Town bag third trophy

Buntingford Town 4

Kirkley and Pakefield 0

TOWN'S triumphant youth team put on another sparkling performance to win the Ridgeons League Championship final - their third trophy in just two weeks.

In a game packed with effort and desire, Paul Attfield's young side's attacking prowess was just too much for their Lowestoft-based opposition who had beaten both Kings Lynn and Walsham-le-Willows to progress to the final.

The opening exchanges were quite even with Kirkley having a couple of half chances, however, Town became progressively dominant with Josh Bronti, Ricky Young and Jamie Morriss causing constant problems with their pace and trickery.

Bronti and James Selby both put efforts wide, while Young failed with a close range header with Arron Welch also going close when his effort was tipped onto the crossbar.

However, Town had to wait until first-half injury time for what seemed an inevitable goal, with Bronti striking sweetly from 16 yards.

Buntingford then extended their lead in the 56th minute with Jamie Morriss's corner picking out Young for a simple close range finish.

Town became even more dominant as their passing created numerous openings almost at will and as a result frustration crept into the Kirkley ranks, with a number of crude tackles punished with yellow cards.

And one such challenge led to goal number three, with Morriss's resulting free kick eluding the Kirkley defence and nestling in the bottom corner.

Kirkley pushed more players forward and despite twice going close, they never really tested Jordan Gibson in the Town goal.

The game was all but wrapped up moments later though, when Bronti beat the offside trap and finished with a brilliant angled drive across the Kirkley keeper.

Buntingford Town: Gibson; Apostolos, Goddard, Beaumont, Selby; Welch, Shaughnessy, Randall; Bronti, Young, Morriss. (Subs): Manning, Clark-Ward, Walsingham, Anderson, Paine.

Royston Town Ladies 1

Hethersett Athletic 1

BUILDING on their recent run of good form, Royston Town bowed out of the Premier Division following an outstanding performance against high flying Hethersett.

Athletic came to Garden Walk knowing that a comprehensive victory would leave them with an outside chance of snatching the league title from their arch rivals Norwich City.

Unfortunately for them Royston had not read the script and deservedly achieved what looked from the outset an unlikely draw.

The visitors turned on the style in the first 20 minutes with the powerful front running of Nicola Bray causing all sorts of problems for The Crow's defence.

A succession of corners nearly produced the opener, but brave keeping by Amy Walker and a couple of desperate clearances from Leanne Buchanan and Gemma Barlow kept the scores level.

However, it came as little surprise when after 26 minutes, Athletic took the lead after a superb run and cross from their right-back was headed passed the helpless Walker.

However, the goal seemed to inspire Royston and with their confidence growing good work down the left by Dani Lewis and Sharon Pinner, produced chances for both Emma Chaffey and then Victoria Foulger.

The second half saw the hosts produce an outstanding display of passing football with Marie Miller and Claire Ratty and Wendy Webster having much success down the right and Chaffey finding more and more space through the middle.

In a final bid to keep the momentum going Town's manager Kevin Foulger made a triple substitution bringing on youngster Charlie Foulger, her sister Laura Foulger, and Jody Scott.

The move proved decisive and Pinner looked to have scored an equaliser, but her chipped finish hit the inside of the Hethersett post.

But Athletics' let off was short lived as Chaffey worked a great position just outside the area and hit a glorious strike into the top right hand corner of the net.

Not content with the one point Royston went looking for the winner and both Scott and Foulger went close for what would have been a deserved three points.

Manager Foulger said: "Talk about a game of two halves - they battered us in the first half and we played them off the park in the second.

"It was a very positive way to end the season and it gives us a great base to build on for next year. I'd like to thank all the players and our supporters for everything they've done for the club this year."

BSCFC Knights A under-10 2

Royston Celtic A under-10 3

ROYSTON Celtic pipped rivals Bishop's Stortford Knights to the runners-up spot in Division C courtesy of a thrilling 3-2 victory.

Lorcan George opened the scoring for Celtic when he pounced on a defensive error and slipped the ball under the Stortford keeper.

The hosts equalised with a Stortford striker rolling the ball home for a well-taken finish. But the in-form George soon had Royston back in front when he added his second of the game with a trademark cool strike.

After the break Richard Jonas made it 3-1 following some clever play from Eamon Hargreaves, beating two defenders and driving the ball past the Stortford keeper from a tight angle.

The Knights did reduce the deficit late on, but some excellent play by Henderson, Jordan Cooney and Robbie Filby ensured that Royston held firm.

Ashwell Academicals under-7 1

Stevenage Borough Tigers under-7 0

ASHWELL Academicals ended their season on a high with their fifth win in seven games.

Capping a fine sequence of victories was this defeat of Stevenage Borough Tigers, who were sent packing by top scorer Luca Panico's sole strike.

After a slow start Ashwell grew in stature with Ben Reed and Kier Watts in particularly good form at the heart of the hosts' defence.

At the other end, the impressive Panico settled the game with a confident finish from just inside the Stevenage box.

Ashwell will be looking forward to taking their fine form into Saturday's final round of the Royston Crow League Cup.