AFC Coventry Rangers V Cadbury Athletic

​AFC Coventry Rangers go into the Les James Challenge cup in a good run of form. The club have won all four of their matches at the Coventry Technical Sporting Club and scored 13 goals from those matches.

​They should be challenging for both the league and the Les James Challenge cup this season. Curtis Cutts and Jordan Powell have impressed going forward and will be looking to continue their form in this match.

Cadbury Athletic have had a difficult start to the season and have lost all three of their matches in the league so far. They are coming off the back of a 6-2 loss to Coventry Rangers last weekend and all of their matches have been away from home. There were some positives from the performance for Cadbury last Saturday and they looked good going forward in the second half.

The visitors have got a really tough bank holiday schedule and go to the Robins Nest to play Knowle on Monday.     

AFC Solihull V Solihull Sporting

AFC Solihull have started the season in division three brilliantly under new manager Dean Newman following Joe Ballinger leaving to join the coaching staff at Romulus. The club look to be challenging near the top of the league this season and have won all three of their matches so far. They have scored 11 goals with new signing Jahvan Howell impressing as their top scorer with three goals. The forward impressed for DSC United last season in division three.

Despite being the underdogs going into this match, Solihull Sporting have had an under the radar season so far. The club have impressed in both the league and the Les James Challenge cup where they beat Silhill in the previous round 2-1. They have got four points from two games in division three and Louis Buck is their top goal scorer with three goals. He’s continued his good form from last season for Solihull Sporting and should be a key player for the club in this match.

Alcester Town V Continental Star

Alcester have had a reliably good start to the season in division two. They have won three out of their four matches with the only loss coming to AFC Coventry Rangers. One of the main highlights so far was beating Knowle on the opening day 3-1. The Romans also beat Cadbury Athletic and Bolehall Swifts at Stratford Road. Odane Barnes is the club’s top goal scorer for the season with three goals and they should be a dark horse for the Les James Challenge cup this season.

Continental Star have had a difficult start to the season in division three and have picked up one point from three matches in the league. One of the positives is the team scoring 9 goals from three matches. However, the visitors have also conceded 12 goals from three matches against Silhill, Gornal and Castle Vale Town. The visitors go into this match as underdogs, and it should be an opportunity to test themselves against higher opposition.  

Birmingham Tigers V Redditch Borough

Birmingham Tigers have had a tough start to the season in division three and go into this match as big underdogs against Redditch Borough at the Hadley Stadium. The hosts have conceded 22 goals in the league. The club have also played a tough schedule of teams including Boldmere Sports and Social Falcons and Wake Green Amateur. They are coming off an 8-0 loss to Feckenham last weekend and this match is their first home game of the season.

Redditch have started the season well in Division Two under new manager John Edwards and have picked up seven points from three matches played. The club have recorded convincing wins over Coventrians and Inkberrow at home and they drew away at Littleton 1-1.

The main positive for Birmingham Tigers supporters is that the match is taking place at home. Overall though, it should be a difficult afternoon against Redditch Borough and the visitors will be expected to progress to the next round.  

Boldmere Sports and Social Falcons V AFC Birmingham

Boldmere Falcons have had an excellent start to the season under new manager Callum Lee and the signs are looking good for the club. The aim is get promoted from division three and the team have made a positive start against good opposition. They have won all three of their matches so far and beaten DSC United and Balsall and Berkswell to pick up 9 points. The Falcons sit alongside AFC Solihull at the top of the division. Adriano Robinson has been brilliant so far for Boldmere Falcons and has four goals this season.

AFC Birmingham have had a good start to the season and have picked up four points from three matches. The club have beaten Leamington Hibernian and drew against Balsall and Berkswell at home. They also lost to AFC Solihull away on the opening day to sit comfortably mid-table. Their attendances at Illey Lane have been good this season with both home games being watched by over 50 supporters. The visitors go into this match as marginal underdogs but on paper this should be a close match on Saturday.       

