WITH both teams having reached the cup quarter finals last week the return to league action saw Evesham take the honours in a most entertaining Mercian Elgar U13 game.

WELLAND JUNIORS 1,

EVESHAM COLTS 3

Welland took the game to Evesham from the start but after 10 minutes of constant attacking paid the penalty for not taking their chances when the visitors took the lead with their first serious attack. They gained inspiration from this and after 25 minutes scored a second.

Welland showed great determination and an excellent goal just before the break from Martyn Smith put them back in the game.

The second half saw Welland have more of the game with several near misses including one that hit the bar but Evesham re-established the two goal margin, scoring from a rebound.

The goal scorers for Evesham were M Knight and J Parn (2) and the man of the match award, this week sponsored by the Wolverhampton Wanderers Supporters in the Stan Cullis Stand, was Oli Smith.

MALVERN TOWN WANDERERS 9, WESTBURY BOYS 1

THIS was another convincing team performance by Town Wanderers in this Mercian Elgar U12's League match on a rain soaking afternoon.

James Lush again got the scoring underway after some nifty footwork bamboozled the Westbury defence. And then he scored a second, but Westbury fought back well with some neat passing resulting in a goal for Anthony Mills.

Luke Borton put Wanderers 3-1 up and the Westbury resistance faded away. Paul Jordan's pace was always a threat and he scored two goals himself and set up chances for others. Ryan Mansbridge claimed two goals and Chris Bowen scored with a great shot from distance. The final goal came from a penalty when James Lush was tripped in the area. Max White put the ball in the top corner of the net with aplomb.

KAY BROADHEATH 2,

NEWTOWN SPORTS COLTS 1

NEWTOWN Sports Colts visited Kay Broadheath in the Mercian Junior Football League U11 Cup last Saturday.

On a sobering day when the game of football was put in perspective, all credit goes to Tom Hale for taking part on such a poignant day.

Kay took advantage of their big pitch and put the Colts under early pressure. Having seemed to have weathered the storm, a mis-understanding in the Colts defence let in the Kay attack to open the scoring with an excellent shot. With the Colts still in disarray, Kay doubled their lead shortly after when the whole of the Colts team seemed to stand still.

In the second half, the Colts had the slope in their favour and started to mount increasing pressure on the Kay goal, however, combined with an excellent display by the Kay goalkeeper, the Colts lacked the quality to penetrate. With the clock ticking down, Jacob Buckle did manage to score for the Colts, but try as they might they didn't quite manage an equaliser.

Kay deserved their win, but all of Newtown's thoughts were with Tom Hale and his family.

NEWTOWN SPORTS BOYS 3, DROITWICH SPA LIONS 2

AFTER a rules misunderstanding in the first game Newtown had a second bite of the cherry in the first round of the Mercian Elgar Under 11's Junior League cup.

Newtown got off to a slow start with Droitwich dominating the play resulting in their first goal midway through the half. Steven May and David Millward were both unlucky not to equalise, both denied by a solid Droitwich keeper.

The second half saw forced changes with Lee Mason off with an injury James Crane moved up into midfield and Ian Puffet came on to shore up the defence with Jim Scullion. It was Ian Puffet who then with a long clearance from the back found Marc Twinberrow to head the ball home. The goal seemed to lift the game and Ollie Lean out on the right worked hard crossing the ball into the centre. James Crane latched onto one such pass forcing the ball home for Newtown's second. Droitwich hit straight back with an almost identical goal to their first, a run through the centre splitting the defence leaving keeper Stuart Johnson with no chance.

With the score 2-2 at the end of normal time extra time was needed. Both teams attacked the ball looking for the winner but Newtown seemed to have the edge and just when penalties loomed Ollie Lean grabbed the winner with a fine header from a Steve May corner.

Newtown Sports Boys are sponsored by Premier Letting.

WORCESTER RANGERS 0,

MALVERN TOWN RANGERS 3

WANDERERS continued their impressive winning streak to take them top of the Mercian Elgar U9 League having now won four games in a row, scoring 14 goals without conceding any.

In a thrilling match at Worcester a depleted Wanderers team were pushed to the limit by a much improved Rangers side who almost took the lead when a great shot hit the post.

Wanderers had chances themselves with Jack Probert and Jonathan Howie combining well in midfield. Adam Green hit the post for Wanderers and at the other end Scott Rogers and Alex Stockwell were kept busy in defence, as was Kit Holden in goal.

In the second half Wanderers began to dominate the match and the breakthrough came when Tom Dunn cut inside and scored with an excellent shot. Soon afterwards Jordan Johnson weaved through the Rangers midfield and picked out Adam Green whose great pass put Tom Dunn in for his second goal. The game was wrapped up when Adam Green ran through a demoralised Rangers defence and scored to make the final score 3-0.

Man of the match: Tom Dunn.