On a day when art and literature topped the bill with (Joseph Mallord William) Turner, (William) Shakespeare, (Sherlock) Holmes and (Kingsley) Amis amongst the scorers.

SATURDAY HEADLINES
‘Ard Luck Risborough’ the remaining unbeaten record in the SSML ends at Ardley United. Stotfold march on in Division One. Northampton Sileby Rangers net eight. Long Crendon bag a seven goal haul on the road. Wellingborough Whitworth reach semi-finals of the Les Underwood Junior Cup.

Saturday brought about 101 goals from the 23 games (an average of 4.39 per game). Cian Banert (Aston Clinton) netting the days only hat-trick.

Saturday Stats: 23 games played of which 7 were home wins, 11 away wins and 5 draws.

Without A League Draw to date: Aston Clinton, Codicote, Risborough Rangers Development and The 61FC (Luton).

Saturday Highest Attendances: 316 Leighton Town v Arlesey Town, 161 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Dunstable Town and 140 Flackwell Heath v Baldock Town.

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Premier Division Clubs): 473 Leighton Town v Broadfields United, 449 Leighton Town v Aylesbury Vale Dynamos and 435 Dunstable Town v Leighton Town.

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division One Clubs): 404 Stotfold v Ampthill Town, 392 Stotfold v Bedford and 371 Ampthill Town v Bedford.

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division Two Clubs): 212 Bovingdon v Totternhoe, 175 Bovingdon v Berkhamsted Raiders and 134 Totternhoe v Leighton Town (Gladwish Challenge Trophy).

Saturday 15th January

PREMIER DIVISION
To quote that famous Roy Orbison song “It’s Over” yes Risborough Rangers have finally met their ‘Waterloo’ as their long unbeaten league run which began after their defeat at Winslow United on the 9th April 2019 was brought to a close on Saturday at Ardley United where a first half goal from Mason Courtney for the hosts sounded the death knell. With one record ending another is edging closely to being equalled as Hadley’s 9th successive league win on Saturday 4-0 at home against Holmer Green is just one short of equally their best at Step 5 (set in 2018 however the club record at any league level for them is 11 at Step 7). Milton Keynes Irish ended their winless run of 7 games with a 2-1 success at Broadfields United while Leverstock Green (5th) won 2-0 at Harpenden Town (6th) to put some clear daylight between the clubs in the table. At the other end of the standings the bottom two both suffered home defeats, bottom club Crawley Green just failed to claw back a 1-4 half time deficit, going down by the odd goal in nine against visiting Oxhey Jets while a goal on the stroke of half time was enough for Harefield United to defeat hosts Tring Athletic. Elsewhere the other three games all resulted a 1-1 draws, Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Dunstable Town, Flackwell Heath v Baldock Town and Leighton Town v Arlesey Town. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

1-0 Ardley United v Risborough Rangers (Courtney) Attendance: 136
1-1 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Dunstable Town (Gould [own goal]) / (Percy) Attendance: 161
1-2 Broadfields United v Milton Keynes Irish (Clarke-Rowe) / (Clarkson, Shrieves) Attendance: 51
4-5 Crawley Green v Oxhey Jets (Amadi, Mongey, Collins, Opponent Own Goal) / (Giordmaina [2], Costa, Inch, Tabor) Attendance: 41
1-1 Flackwell Heath v Baldock Town (Shakespeare) / (Hay) Attendance: 140
4-0 Hadley v Holmer Green (Ofori [2], Alfano, Ferguson) Attendance: 105
0-2 Harpenden Town v Leverstock Green (Daalberg, Seale) Attendance: 127
1-1 Leighton Town v Arlesey Town (Turner) / (Crowter) Attendance: 316
0-1 Tring Athletic v Harefield United (Pacquette) Attendance: 74

DIVISION ONE
No change at the top of the table with leaders Stotfold running out 4-1 winners at neighbours Bedford to extend their lead at the top to seven points as second placed Winslow United welcomed third placed Ampthill Town in the day’s big game and a report on this one can be found later in these ramblings. Elsewhere there were plenty of goals to keep the fans happy, Northampton Sileby Rangers hit struggling Burton Park Wanderers for eight as the hosts cruised to a 8-3 win while Long Crendon netted seven on their travels with a 7-1 success at Raunds Town. There was a nine goal thriller at Penn & Tylers Green where visiting Shefford Town & Campton came out on top 5-4 while the day’s other action saw Amersham Town climb out of the bottom three following a 2-2 draw at Letchworth Garden City Eagles. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

1-4 Bedford v Stotfold (Bamford) / (Spavins [2], Ryan, Smith) Attendance: 120
2-2 Letchworth Garden City Eagles v Amersham Town (Amis, Thake) / (Clifford, Bennett) Attendance: 41
8-3 Northampton Sileby Rangers v Burton Park Wanderers (Burrows [2], Cirelli [2], Freitas, Nagy, A Taylor, L Taylor) / (Clarke-Knowles [2], Brown) Attendance: 55
4-5 Penn & Tylers Green v Shefford Town & Campton (Gardner, Hurst, Colverd, Hancock) / (Snee [2], Day, O’Neil, McNamara) Attendance: 37
1-7 Raunds Town v Long Crendon (Wills) / (Hawkes [2], Warwick [2], Brownsword [pen], Gaul, Simms) Attendance: 45
1-2 Winslow United v Ampthill Town (Workman) / (Holmes [2]) Attendance: 132