Bolehall Swifts V Balsall and Berkswell

Bolehall have had a challenging start to the season and have picked up one point from three matches in division two. All of the club’s matches have been away from home and this will be the Swifts opening home game of the season. The hosts have admittedly played a tough run of teams this month and lost to Alcester Town and Central Ajax and drew 5-5 with Earlswood Town on the opening day. The bank holiday period is going to be huge for the club as they also play Inkberrow at home in division two on Monday.

Balsall and Berkswell have had a challenging start to the season in division three and go into this match as the underdogs. They have picked up two points from three matches against AFC Birmingham and Feckenham and lost to Boldmere Falcons in their first game of the season. All of the club’s matches have been away from home and they have played tough teams. The club’s opening home game of the season will be against BNJS on the 2nd September and the schedule looks a bit more encouraging for next month against teams looking to finish mid table.     

Central Ajax V BNJS

Central Ajax have started brilliantly and adapted comfortably to life in MFL Division Two with 10 points from four matches. Shaye Eden has continued his impressive form from last season in division three and is the division’s top goal scorer with 9 goals. The Warwickshire club have been on an excellent run of form throughout August and go into this match with a lot of confidence.

BNJS have had a difficult start to life in MFL Division Three and have lost all three of their matches in the league. Their best result of the season was a narrow 3-2 loss at home to Wake Green Amateur on the opening day with the team performing admirably against tough opposition. The club’s run of opponents for August has been difficult as they have also played AFC Solihull and Meadow Park. The visitors go into this match as big underdogs and will do well to get a result.       

Earlswood Town V DSC United

Earlswood have started the season well in division two under new manager Joel Hughes and are in a good run of form going into this match. The Earls have won three out of their four matches and scored a total of 15 goals in the league so far. Louis Bridges has been brilliant and has continued his form from last season with four goals from three matches started. The standout result so far for the club was the opening day win over Fairfield Villa away from home. The club are unbeaten so far and go into this match as heavy favourites.

DSC United have had an ok start to the season and are adapting to key forward Jahvan Howell departing for AFC Solihull. The club’s fixtures for August have been really difficult and they have played both AFC Solihull and Boldmere Falcons away from home in their two matches in division three. They did well to compete with Boldmere Falcons last weekend and narrowly lost 1-0. The club are playing at Kings Norton this season at the Triplex Sports association and are big underdogs going into this match against higher opposition.    

Preview feature written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League  

Paget Rangers were going into this match looking to get a result against Wednesfield following a challenging start to the season. The bears had picked up three points from four matches going into last night’s match with the highlight being a home win against Chelmsley Town.

Wednesfield have had a positive start and had picked up seven points from four matches in the league. They beat Coton Green away from home on the opening day and beat Allscott Heath at the Cottage Ground last Tuesday. Another positive for the visitors was their form in front of goal with seven goals from their last two matches in the league.
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The weather was clear, and the conditions were good prior to kick off. The atmosphere around Coles Lane was relaxed with supporters looking forward to the match getting underway. Both teams started warming up at 7pm and went through their passing drills. The main stand at Coles Lane offered a great view of the pitch and helped with getting an overview of the match and how both teams set up tactically.

Starting Line ups

The starting line up for Paget included Jai Berry leading the team as the skipper and playing alongside Dominic Ellington in central defence for the Bears. Joshua Baloucoune and Ryan Butler played in holding midfield with the starting formation looking like a 4-2-3-1 with Harry Parker leading the line as the number nine.

Freddie Cockerell and De-Quarni Williams played on the wings with Connor Ryan playing in the number ten role. There were five changes from the team that started against Droitwich Spa at the weekend with Joseph Lowe coming into the team and starting at right back.

Wednesfield’s starting lineup featured Kieran Hart starting in goal. Matthew Martin led the team as the skipper and was playing alongside Harvey Cooper in central defence. Jay Holdcroft led the line as the number nine with the formation appearing to be a 4-2-3-1 with Mitchell Bradford and Ronan Sheenan playing on the wings.

There were four changes from the team that started against Nuneaton Griff at the weekend with Alex Arrowsmith coming into the team and starting at left back.            

