SATURDAY HEADLINES
Saturday brought about 74 goals from the 23 games (an average of 3.22 per game). Derek Asamoah (New Salamis) led the way with four goals while Ollie Lawford (Aylesbury Vale Dynamos), Solomon Ofori (Hadley) and Scott Joseph (Bedford) all netted hat tricks.

Saturday’s Stats: 23 games played of which 10 were home wins, 10 away wins and 3 draws.

(Most League Wins – all Divisions):
27 New Salamis
26 Stotfold
25 Risborough Rangers

(Most League Draws – all Divisions):
9 Harefield United, Leighton Town, Penn & Tylers Green
8 Ardley United, Arlesey Town, Dunstable Town, Harpenden Town, Ampthill Town
7 Milton Keynes Irish, Bedford

(Most League Defeats – all Divisions):
27 Irchester United
25 Burton Park Wanderers
24 London Colney.

Without a Draw:
(Division Two League):
Aston Clinton

Most Goals Scored:
(Premier Division League):
111 New Salamis.
(Division One League):
108 Stotfold.
(Division Two League):
87 Old Bradwell United

Most Goals Conceded:
(Premier Division League):
103 Holmer Green.
(Division One League):
109 Burton Park Wanderers.
(Division Two League):
83 Buckingham United

Fewest Goals Scored:
(Premier Division League):
33 London Colney.
(Division One League):
36 Irchester United.
(Division Two League):
24 The 61FC (Luton)

Fewest Goals Conceded:
(Premier Division League):
18 Risborough Rangers
(Division One League):
25 Stotfold.
(Division Two League):
16 Old Bradwell United.

Saturday’s Highest Attendances: 355 Leighton Town v Flackwell Heath, 132 New Salamis v Harefield United and 97 Risborough Rangers v Baldock Town.

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Premier Division Clubs): 868 Leighton Town v Luton Town (Beds Senior Cup), 524 Leighton Town v Oxhey Jets and 491 Leighton Town v Tring Athletic.

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division One Clubs): 1904 Long Crendon v Wycombe Wanderers (Berks & Bucks Senior Cup), 533 Stotfold v Winslow United and 404 Stotfold v Ampthill Town.

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division Two Clubs): 212 Bovingdon v Totternhoe, 175 Bovingdon v Berkhamsted Raiders and 155 Bovingdon v Sarratt (Division Two Cup).

Saturday 2nd April

PREMIER DIVISION
Premier Division table toppers New Salamis were the day’s biggest winners with a 9-0 home win against Harefield United, the hosts falling one short of their best SSML result back in September while for the visitors it was their heaviest SSML defeat since losing 1-9 against Hertford Town in January 2016. Risborough Rangers remain three points behind with two games in hand after they overcame a battling Baldock Town by the odd goal in three at home, this after going 1-0 up after just 33 seconds. Hadley remain third following their 3-1 home success against Milton Keynes Irish, the hosts recovering from being reduced to ten men and going a goal down shortly after the re-start thanks to the ‘perfect’ half-trick from Solomon Ofori, one with his head, one with the right foot and the other with the left foot. At the other end of the table Holmer Green climbed out of the bottom two with a 2-1 home success against Dunstable Town and as a result sent London Colney into the drop zone after their dismal run of defeats continued with a 1-3 loss at Aylesbury Vale Dynamos, this after leading at the interval. Elsewhere Broadfields United were beaten 0-2 by visiting Harpenden Town while yet another large crowd at Bell Close (355) saw Leighton Town enjoy a 2-0 success against Flackwell Heath thanks to a brace from new signing Duncan Culley. The day’s other Premier Division saw Oxhey Jets draw 1-1 at Arlesey Town while Ardley United edged out Tring Athletic by the odd goal in three in Hertfordshire. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

1-1 Arlesey Town v Oxhey Jets (Crowter) / (Tabor) Attendance: 69
3-1 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v London Colney (Lawford [3] [2 pens]) / (Smith) Attendance: 82
0-2 Broadfields United v Harpenden Town (Anthony, Setchell) Attendance: 71
3-1 Hadley v Milton Keynes Irish (Ofori [3]) / (Lawless [pen]) Attendance: 87
2-1 Holmer Green v Dunstable Town (Chunga, Dimitrijevic) / (Naylor) Attendance: 93
2-0 Leighton Town v Flackwell Heath (Culley [2]) Attendance: 355
9-0 New Salamis v Harefield United (Asamoah [4], Ogunseye [2], Mehmet, Furlonge, H Georgiou) Attendance: 132
2-1 Risborough Rangers v Baldock Town (Osborne, Wyllie [pen]) / (Aldridge) Attendance: 97
1-2 Tring Athletic v Ardley United (Hutchins [pen]) / (Odhiambo [2]) Attendance: 83

