Les James Challenge Cup (Quarter Finals) Central Ajax V Earlswood Town Central Ajax host Earlswood Town at Ajax Park tomorrow in what should be a tight match in the LJ Challenge Cup. Both teams are comfortably in mid table in division two and are capable of going far in this competition. Central Ajax are coming into this match in good form and notably beat Lane Head away from home 2-1 last weekend. Their 11 points above the relegation places and have two games in hand over Littleton in 15th. Their home record in the league has been good so far with just two losses from eight matches. They have beaten AFC Solihull (Away) and BNJS (Home) to reach this stage of the competition. Shaye Eden is their main attacking threat who scored a brace last weekend. Earlswood Town are in the top half of the table coming into this match and it’s a good opportunity to go on a cup run. The Earls are in 8th and similar to Central Ajax, have a 11-point gap between the relegation places. They have played well away from home this season and notably drew 1-1 against Knowle at the Robins Nest a few weeks back. They have four wins and three draws from nine matches on the road. The visitors have beat Lane Head (Home) and DSC United (Home) to reach this stage of the competition. Louis Bridges is a player to watch for Earlswood who can make things happen in the final third. Fairfield Villa V Littleton Fairfield have been playing well over the last few weeks and have a lot to play for in the remaining few months of the season. The Swans are battling to stay in the division with a five-point gap over the relegation places and are also involved in the LJ Challenge Cup and the Worcester Saturday Cup. They beat Gornal (Home) and Coventrians (Home) to reach this stage of the competition. Their home form has been their main strength this season with four wins and three draws in the league. They also notably drew with Knowle 1-1 a few weeks back. Samson Omotayo is a player to watch for the Swans who has that quality in the final third to create chances. Littleton are currently battling to stay in the division between now and the end of the season. Their in 15th and four points off safety. The main positive is that they have five games in hand over Inkberrow in 14th and are not too far cut adrift of staying up. Similar to Fairfield, the visitors are involved in a lot of competitions and are still in the Worcester Saturday cup. Their away form has not been too bad given their league position with two wins from five matches. They go into this match as marginal underdogs based on Fairfield’s home form but are capable of getting a result. Hampton V Birmingham United Hampton host Birmingham United in a huge match at Field Lane tomorrow. Both teams are capable of going on a run in the Les James Challenge Cup and are comfortably in the top half of the table. The hosts are in 7th with 23 points and have played well in a competitive division. Their home form at both New Mill Lane and Field Lane has been a positive with four wins and one draw from eight matches. They notably drew 1-1 with AFC Coventry Rangers last weekend which suggests it’s going to be a tough test for Birmingham United tomorrow. They have beat Balsall and Berkswell (Away) and Northfield Town (Home) to reach this stage of the competition. Birmingham United have been good in division two and have been competing near the top of the league. The visitors are in 2nd with 39 points and have been one of the standout teams in the league. The division title might be a stretch too far with the amount of games played so the Les James Challenge Cup feels like a good opportunity to make a statement at this level. Their away form has been a strength throughout the season with seven wins from 12 matches. They have beaten AFC Coventry Rangers (Home) and Meadow Park (Away) to reach this stage of the competition. The visitors are also coming into this match in a good run of form with nine points from their last four league matches. Another strength of Birmingham United has been their smart recruitment with the club signing a lot of quality players to challenge at this level. Connor Doyle is a player to watch who can makes things happen from midfield who signed from Earlswood Town. Urio Hijambazapo is another player to watch who is clinical in the box and joined from Lane Head where he scored 8 goals for them earlier this season. Knowle V Alcester Town Knowle host Alcester Town at the Robins Nest tomorrow in a huge match in the Les James Challenge Cup. The Robins are the defending champions and come up against one of the standout teams in the division for a place in the semi-finals. Their home form has been a strength this season with eight wins from eleven matches and their currently top of the league with 46 points. Redditch Borough are their nearest challenger in 3rd with 38 points and five games in hand. None the less, the Robins have to play them home and away in the league so it’s all to play for. It’s an exciting final few months of the season for Knowle supporters who will be hoping of step six football. The LJ challenge cup would be a nice bonus and if they can achieve both it would be a great season for the club. The Robins have beaten Feckenham (Home) and Leamington Hibernian (Home) to reach this stage of the competition. George Seeley is a player to watch who has that quality on the ball to make things happen in the final third. Alcester have been brilliant in division two and are challenging for both the league and the LJ Challenge cup. Out of the two, the LJ Cup is the more realistic and the Romans are more than capable of winning it come the end of the season. Their currently 5th in the league with an 18-point gap to make up over Knowle with six games in hand. Their away form has been a strength with four wins from six matches on the road. They also notably beat Knowle away on the opening day of the season so an upset could happen tomorrow. They got a walkover against Redditch Borough and beat Continental Star (Home) to reach this stage of the competition. James Ward is a player to watch for the visitors who is a key threat in the final third at this level. He has 15 goals in all competitions and played for Redditch Borough earlier this season. All Les James Challenge Cup matches