Week Ending 4th November by Mason Norton

The Senior Cup tie scheduled for Saturday between Hathern and Burbage & Huncote was postponed on Saturday morning owing to a waterlogged pitch. Waterlogged pitches also led to a number of call-offs in both the Saturday Intermediate Cup and the Saturday Trophy, with the rainfall on Saturday morning tipping over the edge many where the pitch situation had been borderline during the week. 


To take the fixtures that did beat the weather this weekend, it was a mixed outlook for LSL sides in the Saturday Intermediate Cup. Hinckley LRFC Reserves thumped mid-table County League Premiership side Whetstone Athletic 7-1, Brogan Greenwood scoring a hat-trick, Stan Rossell (2), Sam Caroll and sub Josh King also scoring in a comfortable outing for the Leicester Road side. Leicester Atletico had a scare away to County League Championship outfit AFC Andrews, the scores tied at 1-1 after 90 minutes, after Andrews had taken the lead and Atletico had been reduced to 10 men, before the visitors grabbed an equaliser. Atletico then held their nerve to win the penalty shoot-out 5-4. 


However, two LSL sides went out against County League opposition. Kirby Muxloe Reserves continued their sticky run of form as they lost 6-3 away to County League Premiership Brookside Athletic, Dominik Janiarczyk, Callum Key and Joel Monument on the scoresheet for Kirby. Holwell Sports Reserves lost 3-0 at home to Leicester Nirvana's second side, who play in the County League Premier, where they are known as Leicester Nirvana Iannis, but play in County Cups as Leicester Nirvana Red Star, their name from last season. 


The only all-LSL tie to be played in this weekend's County Cups was at Gipsy Lane, where the top two sides in Everards Brewery Division two faced off in the second round of the Saturday Trophy. It was leaders Loughborough Students Development who came out on top 2-1 against second-placed St Patricks, Dylan Hacon and Callum Hamilton scoring for the Students to put them in the hat for the last 16. The other encounters produced a score of LSL 2, County League 1. Upset of the week came at Rothley, where LSL Div2 side Rothley Imperial were held to a 1-1 draw in normal time by visitors Stoneygate of County League One, 33 places below them officially in the County FA's Saturday structure, before Stoneygate won 4-3 on penalties. 


There was less drama in the two other games, as Rothley's near-neighbours Mountsorrel Amateurs travelled to Thurmaston Magpies of County League Three, the lowest level of Men's Open Age football on Saturdays in Leicestershire, and came away 4-1 winners, a brace of braces for Luke Abel and Anderson Tomas delivering the goods. The bottom side in County League Three, Sporting Old Boys, travelled to LSL Div2 side Desford & Caterpillar Reserves. There was no sudden shock this time round, Desford Reserves winning 7-1, scorers not yet in at the time of writing. 


All other County Cup ties featuring LSL sides this Saturday were postponed due to the weather. In accordance with the County FA's competition rules, those ties have been re-scheduled for next Saturday, with the apparent exception of Loughborough FC against Leicester Lions in the Saturday Trophy, which will be played on November 18, and in accordance with a rule change approved by Council in 2022, those ties have now been reversed. This has had a significant impact upon the fixture lists for next weekend, and so clubs, players, officials and supporters are advised to please check the lists here on Full-Time to see if there have been any changes to their fixtures.


That means that the next seven days sees a bumper workload for Ramble Round. Towards the end of the week, we'll have a Midweek Ramble, looking at the Everards Premier sides in action in the Senior Cup on Tuesday & Wednesday nights, before next weekend, it's a triple-bill. Ramble Round the Premier looks at how teams in the Prem have featured in League action, Ramble Round the Divisions looks at the fixtures scheduled in Divisions One & Two, and Ramble Round the County Cups will take a look at the Senior Cup game at Burbage & Huncote, who host Hathern, and the five games pencilled in across the Saturday Intermediate Cup and Saturday Trophy. That, of course, if the weather is fair and the pitches a bit drier... See you then.