Match Reports sent to the Gazette

It was good to get the league back up and running after the Xmas break and loosing last week?s fixtures to the weather. However Lees Cleaning may not agree with that as once again they struggled with the non-appearance of players and went down heavily this time to Nook Utd. Despite the set backs Lees deserve a lot of credit as they battled hard throughout and the 8-0 score line flattered the home side. Nook went two up in 20 minutes but Lees could have been level had not been for two great saves from Russell Garlinge in the Nook goal. As the game wore on everything Nook tried seemed to come off and end up in the net as they went on to get eight goals, congratulations go to Mick Armstrong who helped himself to five and to young Mark Hodgson who picked up the star man along with his two goals, Lee Amess completed the scoring for Nook.

In the B Divisions top of the table encounter between The Bridge and the Robin Hood, The Robin triumphed. Although the score line of 4-3 was close in the end, the Robin were always a step ahead of the Bridge who failed to live up to their name and bridge the gap at the top of the table. The Robin led at halftime 2-0 with goals from Dave Smith and Aaron Todd. The Bridge did pull one back early in the second half with a wind assisted goal from Rudi Van de Lang, but the Robin quickly restored their comfortable advantage with a double strike from Stevie Stephenson. The Bridge never gave up and were rewarded with two late goals from Colin Elliott and a second for Van de Lang but in the end it was too little too late. The result now leaves the Robin top of the pile 4 points ahead of their opponents but the Bridge do still have a game in hand.

Cup holders Ellison SC were knocked out of the A division cup, losing to Simonside SC 3-2 after extra time. Ellison started the better and were two up in 20 minutes through Shuan Green and a Stuart Lane penalty a minute later. Things then turned sour for Lane as he was sent off for disputing an offside decision. The ten men of Ellison battled on,
And in fact created and missed a number of chances which could have sealed the tie. However Sima battled well themselves and the extra man eventually told as they eventually scored and then drew level with 2 well taken goals from Stephen Smith. The game then went to extra time and both sides created chances before substitute Scott Hudson got the winner for Simonside in the very last minute.

Also in the A division cup, Boldon FC needed extra time before finally overwhelming Jolly Steward 7-2. Boldon started the better and had two early chances when firstly Simon Carroll fired over when he should have scored and then Carl Simpson in the Steward goal then pulled off a fine save from Scott Hendry. But the Jolly took the lead when a free kick looped up off the wall and landed at the feet of Michael Ord who made no mistake from close range. The second half started scrappily until a long ball deceived the Jolly defence and Simon Carroll netted easily to bring the sides level. The Jolly were soon back in the lead as Michael Ord?s strong shot from outside the box found the top corner. Boldon pushed hard for the equalizer and in doing so left gaps at the back which the Jolly really should have capitalized on however some wayward finishing meant Boldon were still in it and Simon Carroll took advantage in the very last minute of normal time to equalize and send the game into extra time. Extra time was a complete reversal of normal time as Boldon dominated and went to score five times as Simon Carroll got a further three to bring his tally to five, Chris Bailey also got in on the act and the pick of the bunch came from Anth Lydon.