kick off at 2:15pm on Saturday. Preview feature written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League AFC Birmingham 2-2 Feckenham Feckenham got a battling point against AFC Birmingham at Illey Lane on Saturday afternoon. The result keeps the Millers in the top two, but 3rd place Northfield have a game in hand over them with a point separating the two. The result also leaves AFC Birmingham not too far adrift of challenging for the top two with a five-point gap between them and 2nd place Feckenham with a game in hand to make up. A good crowd of 65 supporters turned up to watch the match in Halesowen. All the goals came in the second half with Ashley Brown and Finbarr McCarthy scoring for AFC Birmingham. Josh Bowen and Jack Neal got the goals for Feckenham to give them a good point on the road. Birmingham Tigers 0-3 Northfield Town Northfield got an excellent away win against Birmingham Tigers at the Hadley Stadium on Saturday to get their challenge for the top two back on track. It’s the visitors seventh away win of the season and leaves them only a point off 2nd place Feckenham with a game in hand. The goals for Northfield coming from Ashley Prince, Josh Westwood and substitute Shilo Waldo to give them the three points. Their away form has been a key strength and it continued here against Birmingham Tigers. Northfield are unbeaten from nine matches on the road with seven wins and two draws and it sets up an exciting final few months of the season for the club. This was always going to be a tough test for Birmingham Tigers on Saturday against one of the standout teams in the division. It’s been a challenging season for the hosts, and they could do with a result to give the squad some confidence over the next few weeks. Castle Vale Town 3-2 Leamington Hibernian Castle Vale Town continued their recent home form with an excellent win against Leamington Hibernian at CV Stadium on Saturday. The result makes it four consecutive home wins for the Spitfires who are now in 4th with 42 points. The hosts are one of the stories of the season at this level and offer hope for clubs that are currently struggling at the bottom of the division. A good crowd of 65 supporters turned up to watch Castle Vale Town’s fifth home win of the season. Leamington Hibernian took an early lead when Daniel Ademola finished well from a good ball into the box to make it 1-0. Castle Vale Town found an equaliser later in the first half when Luke Smith scored from a throw into the box to make it 1-1. The Spitfires took the lead early in the second half when Jordan McKenzie played an excellent ball across the box that found Jordan Evans who finished well to make it 2-1. Leamington Hibernian found an equaliser in the second half through Daniel Ademola before Castle Vale Town scored the winner through Tarus Zaman to make it 3-2. Leamington Hibernian played well and were a good challenge for Castle Vale Town at the weekend. Hopefully they can pick up some results over the next few weeks to climb up the table. Continental Star 0-3 Meadow Park Meadow Park got their second away win of the season on Saturday to move into the top half of the table. Their away form had been an issue going into this weekend so to get a result against Continental Star is an encouraging result for the visitors. A crowd of 27 supporters turned up to the Holford Drive Community Sports Hub at the weekend to watch Meadow Park get the three points. Second half goals from Dan Jarvis and Ellis Blakemore who scored a brace gave the visitors the win which leaves them in 8th with 23 points. DSC United 0-4 Silhill Silhill got an excellent away win against DSC United at the Triplex Sports Association on Saturday to cement their position in the top six. It was Silhill’s fifth away win and leaves them in 6th with 39 points. They have a 13-point gap over 7th placed Wake Green Amateur who have three games in hand. It was a team effort from the visitors with goals from Tom Hudson, Alieu Jabang, Brandon Williams and substitute Tom Cherry giving them the win. Silhill have been playing well over the last few weeks and notably drew away at AFC Solihull last weekend. DSC United are still in a good position in the league despite the defeat and are capable of challenging for a top half finish. Their currently two points off Meadow Park in 8th and have a few games in hand. Gornal 0-4 Boldmere Sports and Social Falcons Boldmere Falcons got a momentum building win against Gornal at the Wombourne Leisure Centre on Saturday. It’s the visitor’s second away win of the season and something to build on for the matches ahead. A brace from Dale Huckfield and further efforts from Ryan McFadden and Marvelous Omoregie gave the Falcons the three points. The visitor’s recruitment has been excellent over the last few months. The new signings have boosted the squad with quality in the final third. They have 8 goals from their last three matches in the division. It’s a transitional season from Gornal and the hosts are adapting to the level. Despite their league position, they have shown moments of quality this season and are not too far adrift of mid table. Wake Green Amateurs 4-2 Solihull Sporting Wake Green got a good win against Solihull Sporting at the Holloway on Saturday to cement their position in the top half of the table. A brace from Adam Turner and further efforts from Ashley Smith and Nathanial Percival gave Wake Green their sixth home win of the season. Their record in front of goal at home has been a positive and it continued here against Solihull Sporting with 38 goals scored throughout the season. Solihull Sporting’s away problems continued where they are yet to win from seven matches on the road. None the less, they were competitive in this match and gave Wake Green a good game at the weekend. Gabriel Harding scored a brace for the visitors in the second half to reduce the 3-0 half time deficit. With the quality the team has up front with the likes of Gabriel Harding and Fiifi Kwofie it’s surprising they have not won away, but it speaks to the competitiveness of the league. Review feature written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League |
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March 2024
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