Saturday brought about 89 goals from the 23 games (an average of 3.87 per game). Jake Anthony (Harpenden Town), George Lutaaya (New Salamis) and Robert Doncaster (Winslow United) all netting hat tricks.

Saturday’s Stats:
23 games played of which 7 were home wins, 14 away wins and 2 draws.

(Most League Wins – all Divisions):
29 New Salamis
27 Risborough Rangers, Stotfold
23 Hadley, Shefford Town & Campton, Winslow United

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

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

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

Most Goals Scored:
(Premier Division League):
120 New Salamis.
(Division One League):
113 Stotfold.
(Division Two League):
90 Old Bradwell United

Most Goals Conceded:
(Premier Division League):
104 Holmer Green.
(Division One League):
111 Burton Park Wanderers.
(Division Two League):
89 Buckingham United

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

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

Saturday’s Highest Attendances:
425 Flackwell Heath v Hadley, 179 Harpenden Town v Crawley Green and 134 New Salamis v Aylesbury Vale Dynamos.

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 9th April

PREMIER DIVISION
The Premier Division title race remains as it was following Saturday’s round of fixtures with both the top two winning again, the only thing with these recent wins ensures both clubs gained promotion to Step 4 (unless the FA decides different). Leaders New Salamis were once again amongst the goals as they followed up last weekend’s 9-0 win with an 8-1 home success against Aylesbury Vale Dynamos while second placed Risborough Rangers despite missing two penalties won 3-0 at Leverstock Green thanks to three second half strikes. Hadley remain third after a late equalizer earned them a 1-1 draw at Flackwell Heath in front of a crowd of 425, the Hertfordshire club are now just a point away from securing third place. At the bottom it looks like relegation for the current bottom two Crawley Green and London Colney (the only saving grace could be a reprieve by the FA for the club that avoids the wooden spoon), Green were beaten 0-5 at Harpenden Town as the hosts finished their home programme for the season and can look forward to a new playing surface next season while for the free falling Colney it was a 0-3 home defeat by Harefield United. Elsewhere Baldock Town eased their relegation fears with a point at Milton Keynes Irish, the game finishing 1-1 while Dunstable Town were comfortable 3-0 winners at Oxhey Jets. The day’s other action saw Broadfields United beaten by a solitary goal at Ardley United while Tring Athletic, enjoying an end of season revival, won 2-0 on the road at Arlesey Town. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

1-0 Ardley United v Broadfields United (Odhiambo) Attendance: 65
0-2 Arlesey Town v Tring Athletic (Farruch, Oppong) Attendance: 102
1-1 Flackwell Heath v Hadley (Bunting [pen]) / (J Edwards) Attendance: 425
5-0 Harpenden Town v Crawley Green (Anthony [3] [2 pens], Devaney, Syme) Attendance: 179
0-3 Leverstock Green v Risborough Rangers (Wyllie, Kedzierski, Read) Attendance: 70
0-3 London Colney v Harefield United (Schofield [2], Sesay) Attendance: 20
1-1 Milton Keynes Irish v Baldock Town (Smith) / (Lamond) Attendance: 56
8-1 New Salamis v Aylesbury Vale Dynamos (Lutaaya [3], Georgiou [2], Asamoah, Staunton, Becka [pen]) / (Shortt) Attendance: 134
0-3 Oxhey Jets v Dunstable Town (Mead [2], Crilley) Attendance: 64

DIVISION ONE
Division One leaders Stotfold are just one win away from securing the title after a 5-2 win at play-off hopefuls Northampton Sileby Rangers and more from this one later in the ramblings. Second placed Winslow United assured themselves of a play-off spot with a 6-0 win at Rushden & Higham United while third placed Shefford Town & Campton need one more win to join them following their 3-1 success at struggling Kidlington Reserves. Fourth placed Ampthill Town could have reached the play-offs at the weekend but were surprisingly beaten 1-3 at home by Amersham Town and the Bedfordshire side will have to put their celebrations on hold for another week. At the bottom Burton Park Wanderers are virtually relegated despite winning 3-2 at home against Penn & Tylers Green while Raunds Town can breathe a little easier after winning 3-1 at Thame United Reserves. Elsewhere relegated Irchester United went down by the odd goal in three at home against Langford while the day’s other action saw Wellingborough Whitworth move back into the play-off places with a stunning first half display at Long Crendon, the visitors bagged five in the opening 45 minutes however the game fell flat after the break with no further scoring. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

1-3 Ampthill Town v Amersham Town (Cullen) / (Bennett [2], Duncan-Johnson) Attendance: 117
3-2 Burton Park Wanderers v Penn & Tylers Green (Clarke-Knowles [2], Frankcam) / (Hancock, Hurst) Attendance: 40
1-2 Irchester United v Langford (Odell [pen]) / (White, Care) Attendance: 20
1-3 Kidlington Reserves v Shefford Town & Campton (Rice) / (McNamara, Day, Metcalfe) Attendance: 23
0-5 Long Crendon v Wellingborough Whitworth (Bivens [2], Taylor, Judge, Brittain) Attendance: 53
2-5 Northampton Sileby Rangers v Stotfold (Freitas, Taylor) / (Kersey [2], Spavins [2], Clarke [pen]) Attendance: 40
0-6 Rushden & Higham United v Winslow United (Doncaster [3], Workman [2], Pinto) Attendance: 49
1-3 Thame United Reserves v Raunds Town (Sagar) / (Stanciu [2], McBride) Attendance: 44