First Half

Wednesfield started the first half brightly and had numerous chances to take the lead in the opening 20 minutes of the match. Paget had to withstand a lot of pressure from the visitors in the early stages of the first half. The attacking threat from the visitors eventually told with Ronan Sheenan scoring a quality goal for Wednesfield in the 12th minute. He managed to find a good position near the edge of the box and curled a brilliant shot into the bottom right corner to give the visitors the lead.

The visitors were getting a lot of joy from the right flank throughout the first half with Mitchell Bradford and full back Joe Prosser getting forward and linking up well to cause Paget problems. Ronan Sheenan had a good chance from a corner and shot wide in the 18th minute for the visitors.

Paget were gradually growing into the match throughout the half and started to show glimpses of quality on the ball. Freddie Cockerell had a half chance to equalise for Paget in the 22nd minute and worked the ball into a good position before shooting at Kieran Hart who saved well. De-Quarni Williams also impressed on the left for Paget and was trying to make things happen for the Bears.

Just as Paget were getting into the match the visitors managed to score a second. Mitchell Bradford cut inside and scored into the top left corner in the 28th minute. The goal was a moment of quality from the visitors and underlined why they have scored so many goals so far this season.

Paget had a huge chance to respond a few minutes later. Freddie Cockerell went through on goal and Kieran Hart  made an excellent one on one save for Wednesfield in the 32nd minute. This proved to be a significant moment in the match as Jay Holdcroft got into an excellent position from a long ball and lobbed Lewis Riley to make it 3-0 to Wednesfield in the 37th minute.

The Bears showed a bit of character near the end of the half and Freddie Cockerell was brought down in the box for a penalty. He stepped up and calmy scored into the bottom left corner in the 42nd minute to give Paget a chance of getting something from the match in the second half.  

Second Half

The second half was not as frantic as the first half. This was mainly down to Paget changing formation for the second half and playing a 4-1-4-1 which made them a bit more solid defensively and not as open on the wings. Substitute Harry Smart performed admirably at left-back throughout the half and nullified the attacking threat Wednesfield had on the right in the first.

The Bears had an early chance in the second half with De-Quarni Williams linking up well with Jonathan Millinchip who had a shot go wide in the 49th minute. Freddie Cockerell also created a well worked chance for Paget that went wide of the goal in the 60th minute.

The match was a more even contest in the second half and Paget had numerous chances to get back into it. The bears had a good chance from a corner in the 70th minute that was headed over by Dominic Ellington.

Wednesfield managed to hold on throughout the second half and sealed the win late on through a brilliant move that involved two substitutes. Shakiel Mullings played an incisive through ball to Rhyce Brown who finished well to make it 4-1 in the 88th minute and give Wednesfield the three points.        

Full Time

Despite the defeat there were some positives for Paget in this match. Dominic Ellington looked good in central defence and managed to head numerous balls away from danger throughout. Freddie Cockerell was brilliant when moved to the striker role in the middle of the first half and served as a focal point for the Bears going forward. Harry Smart was brilliant at left-back when he came on at half time. He managed to make the team look more defensively solid by blocking the ball to stop attacks.

There’s a lot of players in the Paget team that have shown promise so far. It’s just a case of things clicking and building a run of form to get a bit of confidence.

Wednesfield were brilliant in this match and stood out in the first half. They managed to work the ball well and build attacks effectively, especially from the right side of the pitch. Mitchell Bradford was brilliant from the right wing and made numerous clever runs off the shoulder to get into good positions for the visitors.

Harvey Cooper had an underrated game at the back and managed to make numerous clearances and headers to stop Paget attacks. Jay Holdcroft played well as the number nine and linked up the play throughout up front. Another strength of the team is the depth in the squad with Shakiel Mullings coming off the bench and impressing in the second half.

​Both teams look set for exciting seasons and both are worth following from August to the end of April

FT Score: Paget Rangers 1-4 Wednesfield

Man of the Match: Mitchell Bradford

Match report written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League