 27 | -12 | 12 |
| 10 | West Kirby United | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 28 | 33 | -5 | 10 |
| 11 | Wirral Athletic | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 20 | 36 | -16 | 9 |
| 12 | AFC Raeburn | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 13 | 40 | -27 | 1 |
Main image credit: RF._.studio
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