DIVISION TWO
Division Two table toppers Old Bradwell United continued their march towards landing the title with a 3-1 win at Risborough Rangers Development to extend their lead at the top to eight points while Aston Clinton made it eleven successive league wins with a 6-0 home success against struggling Buckingham United to stay fifth and keep their hopes alive with four games in hand on the leaders whom they face later this month. Totternhoe maintained their recent unbeaten run with a 4-1 win against visiting Berkhamsted Raiders to leave their visitors anxiously looking over their shoulders at the bottom end of the table while in the day’s other league action Eynesbury United won by the odd goal in three at New Bradwell St Peter to remain sixth and keep alive their hopes of a top five finish which being the only club to apply for promotion will see them achieve their aim. Full results and goalscorers (where known) are listed below.

6-0 Aston Clinton v Buckingham United (Banert [2], Clarke, Paul, Jaiyeola, MacDonald) Attendance: 22
1-2 New Badwell St Peter v Eynesbury United (Unknown) / (Carberry, Baxter) Attendance: 25
1-3 Risborough Rangers Development v Old Bradwell United (Plumridge-Dell) / (Smith, Valentine, Cooke) Attendance: 28
4-1 Totternhoe v Berkhamsted Raiders (Capehorn [2], Gutzmore, Woolaway) / (Mulholland) Attendance: 48

DIVISION TWO CUP Quarter Finals
Division Two bottom club Tring Corinthians AFC hosted second placed Bovingdon for a place in the semi-finals of the Division Two Cup, on paper what could go wrong? However this game was played on grass and the form book was thrown away as the minnows came out on top thanks to a solitary last minute goal to set up a home tie with Totternhoe. The remaining quarter-final saw Pitstone & Ivinghoe hosting Milton Keynes College Football Academy, as in the league meetings between these clubs this was a hard fought close affair with the league new boys from Milton Keynes edging it 2-0 and set-up a home tie against league leaders Old Bradwell United next week. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

0-2 Pitstone & Ivinghoe v Milton Keynes College Football Academy (Blackmore-Read, Lodder) Attendance: 64
1-0 Tring Corinthians AFC v Bovingdon (Curtis) Attendance: 20

AND FINALLY

COMMITTEE AWAYDAYS
League Board member, Bob Flight, travelled to Northampton Sileby Rangers and sends this report:-
The game of the day in Division one was at Northampton Sileby Rangers were they entertained league leaders Stotfold. Stotfold began the game with almost constant pressure on the home goal and they hit the woodwork on several occasions and had a goal disallowed for a foul. But it was Rangers that scored the first goal on 30 minutes when a great curling shot by Lewis Taylor flew into the far corner of the Stotfold net. However, Rangers were not in the lead for long as a mix up between a defender and keeper saw a penalty awarded to Stotfold which Connor Clark dispatched into the Rangers net on 32 minutes. Rangers had another chance, but Taylor missed from a good position. Worse was to follow for the home team as a right wing cross was powered into the net from close range by Ash Kersey on 40 minutes. The half ended with the slim lead for Stotfold who had to work hard for their advantage. If Rangers had any thoughts of getting back into the game at the start of the second half, this evaporated as Kersey scored his second and the third for Stotfold on 47 minutes. It was all Stotfold now, although Rangers did threaten on the break and had a couple of efforts either well saved or went wide. The game was effectively over when Substitute Codi Spavins scored twice. The first was a far post header on 72 minutes and then with a close range shot on 85 minutes. There was just enough time for Rangers to score their second goal when substitute Freitas fired in from just outside the penalty area on 88 minutes. Thus Rangers scored both the first and last goals in the game but unfortunately for them, Stotfold had scored five in the intervening period of the match. A good game to watch for the neutral spectator and the result maintains Stotfold as the division leaders.

Pitstone & Ivinghoe captain Tom Guiney receiving the team of the month award for February from Dave Henman SSMFL with chairman Bob Beesley.

On the Twittersphere at the weekend we were treated to several gems and they are listed here (in no particular order of preference) – From the ever reliable and witty Aylesbury United we had – Also we apologize for the tweeting today ….. usual Tweeter is away!! And was followed by Right time for an interesting fact before kick-off - How many times will the average human walk around the earth in their lifetime. Over at Irchester United there was this gem – 0-0 at half time, not the worse 45 minutes this season but in the top five. On the plus side the donuts are chocolate today. This was followed by 1-0 Irch Kyran Odell penalty, dodgy one but we don’t care. Harefield United brought us this one – 2-0 Austin is claiming it but the VAR isn’t convinced and finally from the SSML’s favourite owner, Mr Elliott from Oxhey we had this delight – HT of an exciting match (that’s a complete lie!!).

The result of this week’s Team of the Day Poll with 143 votes cast is:-
Winslow United 38.5%
Aston Clinton 35.0%
Tring Athletic 16.1%
Burton Park Wanderers 10.4%

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