The first mention of the ‘s’ word was heard this Saturrday therefore it’s time for all good fixture secretaries to hibernate until spring zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

SATURDAY HEADLINES
Buckingham Athletic, Long Crendon and Aylesbury Vale Dynamos all hit five on their travels. Old Bradwell United get back to winning ways. Burton Park Wanderers still seek first league win. Leighton Town booked Second Round date in the Gladwish Challenge Trophy.

Saturday brought about 95 goals from the 22 games (an average of 4.32 per game). Kyal Williams (Oxhey Jets), Tom Brazier (Buckingham Athletic) both netting hat tricks.

Saturday Stats: 22 games played of which 6 were home wins, 12 away wins and 4 draws.

Without A League Win to date: Burton Park Wanderers.

Without A League Draw to date: Aston Clinton, Codicote, Risborough Rangers Development and The 61FC (Luton).

Without A League Defeat to date: Risborough Rangers.

Saturday Highest Attendances: 151 Stotfold v Northampton Sileby Rangers, 147 Harpenden Town v Dunstable Town and 134 Totternhoe v Leighton Town (Gladwish Challenge Trophy).

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Premier Division Clubs): 473 Leighton Town v Broadfields United, 449 Leighton Town v Aylesbury Vale Dynamos and 435 Dunstable Town v Leighton Town.

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division One Clubs): 392 Stotfold v Bedford, 317 Stotfold v Letchworth Garden City Eagles and 292 Shefford Town & Campton v Risborough Rangers (FA Vase).

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division Two Clubs): 212 Bovingdon v Totternhoe, 175 Bovingdon v Berkhamsted Raiders and 134 Totternhoe v Leighton Town (Gladwish Challenge Trophy).

Saturday 27th November

THE GLADWISH CHALLENGE TROPHY First Round
In the Gladwish Challenge Trophy Leighton Town were made to battle at Division Two side Totternhoe before a strong second half performance saw the Premier Division visitors win 4-1 to book a Second Round tie at Ampthill Town. Full result and goalscorers are listed below.

1-4 Totternhoe v Leighton Town (Langlais) / (Bryant, Silford, Hatton, Campbell ) Attendance: 134

PREMIER DIVISION
New Salamis took full advantage with the top two not in league action, Leighton were in the LCT wile Risborough fell foul to the weather, Salamis climbing to third with a 2-1 success at Flackwell Heath while Harpenden Town dropped to fourth after being held 3-3 at home by lowly Dunstable Town. At the bottom Tring Athletic moved out of the relegation places with a 3-0 home success against Milton Keynes Irish while Broadfields United won 4-2 at Holmer Green to ease their relegation fears whilst leaving the hosts with a battle on their hands. Plenty of goals at Oxhey Jets where the hosts finished on the wrong side of a nine goal thriller against Aylesbury Vale Dynamos while Hadley cruised past visiting Arlesey Town 4-0. In the days other action Leverstock Green shared the spoils and six goals with visiting Harefield United. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

1-2 Flackwell Heath v New Salamis (Driffill) / (H Georgiou, Furlonge) Attendance: 117
4-0 Hadley v Arlesey Town (Ofori [2], Baird, Edwards) Attendance: 94
3-3 Harpenden Town v Dunstable Town (Rodriguez, Setchell, Woods) / (Gray, Sellers-West, Faulkner) Attendance: 147
2-4 Holmer Green v Broadfields United (Esplund-Evans, Cardoso) / (Clarke-Rowe [2], Willisms, Lopes) Attendance: 27
3-3 Leverstock Green v Harefield United (Seale [2], Daalberg) / (Bircham, Green, McCorkell) Attendance: 31
4-5 Oxhey Jets v Aylesbury Vale Dynamos (Williams [3], Giordmaina) / (Stapleton [2], Brown, Shortt, Berry) Attendance: 41
3-0 Tring Athletic v Milton Keynes Irish (Smith, Blunden, Hercules) Attendance: 87

OXFORDSHIRE SENIOR CUP Second Round
Ardley United booked their place in the quarter finals of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup with a 4-0 home success against Oxfordshire Senior League side Summertown Stars. Full result and goalscorers are listed below.

4-0 Ardley United v Summertown Stars (McConnell, Gabbidon, Howard, Opponent Own Goal) Attendance: 38

DIVISION ONE
No changes at either ends of the table as the top three all won while at the bottom the struggling clubs in action all suffered defeats. Leaders Stotford won 4-1 at home against Northampton Sileby Rangers and not to be outdone second placed Winslow United also enjoyed a same scoreline home success when defeating Amersham Town. Third placed Ampthill Town overcame visiting Rushden & Higham United by two goals to nil (more about this one later). With bottom club Irchester United not playing the hopes of the other struggling sides to pull clear quickly evaporated, winless Burton Park Wanderers were beaten 1-5 at home by the form team Long Crendon and London Tigers suffered a 0-2 home reversal at the hands of Langford. Buckingham Athletic were the day’s other Divisional winners as they swept aside hosts Raunds Town to maintain their push for promotion, the visitors winning 5-0. Elsewhere it was honours even as Penn & Tylers Green and Bedford shared eight goals while Thame United Reserves were held 1-1 by visiting Letchworth Garden City Eagles. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

