Royals' Early Exit from Senior Cup

Basingstoke Royals crashed out of the Hampshire Sunday Senior Cup at the first hurdle on Sunday, they lost 1-2 at home to Alexandra.

Wheatsheaf beat Dayers Fine Foods 5-2 to consolidate their position at the top of Division 1, with strikes from Finley Hall, Carlos Gonzalez, Harry Rudge, Ollie Knox and Ashley Elward. Dayers' replies were from Christian Cox and Joe Hill.

Soldiers Return took an early lead against Oakley from a corner kick. Frederick Cloke pounced on the cross and scored his first goal of the morning. Oakley soon drew level however, when a ball over the top of the defence was neatly clipped over the keeper by Myles Englefield. A deflected shot from Jamie Galpin found the net from 20 yards to restore Soldiers' lead, which was extended before the break by Cloke's second, delivering 3-1 at half-time. In the second half Soldiers were reduced to ten men, although Oakley failed to score from the resultant penalty kick. Oakley managed to reduce the deficit to 3-2 from a corner, put away by Bradley Archer. However, two sendings off for Oakley late in game meant they were unable to affect the 3-2 outcome.

Although the first half between Tron and FC Everest was goalless, opportunities went begging for both sides. Tron's Luke Stickland made an excellent save from Luke Richardson and Scott Winterbourne saw three goal chances saved by FC Everest. Luke Richardson eventually opened his account for Everest on 55 minutes, after rounding the keeper for an away goal. Tron levelled on 75 minutes, after James Tarrant set up Dave Parry to nip in and score. Tron's winner came in the 84th minute when Michael Morey and James Tarrant's great passing combination enabled Ross Soper-Dyer to finish, slotting the ball past the advancing keeper. It was a fine goal to round off a close contested game. This was Tron's third successive home win.

Basingstoke Saints took an early 1-0 lead following a fine move down the left from Matthew Cuthbertsom to Liam James to finish, a habit which so far has failed to bring success this season. The much changed home side were forced to use an outfield player in goal and this shortcoming proved decisive, soon finding themselves 1-3 down to Republic of Chineham. Saints clawed the game back to 2-3 before half-time with a penalty from Adam Butler. In the second half Adam Butler scored his second from the spot but by then Republic of Chineham were comfortable 3-6 winners. The visitors' scorers consisted of a hat-trick from Ben Nicholls, a Wayne Finn brace, and single by Mitchell Stokes.

Two sides unbeaten at the outset, second place Affini Technology had home advantage over Division 2 leaders Revolution, so something had to give. Affini won 3-1, David Weatherhead scoring a brace, and Nick Jupp one.

Hampshire Irons narrowly defeated Chineham 2-1, thanks to strikes from Chris Arnold and Terry Lock, while Kieron Alleyne hit the target for Chineham.

Bramley United stormed into a deserved 0-2 lead before the break at North Warnborough, extending their advantage to 0-3, despite the home side tightening their resolve in a more evenly matched second period. The hosts clawed their way back into the game, however, scoring thrice to square the game 3-3 and share the points.

UWS and Team also shared the points in a 2-2 draw.

North Warnborough Reserves continue to grab the headlines in Division 3, with a sparkling performance at Soldiers Return Reserves, giving them a scorching 0-4 lead at the interval. The impressive passing football by the visitors put then six goals up before Dan Southgate wiped out a possible whitewash with a stunning 30-yard shot, made up for Southgate missing an earlier penalty! However, it was North Warnborough Reserves who rightly had the last word, adding another goal to round off a 1-7 victory. The visitors' goals included four from Sean Delfosse, to add to a hat-trick the previous week, with more goals from Ryan Pilley, Jay Gibson and Sam Wilson.
Serge Holland scored twice for Chineham Reserves, which was insufficient to halt their first defeat, with Camrose Social racking up their third win out of three in a 2-5 victory. Aaron Burt bagged a brace for Camrose, Chris Waller, Jamie Coales and Robin Smith netting one apiece.

New club FC Benidorm of Stoke are enjoying their first season, this time with a 6-2 win over DG Athletic. Taylor Watts rattled in five of the goals, assisted by Josh Taylor, Josh Gardiner and Tom Green, before Adam Bowden scored a remarkable sixth goal from all of 65 yards! James Brown buried two penalties in response for DG.