THE pouring rain and ankle deep mud made a lottery of this Mercian Elgar U16s league game as both teams struggled to move the ball through the incredibly heavy centre field.

WELLAND JUNIORS U16s 2, SUFFOLK RANGERS U16s 1

Welland, captained for the day by Tom Holland, the winner of Manchester United's national ball skills competition final on Saturday, created several chances as did Suffolk, but neither team could find the net.

Early in the second half a ball was squared into the path of Welland's Freddy Coles who kept his cool and slotted the ball past the advancing goal keeper. Moments later David Hollingsworth came in at the far post to grab Welland's second. Despite a late goal from Suffolk's Carl Bowkett, Welland's defence, with goalkeeper Scrivener and centre back Hopwood in particularly good form, held firm to take all three points.

Man of the match was Chris Hopwood.

WELLAND JUNIORS U14S 4, BREDON COLTS 1

A LAST minute change of venue, a severely depleted squad of just 11 players and constant drizzle couldn't dampen Wellands' spirit or prevent an impressive third consecutive win.

Bredon, lying just one place below the home team at the start of this match, must have come to the game thinking they had a good chance of leap frogging Welland in the table but were soon to be disappointed.

Within 30 seconds of kick off Joe Waldron forced his way through a static defence and scored his first of the afternoon.

Guy Habbitts and Josh Kirby dominated early play in midfield and played some great through balls to the industrious front pairing of Joe Waldron and Andy Smith. Andy Smiths' hard work paid dividends when he ran onto a loose back pass to the visitors' keeper and placed the ball in the back of the net.

Seven minutes later Andy Smith cleverly scored his second and Welland's third.

Welland's new look back four, which included new signing Shane Jackson, dealt comfortably with any threat from the visitor's attacking line for most of the afternoon until Bredon were awarded a penalty in the 25th minute which was expertly converted by Dan Sutcliffe.

The second half was more evenly contested with the home teams' keeper Sean Jenkins being increasingly called into action. However, the game was effectively over when midfielder Guy Habbitts intercepted a ball on the edge of his own area, ran half the length of the pitch and played an intelligent through ball to Joe Waldron from which he scored his second and Welland's fourth goal.

Man of the match, sponsored by the Nottingham Forest Main Stand Supporters, was Guy Habbitts.

EVESHAM UNITED U13S 3,

NEWTOWN SPORTS U13S 5

NEWTOWN overcame spirited opposition and a heavy rain-soaked pitch to win this absorbing contest between two very good sides.

Mark Holbrow gave the visitors an early lead but it was the home side who impressed with a higher work rate. Lee Hammond was forced to clear off the line and Dan Jeynes, playing in goal, made some timely interceptions. In return, Jamie Ferguson hit the bar with a good header but Newtown were unable to stretch their lead and were caught on half time when it was judged that the ball just crossed the line before Andy Tighe could clear.

Newtown soon made the job even harder for themselves by conceding immediately after the restart. The character of this Newtown team then kicked in and goals by Ricky Buckland and a 30-yarder from Phil Harris restored their lead.

With Tighe and Hammond dominating in defence, they now looked confident and when Holbrow scored his second with a clean strike it looked all over. However, Evesham came back again to narrow the gap before Adam Johnson's goalbound strike stuck agonisingly on the goalline in the thick mud. Ricky Buckland reacted quickly to smash the ball over and complete a determined victory by the Newtown boys.

LYPPARD RANGERS BOYS U12s 2, WELLAND U12s 2

A DAMP and dreary December afternoon was brightened by this exciting game in which both teams created and missed lots of chances.

An evenly fought first half was just shaded by Lyppard but by half time the score line was still blank. For the umpteenth time this season Welland had reason to be grateful to James Allen at the back, his consistently classy defending saving the team on more than one occasion.

Welland took charge in the second half, in particular Andrew Jones looked solid in the midfield, Dan Moon coming into his own in defence and Nathan Budd full of tricks up front. However, halfway through the half Lyppard took the lead against the run of play. Welland now started to perform with real urgency and won a penalty, which Jones converted with aplomb. Almost immediately Lyppard regained the lead with a breakaway goal before Ben Fletcher scored Welland's second equaliser. Welland then laid siege to the Lyppard goal but were unable to grab a winner.

There were encouraging performances for Welland by Jake Walker and Tom Knowles but the man of the match was Nathan Budd.

NEWTOWN SPORTS JUNIORS U11S 5, BROMYARD TOWN U11S 0

THIS U11s game started slowly with neither team taking control for the first few minutes,

Newtown then changed gear and started to play some attractive football, with the impressive Dan Hunt getting behind the defence and forcing three corners in quick succession.

Newtown's first goal came from a crisp shot from Ed Ferguson which Andy Matthews helped into the net from close range. Newtown continued to press, but were unable to add to their goal tally before half time.

The second half started better than the first, with Newtown's midfield trio of Louis Loader, Josh Allmark and Andy Matthews quickly gaining control. It was these three, playing attractive passing football, who set up Chris DeBonis to score, shooting under the keeper's body for Newtown's second. The home side were well in control now, and forcing Bromyard into conceding corners. Newtown's third came from one of these corners with Josh Allmark scoring with a powerful header at the far post. Bromyard always looked dangerous on the break, but Chris Reynolds, Newtown's stopper, was always in control of his area. The majority of the play continued in Bromyard's half of the pitch, and the keeper did well to keep Newtown out until shortly before full time when he was unfortunate to concede two quick goals, the first a shot into the top right corner by Andy Matthews, after some excellent skill by Louis Loader to set him up, and the second from an own goal.

NEWTOWN SPORTS JUNIORS U9'S 1, MALVERN TOWN WANDERERS 3

NEWTOWN entertained Malvern Wanderers in what turned out to another entertaining encounter.

Newtown started well and George Parsons came close to opening the scoring. Wanderers then started to put Newtown under pressure and it came as no surprise when they took the lead with a well taken goal. Newtown responded with George Rhodes starting to control the game from the back. Newtown equalised when George Parsons kept his cool to finish well. Just before half time Wanderers regained the lead with a another good goal leaving Newtown keeper Sam Parsons with no chance.

Newtown began the second half looking lively but Wanderers soon extended their lead with what turned out to be the goal of the game when defender Ed Blackett lobbed the Newtown keeper from the half way line.

Man of the match for Newtown was George Rhodes.

Newtown Sports Juniors U9'S are sponsored by Parsons Dentists.

EVESHAM UNITED ROBINS U9s 8, NEWTOWN SPORTS COLTS U9s 0

NEWTOWN travelled to Evesham High School to play a very well organised outfit, Evesham United Robins.

The Robins started very strongly passing and moving around the Newtown players resulting in Henry Woods and Louis Brown scoring two goals each in the first half.

Second half Newtown started to find their feet competing for the ball and creating some goal scoring opportunities for the lone striker Elliot Hennessey. Karl Jennings and Dom Ferguson working hard in midfield trying to break open the Robins defence but finding they were far too strong. The Robins just got stronger and stronger as the game went on resulting in them scoring four second half goals, the goal scorers being Henry Woods 2, Andrew Powell 1 and Sam Ford 1.

The Colts shouldn't be too disheartened from this result as the Robins are a very good side, with a current outstanding goal scoring record.

Newtown's goal keeper was nominated as Newtown's man of the match by the Evesham coach.