LES UNDERWOOD JUNIOR CUP Quarter Finals
It was mixed fortunes for the two remaining SSML sides in the Les Underwood Junior Cup Quarter Finals, Wellingborough Whitworth booking a semi-final place with a 2-1 home win against United Counties League side Bugbrooke St Michael Reserves while Rushden & Higham United bowed out after a 0-4 home defeat by ChromaSport Northants Combination League side Blisworth. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

0-4 Rushden & Higham United v Blisworth (Bobowicz [2], Duffy, Morgan) Attendance: 68
2-1 Wellingborough Whitworth v Bugbrooke St Michael Reserves (Iasalire, Daldy) / (Hall) Attendance: 70

DIVISION TWO
Division Two leaders Old Bradwell United dropped two points as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home against Pitstone & Ivinghoe, the result allowed the chasing pack to close with Bovingdon defeating visiting New Bradwell St Peter 3-0 to make it x league wins on the bounce while Milton Keynes College Football Academy’s trip Berkhamsted Raiders was rewarded with a 5-2 success. At the bottom of the table there were two big games, firstly Codicote saw off the challenge from visitors Sarratt, the ‘Cod’ winning 4-0 while The 61FC (Luton) edged out bottom club Tring Corinthians AFC, the hosts winning by the odd goal in three. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

2-5 Berkhamsted Raiders v Milton Keynes College Football Academy (Mulholland [2]) / (Asante [2], Lodder, Summers, Boyce) Attendance: 35
3-0 Bovingdon v New Bradwell St Peter (Dowling, Hemington, Baldwin) / Attendance: 122
4-0 Codicote v Sarratt (Evans, White, Barker, Sutton) Attendance: 46
1-1 Old Bradwell United v Pitstone & Ivinghoe (D Smith) / (Murphy) Attendance: 63
2-1 The 61FC (Luton) v Tring Corinthians AFC (Polson, Opponent Own Goal) / (Nevin) Attendance: 12

BERKS & BUCKS CHARLES TWELFTREES TROPHY Second Round
Aston Clinton eased their way into the Third Round of the Berks & Bucks Charles Twelftrees Trophy win a comfortable 7-2 win at North Bucks & District League side Great Linford, their reward being a home tie with Hellenic League side FC Beaconsfield next week. Full result and goalscorers (where known) are listed below.

2-7 Great Linford v Aston Clinton (Unknown) / (Banert [3], MacDonald [2], Collins, Williams) Attendance: Unknown

COMMITTEE AWAYDAYS
Bob Flight was at Winslow United and sends the following report:-
On a misty afternoon in Buckinghamshire, Winslow hosted near neighbours Ampthill Town and the watching crowd of over 120 witnessed an entertaining match. Ampthill were the better team in the first half with Winslow strangely subdued although they did have a couple of chances but wayward finishing failed to trouble the visitor’s goal. The only goal of the half came from Ampthill on 30 minutes when a shot from Jamie Cerminara was only pushed out by the home keeper to Sam Holmes who scored from just 6 yards to put Ampthill in the lead. Indeed they could have scored again but their shot hit the Winslow post and bounced away to safety. Whatever was said to the Winslow players at half time saw an immediate improvement at the start of the second half and they equalised on 51 minutes. The goal had a touch of good fortune about it as the ball rebounded off a couple of defenders before falling nicely to Lewis Workman to score. The watching home crowd expected Winslow to go on and win the game, but this was a forlorn hope. Ampthill looked dangerous on the break and had two big chances to score but each time the player, who was clean through, shot straight at the Winslow keeper. However, the winning goal was not slow in coming and from another breakaway, a right wing cross found Sam Holmes who headed in his and Ampthill’s second goal on 69 minutes. Despite increasing pressure on the visiting team, and a great save by the keeper from a free kick, Winslow were denied a second equalising goal. The final few minutes saw a flurry of yellow cards to both teams and Ampthill saw out the game to collect all three points. The win moves Ampthill into third place in the table whilst Winslow still reside in second spot with games in hand over leaders Stotfold who also won away at Bedford.

AND FINALLY
Don’t forget that every Sunday afternoon the Non-League Show on Three Counties Radio (Herts, Beds & Bucks), a show all about local non-league football. The popular show presented by Ollie Bayliss has been increased to two hours each week and is the perfect opportunity to catch up with our local non-league scene at all levels. For those who missed it then you can catch up here:-

Ollie Bayliss Non League Show

The result of this week’s Team of the Day Poll with 377 votes cast is:-
Ardley United 52.5.0%
Bovingdon 20.7%
Ampthill Town 19.9%
Milton Keynes Irish 6.9%