2-0 Ampthill Town v Rushden & Higham United (Fullerton, Cerminara) Attendance: 66
1-5 Burton Park Wanderers v Long Crendon (Clarke-Knowles) / (Pettingell [2], Ashworth, Lethbridge, Chappell) Attendance: 37
0-2 London Tigers v Langford (Younger, Davies) Attendance: 20
4-4 Penn & Tylers Green v Bedford (Hancock [2], Paynter, Gardner) / (Bamford [2], Osborne [2]) Attendance: 27
0-5 Raunds Town v Buckingham Athletic (Brazier [3], Ironmonger, Power) Attendance: 55
4-1 Stotfold v Northampton Sileby Rangers (Spavins [2], Bradshaw, Smith) / (Gilligan) Attendance: 151
1-1 Thame United Reserves v Letchworth Garden City Eagles (Alexander) / (Sanni) Attendance: 42
4-1 Winslow United v Amersham Town (Williamson [2], Khan, Workman) / (Bennett) Attendance: 67

LES UNDERWOOD JUNIOR CUP Third Round
Wellingborough Whitworth booked their passage into the next round of the Les Underwood Junior Cup with a 3-1 success at ChromaSport Peterborough & District League side Netherton United. Full result and goalscorers are listed below.

1-3 Netherton United v Wellingborough Whitworth (Venni) / (Judge [2], Lovell) Attendance: Unknown

DIVISION TWO
Berkhamsted Raiders claimed the bragging rights in the ‘Berkhamsted Derby’ as they secured a solitary goal win at the home of Berkhamsted Comrades. Old Bradwell United put their recent poor run behind them as their 3-0 win at bottom club Tring Corinthians AFC saw them return to the top off the standings. Milton Keynes College Football Academy enjoyed a 3-0 success at struggling The 61FC (Luton), a result that moved them up to fourth place, their highest position in South Midlands League football in their debut season. The day’s other action saw Risborough Rangers Development edge out hosts Sarratt by the odd goal in three. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

0-1 Berkhamsted Comrades v Berkhamsted Raiders (Barnard-White) Attendance: 51
1-2 Sarratt v Risborough Rangers Development (Kempster) / (Sweetman, Bartley) Attendance: 33
0-3 The 61FC (Luton) v Milton Keynes College Football Academy (Davis, Asante, Boyce) Attendance: 11
0-3 Tring Corinthians AFC v Old Bradwell United (Smith, Rotureau, Green) Attendance: 15

COMMITTEE AWAYDAYS
Only the brave, foolhardy or football fanatics were out watching a game last Saturday. but SSMFL Board & Committee member Bob Flight braved the elements, and joined the 60 other fanatics, to watch Ampthill Town entertain their Northants visitors Rushden & Higham. The game started with a bang as the home team scored on just three minutes when Jamie Cerminara scored from the edge of the box past a surprised Rushden defence and before most inside the ground had taken their places. However that did not dent the confidence of Rushden who proceeded to dominate much of the remainder of the first half. The second half was much the same but the visitors could not breach the Ampthill defence and a breakaway saw Ampthill score again from a right wing cross as Michael Fullerton scored from point blank range on 58 minutes. Whilst Rushden huffed and puffed they failed to trouble the home team and the game ended with win for Ampthill and disappointment for Rushden & Higham. Perhaps a draw would have been a fairer result and reward for all the effort put in by the visitors. Congratulations to the Ampthill Town officials on the preparation of the pitch which allowed the match to go ahead under testing weather conditions.

AND FINALLY
Tweet of the Day goes to National League North side Curzon Ashton for this gem – Pause in play as referee needs to move his car.

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

The result of this week’s Team of the Day Poll with 318 votes cast is:-
Stotfold 32.4%
Tring Athletic 28.6%
Berkhamsted Raiders 23.6%
Hadley 15.4%

STOP PRESS
With just six games played in midweek here come the details.
Tuesday night belonged to Burton Park Wanderers who finally broke their duck with a first league win as they won the big ‘six-pointer’ at the bottom of Division One, defeating visiting Irchester United 2-0. In the Premier Division New Salamis kept the pressure on the top two with a 4-2 win at Oxhey Jets while Arlesey Town ground out a solitary goal win at Tring Athletic. In the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup it was a disappointing night for the two SSML sides as Milton Keynes Irish lost 1-2 at Binfield while Flackwell Heath suffered that cruelest of exits as they went out in a penalty shoot-out at home against Sandhurst Town after a 1-1 draw. Wednesday’s night action saw Harpenden Town continue their push for promotion with a 2-1 win at struggling Baldock Town.

Tuesday 30th November

PREMIER DIVISION
2-4 Oxhey Jets v New Salamis (Giordmaina [2]) / (Becka [2] [both pens], Lemba, C Georgiou) Attendance: 52
0-1 Tring Athletic v Arlesey Town (Metso) Attendance: 87

BERKS & BUCKS SENIOR CUP First Round
2-1 Binfield v Milton Keynes Irish (Gator, Helmore) / (Olukanmi) Attendance: 51
1-1 [3-4 pens] Flackwell Heath v Sandhurst Town (Driffill) / (Steinborn-Busse [pen]) Attendance: 73

DIVISION ONE
2-0 Burton Park Wanderers v Irchester United (Unknown) Attendance: 97

Wednesday 1st December

PREMIER DIVISION
1-2 Baldock Town v Harpenden Town (Matthews) / (Anthony, Machado) Attendance: 84