Houlihan’s Birkenhead Sunday Association Football League round-up, 5 March 2023

Eastham Rangers completed a full six out of six for clubs from The Houlihan’s Birkenhead Sunday Association Football League to claim the last place in the Wirral District Football Association Sunday Cup Finals for open-age clubs.

Eastham Rangers defeated Bromborough Athletic 4-2 in The Sunday Junior Cup semi-final with Jordan Crowder helping himself to a brace and assisted by singles from Sean Williams and Martin Marshall.

Queens Park had to fight back from two-nil down from two strikes by Luke Blondel for Neston Nomads. Queens fought back early in the second half, with a double from Harvey Sample and Liam Owen scored the winner to seal yet another final appearance in The Veronica Conway Premier Cup. Queens have already lifted the trophy on 12 previous occasions.

Rig Move FC made the right moves in their quest for honours in their debut season by booking a place in The Final Of The Frank Robinson Presidents Cup with a 3-0 result over Upton Town, with Shaun Weaver, Mike Bebb, and Josh Lyth all netting.

In the other semi-final, JPL Jets played the tune at Wirral Radio (Connor Egan) 4-1; Tom Taaffe, Kevin Day, Adam Larway, and Jake Smith found themselves on the scoresheet for JPL Jets.

In the first semi-final of the Tony Smith Memorial Cup, Whitby Rangers secured a place in the final with a 5-2 result at Glenavon Athletic (Dylan Taylor, Paul Keenan). Sam Cooper, Brad Bland, Matty Vickers with a pair, and Tom Ruffer were on the mark for Whitby, who have already claimed a place in The Wirral FA Sunday Junior Cup final. They are still in The David Tacy Cup and remain unbeaten in their division, they are aiming for a four-trophy haul.

Wirral Athletic, who are not normally known to be at the helm in Division Three, secured a place in The Jimmy Core Cup Final after a narrow 4-3 success over North Wirral Saints (Ben Dunn (2), Will Gill), with Joe Roberts bagging two and singles from Harry Huggins and Declan Pearce all finding their scoring boots for the Athletic boys.

There was a great result for Premier Division leaders Woodchurch, despite not playing as two of their nearest rivals Beechwood FC and current champions Rock Ferry Social battled it out with a 1-1 draw. Rob Cull put Beechwood 1-0 up after 10 minutes with Adam ‘Sabu’ Smith equalising in the second half. Both teams had great chances and also both hit the bar.

It is still a four-club tussle to lift The Ryan ‘Gigsy’ Atherton Trophy. Corsair PV bounced back to winning ways after two defeats in two different cup competitions recording a 3-2 win to sink Great Float S&S and rule them out of an outside chance of finishing in the top as they did last season (Tom Harris 2) 3-2. Jordan Dilworth, Sam Hewitt and Kieran Cartwright netted a goal each for Corsair.

Game of the day in the Maxwell Barbers Division One saw Wirral DFA Sunday Amateur cup finalists Wellington FC take the honours with a narrow 2-1 result at Cheshire Cheese (Luke Warrington). Nathan Cope and Harry Davies were the goal-getters for Wellington. It is all nip and tuck in the top half with plenty of hair-raising moments to come.

Danny France, Harry Firkins, Ross Meadows, and Neil Davies were all on the mark for Barcode FC in a 4-0 romp over Poulton Victoria S&S (pictured) have given themselves an outside chance of promotion in Division Two despite having played more games than others teams just below them.

Lions FC and Barkers Armchair FC shared the honours in a keenly contested mid-table clash. Sam Lagan with a double and a Ryan Summers effort were on hand for Lions, while Mark Munt (2) and Lee Doyle made the scoresheet in the 3-3 draw.

Eagle Stirrup FC had Callum Jones to thank for earning maximum points to maintain their mid-table place 2-0 at Victoria Colts.

Division Three leaders, West Kirby Social, got back to winning ways with a solid 2-0 result at AFC Tima, with Henry Martyn and Akil Thiruselvan netting.

Daryl Hellon and Declan Iverson obliged for second-placed Old Parks FC, who have five games in hand and are four points behind, to beat AFC Raeburn FC.

AFC Rangers (Lewis McKnight, Peter McNulty, Darren Caplin) dropped two vital points in their quest for promotion sharing the spoils 3-3 with Parkgate Panthers (Liam Peacock, Alex Butterworth (2)).

Athletic VH sought revenge on Higher Bebington Kelma after a recent defeat in The Wirral DFA Sunday Junior Cup to seal a 2-1 win and put themselves in the mix for the promotion places.

Oval FC had John Skipsey, Ollie Nicholson, plus an own goal on the scorecard and served up three points to keep their endeavour in their push for promotion 3-1 over Parkgate St Germain (Luke Hall).

The Houlihan’s Birkenhead Sunday Association Football League are now accepting applications from new prospective clubs to join the League for the 2023-2024 season, a limited number of vacancies are available also a proposed Youth Division for the same season that is scheduled to start in August 2024, any Youth clubs that wish to enter two teams can do so, one team will be known as 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.

Images: Barcode FC (White) v Poulton Victoria S&S (Maroon) – Credit: Bob Shaw

Premier Division

TeamPWDLFADiffPts
1Woodchurch Hotel1394038142431
2Rock Ferry Social1492336241229
3Beechwood SC1274126131325
4Dock AFC1070325151021
5Queens Park126152719819
6Great Float S&S103522319414
7Neston Nomads133372127-612
8Corsair PV132381930-119
9Lancelyn Glenavon122371733-169
10KRCT Bidston FC1511132361-384

Division One

TeamPWDLFADiffPts
1Bushell Athletic1392229131629
2Cheshire Cheese1281342132925
3JPL Jets1081136102625
4Wellington FC1172231191223
5Eastham Rangers Colts105412316719
6Rig Move FC94231716114
7Upton Town83322113812
8Wirral Radio FC114071828-1012
9MSC Eastham1421111142-317
10AFC Shaftes131391945-266
11Woodchurch Rovers1303101446-323

Division Two

TeamPWDLFADiffPts
1Bedford FC1091043103328
2Prenton FC1382347123526
3Barcode FC147342618824
4Whitby Rangers76103152619
5Saughall115243628817
6Lions FC105232116517
7Eagle & Stirrup FC125251517-217
8Barkers Armchair FC134272045-2514
9Poulton Vics S&S133461933-1413
10Victoria Colts131481342-297
11Glenavon Athletic140113752-451

Division Three

TeamPWDLFADiffPts
1West Kirby United20107342251737
2Old Parks FC15103242222033
3AFC Rangers1586136231330
4Oval FC1483332201227
5Athletic VH156542621523
6AFC Tima146263232020
7H Bebington Kelma145453328519
8Eastham Rangers115422016419
9Wirral Athletic1651103255-2316
10Parkgate Panthers154473538-316
11North Wirral Saints144283230214
12Parkgate St Germain1523101734-179
13AFC Raeburn1612131651-355

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