Beacon Sunday League quarter-final ties do not disappoint as trio make it to last four

And the three quarter-final ties did not disappoint as the trio of Trysull Athletic, AFC Bloxwich and Widdas FC all had their work cut out before claiming a last-four ticket in this season’s NDT Midlands Lester Charity Cup competition.

From a nine-goal thriller, to a tense penalty shootout and an equally close encounter involving the league’s remaining over-30s representative in the competition the clashes produced great drama.

Top tier outfit Widdas, who have reached the semi-finals of the prestigious Birmingham FA Sunday Vase, were pushed all the way by Paycare Development hosts Gornal Rangers, who broke the deadlock early in the second period through Jake Penn. Almost immediately, Widdas got back on level terms with a reply from Danny Robinson and it remained stalemate at full-time. When it came to penalties, Widdas just edged through with a narrow 5-4 scoreline. And that matched the outcome of another thrilling Lester Cup encounter as second tier AFC Bloxwich took the honours in normal time with a memorable victory over visiting Concentric Sales & Lettings Championship opponents Sedgley Sporting.

In an end-to-end affair, Bloxwich stunned Sporting by taking a crucial 2-0 lead and the top three Paycare side remained ahead by the odd goal in five at the interval.

As the tie moved into the closing stages, Bloxwich once again held a two goal (5-3) advantage, but Sporting battled to the end and cut the deficit to one in the final minutes before Bloxwich held on to take their place in the last four.

And they will be joined by Trysull Athletic, who finally ended the dreams of Advanced Recruit over-30s outfit AFC Bilbrook Vets 3-1 in another closely-fought tie. On target for Trysull were two-goal Dan Lloyd-Hickman and Chad Brandrick.

The remaining quarter-final tie between Blades FC and Dudley Rangers United is scheduled for this Sunday, and the semi-final draw is: Blades or Dudley v Widdas, AFC Bloxwich v Trysull Athletic.

On the league front, Claregate Park Rangers saw off nearest rivals Dudley Rangers 4-1 as the former extended their unbeaten record to 11 games and opened up a vital four-point lead, with three games in hand on United.

Although Dudley opened the scoring through Carrick Cheney, Rangers hit back to take a 2-1 lead. Inflicting most damage for Claregate was hat-trick hero Rodney Williams, supported by a single from Adam Garmston.

Group qualifiers in the Clinton Cup saw AFC Goldthorne extend their good form and leadership of the table with a resounding 9-0 home drubbing of Sedgley & Gornal United East. Kyle Simpson gave Goldthorne a narrow 1-0 interval advantage, before running in no fewer than eight second-half goals as Wayne Marsh and Dale Smith fired trebles, supported by Andrew Mills and Izaak Burton.

Chasing down the pacesetters, who hold a five-point lead, are Lane Head Titans, Kewford Eagles and Bushbury Hill. The former shared four goals with Bushbury, for whom Tom Grace and debutant Ashley Barrett netted, while Jake Cox and Adam Shorto replied.

The Eagles secured a first group success, emerging 1-0 victors over visiting Wombourne Athletic with Jack Dando grabbing an 80th-minute winner. Hagley United kept alive their hopes of semi final spot when running out worthy 4-0 winners over visiting AFC Sporting Gornal as the scoring was shared between Baba Mohammed, Liam Coombes, Stuart Butcher and Jack Trewarcha.

In the Cater Cup, battling Gunmakers Arms missed out on a second group success, going down 3-0 at home to Sedgley Rangers. After a goalless first half, the latter took the spoils through Greg Corbett (two) and Jermelle Banner.

Springvale Albion Vets extended their lead at the head of the Advanced Recruit over-30s section but had to settle for a point in a 2-2 draw against KT Rangers Vets for whom Stuart Hillman bagged a brace.

Darrell Gillett and Ben Wilkins helped Springvale move four points clear at the top after nearest challengers Emerald Athletic Vets suffered a first league defeat, going down 3-2 at home to MNF All Starz, who had Dwayne Samuels, Jayden Gordon and Seni Shah netting. Kyle Brady (two) kept things close for Emerald.

And there was a second league victory for Shere Punjab Seniors as they crushed AFC Codsall Vets 9-1. Four-goal Alex Birch led the charge, supported by Razwan Akhtar (two), Harpreet Sangha, Simon Lemour and Pravinder Chandler. Codsall’s consolation came from Dave Cartwright.

On the Mini-Pro Golf Parks Eastern front, AFC Wulfrunians Vets made it three wins in five when inflicting a first defeat on third place Down Syndrome Awareness Vets.

The pairing of Ben Jeavons and Richard Gummery notched two apiece, while Nathan Lodge and Matt Clayton made it six of the best for Wulfrunians, who move into the top four. Earl Grant and Lewis Wemm responded.