DIVISION ONE
The Match of the Day in Division One saw second placed Winslow United hosting third placed Shefford Town & Campton, the game began with the hosts six points ahead and ended with the deficit halved with the visitors winning by a solitary first half penalty. Ampthill Town and Northampton Sileby Rangers maintained their play-off spots with away wins, Town winning 1-0 at struggling Kidlington Reserves while Rangers were 3-0 winners at Langford. At the other end of the standings bottom club Irchester United were beaten 0-3 at home by play-off chasing Wellingborough Whitworth while second bottom Burton Park Wanderers went down by the odd goal in three by London Tigers and more from this later in the ramblings. Elsewhere Amersham Town recorded a 2-1 home success against Letchworth Garden City Eagles to surely kill off any faint fears of the drop while Bedford kept up their outside hopes of the play-offs with a 4-0 success at Buckingham Athletic. The day’s other Division One action saw Rushden & Higham United drawing 1-1 at Penn & Tylers Green while Long Crendon enjoyed a 4-1 success at Thame United Reserves. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

2-1 Amersham Town v Letchworth Garden City Eagles (Regan, Bennett) / (Drescanu) Attendance: 35
0-4 Buckingham Athletic v Bedford (Joseph [3], Abdulla) Attendance: 47
1-2 Burton Park Wanderers v London Tigers (Durance) / (Johnson, Mohamed) Attendance: 49
0-3 Irchester United v Wellingborough Whitworth (Bivens [2], Judge) Attendance: 48
0-1 Kidlington Reserves v Ampthill Town (Barrett) Attendance: 27
0-3 Langford v Northampton Sileby Rangers (Burrows [2], Nagy) Attendance: 63
1-1 Penn & Tylers Green v Rushden & Higham United (Colverd) / (Morgan) Attendance: 37
1-4 Thame United Reserves v Long Crendon (Pounds) / (Gaul [2], T Lethbridge, O Lethbridge) Attendance: 71
0-1 Winslow United v Shefford Town & Campton (McNamara [pen]) Attendance: 84

DIVISION TWO
Division Two leaders Old Bradwell United took a step closer to the title with a 2-0 win in the ‘Bradwell Derby’, two goals from Scott Valentine were enough for the visitors to secure the points and bragging rights at New Bradwell St Peter while second placed Bovingdon were held to a goalless draw by hosts Codicote. Aston Clinton were the Division’s biggest winners as they swept aside visiting The 61FC (Luton) 7-1. Elsewhere Sarratt edged out visiting Berkhamsted Raiders by the odd goal in three while Totternhoe made it four successive wins (two in the league and two in the cup) with a 4-0 success over visiting Buckingham United. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

7-1 Aston Clinton v The 61FC (Luton) (B Mitchell [2], MacDonald [2], Banert, D Mitchell, Lavelle) / (Ahmed) Attendance: 35
0-0 Codicote v Bovingdon Attendance: 47
0-2 New Bradwell St Peter v Old Bradwell United (Valentine [2]) Attendance: 60
2-1 Sarratt v Berkhamsted Raiders (Loakes [pen], White) / (Clark) Attendance: 45
4-0 Totternhoe v Buckingham United (Gutzmore [2], Quinn, Langlais) Attendance: 25

AND FINALLY

COMMITTEE AWAYDAYS
League Board member, Bob Flight, travelled to Burton Park Wanderers to present their February Respect Award which rewarded their much improved Respect behaviour during 2022 (see picture below). The home team hosted visitors London Tigers but narrowly lost out by the odd goal in three. The match started in bright sunshine but it was a very cold day in Northants. Tigers began well and they dominated the first half but had to wait until 30 minutes before they managed to score the opening goal. Just before half time, Burton thought that they had equalised, but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside. The home side were quickly two goals down at the start of the second half as a clumsy challenge resulted in a penalty on just 50 minutes which Tigers dispatched with ease. However, Burton improved in the second half and scored the goal of the game when Alex Durance scored from 25 yards with a great shot that went into the Tigers net off the underside of the crossbar. Burton pressed forward in search of another goal and Tigers were not helped when they lost a player to a head injury and as they had used all their subs, had to play out the last ten minutes of the game with ten players. But despite a couple of scares, Tigers held on for victory. This result leaves Burton in the relegation zone and improves Tigers chances of staying up.

The result of this week’s Team of the Day Poll with 111 votes cast is:-
New Salamis 44.1%
Totternhoe 29.7%
Aston Clinton 19.8%
Bedford 6.4%

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