101 celebrations

There may be some of you thinking that a weather hit weekend would lessen the workload of this particular reporter. Indeed when I looked on Twitter and saw a slew of postponements across the leagues I was anticipating an easy ride when it came to writing this weekend’s round up.
But the sixteen games that were played across the Premier Division and Leagues One and Two provided a staggering century of goals at an average of over six per game.

Alas, any designs on a quick ten minute write up were dashed as the likes of Crewe’s Nathan Southern and Reece Thompson of Mersey Valley, among others, chose this weekend to show an especially ruthless edge in front of goal.

In the Premier League Crewe inflicted a heavy defeat on Broadheath Central in what was an impressive recovery from their midweek defeat against newly promoted Lostock Gralam.
Last season’s top scorer Southern already had two for the season but he increased his total to six with four against Central as the skipper led his side to a 9-1 win.
Jordan Amson added another but it was a trio of super subs who put the gloss on things; Matty Birchall grabbed a brace from the bench while Luke Whalley and Shannon Sinnott got one each after they were introduced.
Eagle had an interesting afternoon against Knutsford which saw them go 3-0 up before blowing their advantage only to snatch a late winner to steal all three points; a Chris Quirk hat-trick plus a Danny Hutchins goal earning Eagle the three points.
Congleton made it four wins from four with a comfortable 5-0 win away to Middlewich who are winless after four matches having conceded 15 goals in those games.
The goals came from five different sources; Cook, Booth, John, Moores and Bostock each finding the net for the table-toppers.
In the day’s other Premier Division fixture Daten won the battle of the bottom two, edging out Egerton 2-1 to lift themselves up to 12th and clear of the relegation zone. Egerton, meanwhile, are they only team in the division yet to register a point.

In League One there was no let-up in the goal scoring lunacy as Winstanley Warriors fired eight past Maine Road reserves to go second.
For a while their score was better than England’s as they got off to a stuttering start in their second innings at Lords.

On any normal day an 8-2 scoreline would be enough to bestow upon that match the award of game of the day. But, as I have already made clear, this was no normal day of football.
In what was arguably a better game Cuddington beat Ford Motors 5-3 thanks to goals from Thomas Hassall, Callum Payne, Josh Mainwaring and a Nathan Harwood double whilst, in an attempt to claim the honour of game of the day for themselves, Windle bounced back from a midweek drubbing by inflicting one of their own; their 6-1 win over Denton sees them climb to third.
Ryan Cook’s hat-trick plus goals from Bate, Bowman and Whitehead sealed Windle’s victory.

Vulcan FC won 4-1 against previously unbeaten Malpas to go above them, braces for Walker and Woods the difference and Ashton Athletic Reserves got their first win of the season after draws in their previous two games with a 3-2 home success over Cheadle Town Reserves; Ross Trust, Harry Johnson and Joe Sargent with the goals.
It was a better day for the other side from Cheadle; the Nomads hit five past Orford without reply. Campbell, Brown, Simpson and Cavanaugh (2) wrapping up a comfortable win.

Styal, who didn’t play, stay two points clear at the top with a game in hand over nearest challengers Winstanley Warriors

In the six games in League Two there were a further 38 goals including nine in a thriller between Sandbach United Reserves and Rylands Reserves which ended 5-4 to the home side.
Knowsley built on their opening day win with a 4-3 victory against Golborne. Liam King, Ethan Van Aston and two from Wesley Owens helped South to their second consecutive three point haul.

After losing 3-0 in their opening game Partington bounced back in style with a 5-0 win over Holmes Chapel Hurricanes who, along with Middlewich, were one of only two sides who failed to find the net this weekend.

Pilkington Reserves found themselves on the right side of a 4-2 score line having suffered on the sharp end of one on the opening day. St Helens Town Reserves were on the receiving end on Saturday and they remain bottom having conceded 11 in their first two outings.
Winnington Avenue failed to live up to their name in their season opener going down 2-1 to Hartford after a last minute winner from the fantastically named Buba Drammeh.
Ben Lambert had put Winnington ahead before Harrison Briggs equalised just after the hour.

Elsewhere a truly stupid game of football was played out between Newton Athletic and Mersey Valley who managed 11 goals between them during what many spectators believe was not a football match at all but rather an acid trip.
The Doves led 3-1 after half an hour but conceded five in the last 15 minutes of the first half and a further two after the break.
Reece Thompson grabbed half of Valley’s goals, Josh Sherry chipped in with 25% leaving Tom Miller and Mark Docherty to round things off.
Mersey Valley go top, displacing Knowsley, by virtue of a +8 goal difference.

Dan Whelan
CFL Press Officer