Week ending 9th December by Mason Norton

Last season, someone quipped 'If it's not freezing, it's raining', and that seems to be the refrain for this season, with only smaller divisions in Everards Brewery Divisions One & Two saving them from a fixture backlog. Heavy rain all week, and a couple of logistical difficulties encountered with 3G pitches at Allexton & New Parks and Broughton Astley Leisure Centre who were due to host Dunton & Broughton United for their Div1 game against Hinckley LR Reserves, meant that the LSL programme was reduced on Saturday morning to just five games across the three divisions, two in the Prem, one in Div1, and two in Div2. 


In the Everards Brewery Premier Division, Aylestone Park Reserves took advantage of everyone being on the sidelines to move up to second place on the in-running table, steamrollering Cottesmore at Westray Park to win 6-2, the game already as good as done by half-time as Park went in 3-0 up. Park's scorers were Thabo Makombe (2), Leo Hicking, Aaron Preston, and subs Archie Bon O'Donnell and Tristan Ratan-Wright, with George Dernley and Brenden Parker scoring consolation goals in the second half, as Cottesmore's difficult spell continues. Park are theoretically just two points behind leaders Allexton & New Parks, but have played four games more than ANP, so short of a Devon Loch-style slip-up from both ANP and Desford & Caterpillar, Park are unlikely to be challenging for the Premier Division crown. 


The other Premier Division game was switched from grass to 3G, and from Judgemeadow College in Evington to Beauchamp College in Oadby, owing to a waterlogged pitch, and saw FC Khalsa play host to Hathern. In a game that was both defined by the wind and spoiled by the wind, Hathern took the lead through Liam Walton, and then found themselves a man up after a lunge from a Khalsa defender resulted in the referee Mr Sansum showing a straight red after just 25 minutes. 


Hathern were unable to kick on, and found themselves reduced to 10 men in the second half after a Hathern player was adjudged to be the last man and stopping a goal-scoring opportunity. A defensive backpass gone wrong and a comedy of errors resulted in the Hathern keeper giving away a penalty, which was then converted by Balveer Heer to bring Khalsa back on level terms, and they looked set to take the lead when carving through the Hathern defence, only for the linesman to signal an offside. That let-off seemed to jolt Hathern back into life, with Tom Insley scoring for the visitors to put them back in the lead, before Walton scored his second to give Hathern a 3-1 win, and move them into the top 6, whilst Khalsa remain just two points above the drop zone.


Just one game beat the weather in Division One, and that was also on 3G. However, it had enough goals to account for all the other games. Leicester Atletico mounted the comeback of the season so far. Joe Kerins (2), Joel Monument and an OG had put Kirby Muxloe Reserves in control at Beaumont Park, going in 4-2 up at half-time against Atletico, but the home side came out and rifled eight goals without reply in the second period to run out 10-4 winners. Ayuub Hassan and Jowa Mbome both scored hat-tricks, with Zaakir Bham, Kadir Fahie, Mahmoud Juma and Ouakari Diawara scoring the other goals. That effectively left Kirby's promotion hopes hanging by a thread, whilst Atletico remain in a three-way tussle for the second promotion spot along with Dunton & Broughton and Hinckley LR Reserves, who were sidelined by a damaged pipe underneath the 3G pitch the game was due to be played on, with Anstey Town well clear at the top of the table.


Second-half turkey-shoots were also on the agenda at Holywell Park in Division Two, as it was Gown against Town and Top against Bottom, where Loughborough Students Development welcomed Loughborough FC. The first half was already one-way traffic, with the score 5-0 at half-time, but the second period saw the floodgates not so much open as fly off the hinges and flow several miles downstream, and the scoreboard recording a score that usually only gets displayed at the University Stadium when the rugby union side are playing there. The Scholars smashed in 12 goals after the oranges, resulting in a final score of 17-0. 


Four players scored hat-tricks- Angelo Piscitelli, and three subs, Joe Aston, Henry Hazell and Idir Kermoud. The other scorers were Jordan Addo-Antoine (2), Callum Hamilton (2) and Dan Hawkes. Goodness knows who got the match ball, and there is no word either on the state of referee Mr McGuinness' pencil, or the writers cramp of our results service, whilst my colleague Dave Lumley is unable to recall a bigger win in the numerous years that he has covered the LSL. The Students are 3 points clear of St Patricks at the top of the table with four League games to go. Luffs are now four points adrift at the bottom of the table, after Sileby Town Reserves completed their back-to-back against Desford & Caterpillar Reserves, winning 5-0 at Peckleton Lane. There was a brace of braces for Szymon Donnerstag and Shaun Smith, Adam Bowley scoring the other goal, Sileby 4-0 up by the break.


All other games scheduled for the 3 divisions this Saturday were postponed. With another wet week in store, it remains to be seen how many games will go ahead next Saturday, but for what it's worth, there's a full programme in the Premier, whilst Div1 sees Anstey Town face Leicester Atletico in the Beaumont Park derby, and in Div2, Loughborough Students Development will secure promotion to next season's Div1 if they win away at third-placed Mountsorrel Amateurs. We'll be back next week with the best of the action from dry land. See you then.