Football: West Cheshire League

Written by Ernie McDonald

An Adam Smith double, allied with a Liam Driscoll strike, assured MSC Express West Cheshire League Division One outfit, Mersey Royal of a 3-2 victory at Lostock Gralam and a place in the Cheshire County FA Amateur Cup Final.

Unfortunately, the prospect of an all West Cheshire final never materialised after Ashville suffered a late 2-1 defeat at Stockport Georgians.

Pyke Cup holders, Mossley Hill Ath progressed to defend their trophy , after efforts from Owen Cassidy, Joe Hornby and Nathan Peet anchored their side to a 3-1 eclipse of Heswall in Saturday's keenly contested semi-final. Shay Roberts netted the visitors' consolation.

Mossley's reserve side won through to the Haworth & Gallagher Bowl final for the second year in succession, after beating Litherland Remyca Res 3-2 with goals from Adil Mohammed (2) and Dean Higham . The holders now face strongly fancied Division Two leaders, Marine U23's who had Joel Stringer, Liam Paton and Ben Jones on target in the 3-1 decision over Runcorn Sports, who had Harvey Cook in reply.

In midweek, Bootle St,Edmunds saw their Division One title challenge falter after they finished 3-3 with Prescot Cables Res but normal service was resumed on Saturday, Tom Hewleit and Steve Caroll finding the net in a 2-1 victory over Aintree Villa. Joel Jackson scored for the hosts.

Mallaby were elevated to fifth place in the race for promotion from Division Two,  after a nervy 3-2 result over Maghull Res. Tom Black, an own goal and a stunning strike from Joey Hamm sparked the win, with Paul Jewel and Jordan Dilworth scoring the visitors' consolations.

Louis Haddock and Kyle Bennett applied the finishing touches as Poulton Vics savoured a 2-1 win against West Kirby while Cam Dalton struck twice as South Liverpool Res. beat  Marshalls Res by the same scoreline. Basement outfit, Rainhill Town Res bagged a welcome point when Eddie Hawthorne scored  in Saturday's 1-1 draw with South Sefton Borough.

Inspired by a five goal return from Connor Doyle, Division Three champions elect, Sutton Ath., remained unbeaten and stretched their lead at the top to twenty points, following an 8-0 rout of West Kirby Res. Further efforts from Liam Brennan, Josh McEwan and Tom McGill completed the statistics.

Joe Collins struck twice and was joined on the score-sheet by Alfie Cunningham for South Liverpool 3rds but it was visitors, Capenhurst Villa Res, who profited, Matt Vickers (3) Dan Walker and Lewis Copper replying to clinch a 5-3 victory. Neston Nomads had Will Sara -Kelly on the mark but had to settle for a point when Aintree Villa Res., responded through Ben Griffiths.

Only one fixture came under starters orders in Division Three, and it was to City of Liverpool Partisans' advantage, when they climbed to third place in the table, after Joe Howard (3) and Ruben Edwards claimed the goals in a 4-0 triumph over Runcorn Linnets.

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