Witney & District Football Reports - Week 15

Hat-trick heroes help chasing pack keep touch.

Premier Division.
There were hat-trick heroes for both FC Hollybush and Charlbury as they bid to keep their title pushes on track.
For Charlbury, they faced a visit to bottom side Spartan Rangers, who once again showed their battling qualities in a tough fight against one of the top teams. Henry Clark, Donny Henderson-Sowerby and Steve Wright scored for Rangers but Charlbury found their groove thanks to a Stefan Lang hat-trick. Warwick Tompkins and Josh Hunt landed one each as the scoreline finished 5-3 to Charlbury and leaves the Premier Division very much in their hands due to games in hand.

Craig Mays and Jamie MacDonogh cancelled each other out with a hat-trick each for FC Hollybush and Carterton Rangers respectively. Hollybush pushed on with further goals from Mark Threlfall and Dan Brearley to give them the three points and ensure they are second going into 2019.

Aston lead the pack into 2019 after a tight victory over Carterton Town A. Alex Cade and Ryan Oliver both hit wonder strikes to give Aston the half-time lead. Town hit-back in the second half thanks to Greg Neath and despite continuous pressure couldn’t find an equaliser and it finished 2-1.

Hailey and Tower Hill played out a draw in the other game in the league. Jack Wood scored for Hailey but Sam Britnell scored for Tower Hill to ensure a share of the spoils.

Division One
Things in Division One are considerably tighter thanks to this weekend’s results. The top four are now just separated by 6 points but with games in hand for the chasing pack, everyone is still in with a chance of glory this season.

Middle Barton cemented themselves into fourth place with the biggest win of the weekend in Division One. Nathan Bott’s four timer got them well on the way in their 9-0 win over Eynsham SSC. Dan Bott and Harley Claydon scored a brace each and John Umney single goal completed the scoring for Middle Barton.

It was second vs third as Stonesfield visited Chadlington. The sides were level on points before the game and Stonesfield prevailed to send them three points clear in second place. Reece Bayliss and Raffy Rice scored one each to give the away side the three points. Jarvis Morley responded for Chadlington but it wasn’t enough as Chadlington stay third.

Moreton Rangers are only one point clear of Stonesfield after being held to a 2-2 draw away to Combe. Ethan Penny and Tom Millar scored for Combe but they were cancelled out by Dan Moore and Javan Nurse who scored for the league leaders to keep them top by the slenderest of margins.

Chris Laurence was the hat-trick hero for Bampton United as they returned to winning ways. They jumped Combe and Eynsham in the process as they beat Bourton Rovers. Jake Pritchard and Connor O’Shea scored the other goals as the scoreline finished 5-0.

Division Two

There five different goal scorers for Hailey Reserves in their victory over Brize Norton, as they reached the summit of Division Two at the weekend. Tom Evans, Bradley Snell, Mark Smith, Mark Edmunds and Reuben Wertheim all scored one each as Hailey ran out 5-1 winners. Caleb Thomas scoring Brize’s consolation.

Charlbury Town Reserves scored five for the third week in a row as they battled to victory in an eight goal thriller with Ducklington. Mitchell Faulkner was once again amongst the goal scorers as he grabbed a brace. Dom Hemmings scored two of his own and Mark Clifton added the fifth. They were run close as Ducklington scored through Sam Doherty and a George Townsend double but Charlbury keep hold of third place for the start of 2019.

Siege FC also remained consistent as they won 4-2 for the second week running, this time over Witney Wanderers. Telmo Fernandez and Omar Semlali scored for Wanderers, who were hoping to keep the pressure on the top two, but they were eventually beaten thanks to goals from Kev Lewis, Chris Souter and a Gerard Morgan brace. Siege managed to jump five league places in the process and are now fourth.

Division Three
It was a ten star performance from Carterton Town B as they secured top spot for the start of 2019. They visited an in-form Hook Norton side who were looking to carry on their own recent run of good form but facing the top side proved to be one step too far. Doubles for James Casey, Tyler Webster and Shay Lowthian got Carterton well on their way and goals from Dan Chillington, Dave Wanless, Peter Okerke and Phil Stannard meant Carterton hit double figures. Harry Prickett, James Ingham and Max Harris responded for Hook Norton but it finished 10-3 to the visitors.

FC Mills moved three points clear of Spartan Rangers Reserves in second place with an emphatic victory of their own as they thumped Tower Hill Reserves 6-0. Stu Cutts, Carlos Paiva, Jon Roome and Aaron French (2) gave Mills all three points and leave Tower Hill in the bottom two.

An Ollie Sammons hat-trick helped Bourton Rovers Reserves defeat bottom side Witney Royals Reserves and jump two places up the league in the process. A Dan Joynes brace and a single goal for Liam Williams helped Bourton reach six. Jamie Kennedy, Rob DeBanks and Ollie Nolan responded for Royals but Bourton were able to jump Tower Hill and Chipping Norton into seventh place.
Chippin Norton and Wootton’s fixture fell to the weather conditions.

Division Four
Kieran Colley’s hat-trick gave Bampton the spoils in a 9 goal thriller to throw Bampton United Reserves right into the promotion mix as 2018 drew to a close. Tom Merchant, Daniel Jeffrey and a Jack Costa brace meant that Spartan Rangers A gave it their all in battling for the three points but a Steven Allery brace gave Bampton the points and leaves them just one point behind Milton Reserves but with 2 games in hand.

Kingham Reserves also put themselves into the picture with victory over top side Stonesfield Reserves. They scored five to bounce back from two defeats in a row in December as Dan lay and Liam Barnes both scored twice with Shane Cooper adding a fifth. Liam Harris, Chay Fisher and James Ryan scored one each for Stonesfield but it wasn’t enough to get anything from the game. Stonesfield remain top but having played more games than 3 of the chasing pack. Kingham are level on points with second placed Milton but have played one game less.

Eynsham SSC Reserves aren’t out of it either, finding themselves just 3 points off second placed Milton after victory over FC Ascott. Brook Jones had scored twice for FC Ascott but Marcus Owsnett scored a brace of his own for Eynsham and Shaun Rowbotham scored the decisive goal to keep Eynsham sixth.