Coventry and District Church Football League

Big congratulations to ARYPT1 who clinched the Div1 title today with a hard-fought 3-1 win over fellow title-challengers Sporting Club Myton!

More to follow, once the other results are in.

Hi there covchurchfootball-fans!

Sorry for the dearth of updates, but I’ve been catching up on sleep since the birth of my daughter for the past couple of months, but pleased to report that my energy levels are now returning to normal.

So, onto the football - and first off a big congratulations to Coventry Saints who have wrapped up promotion and the Division 2 title in fine style with a 4-1 over Queens Road. Well done guys! The race for the 2nd promotion spot looks to be a straight fight between Hinckley Baptist and a resurgent St John’s - with the chaps from Nuneaton with the slight edge, but it’s all to play for.

But who will they replace in Division 1? Well, it’s not looking good for Hinckley Dare, though mathematically they could still escape, so all eyes will be on Affinity to see if they can put a run together and suck Cathedral and Meredith into the fight, and with Meredith still to play, it looks like being a tight end to the season.

And it’s squeaky-bum time at the top too, to coin a Sir Alex Ferguson phrase, as Sporting Club Myton maintain their unbeaten league run by putting some daylight between themselves and Binley. With 3 points seperating ARYPT1 and Sporting it’s going to be close - and all eyes will be on those final two fixtures of the seasons where (guess what?), they meet each other twice.

Best of luck to everyone in the run-in!

Anyone know the score?

Good day to all. Many apologies firstly for the lack of an update in January- combination of holidays, nappy changing and postponed matches led respectively to a lack of time and a lack of a great deal to write about. Anyway….

Let’s start in Division 1. The Christmas pace setters, Sporting Club Myton remain undefeated but have started to find out how tough it can be at the top. Following an 8-0 demolition of last season’s nemesis for them, Hinckley Dare, they were hauled back to reality with a 1-1 draw at Meredith Road. They must have thought that draw was fully behind them when they headed in at half-time on Saturday, 4-0 to the good against Lowfors. However Lowfors managed one of the League’s most impressive comebacks in recent memory with a stirring four goals in the second half to level the match at 4-4. Whether it was Lowfors’ “Kevin Keegan” style philosophy or Sporting Myton being reduced to 10 men by injury we’ll never know. A great fight back nonetheless.

Whilst Sporting Myton wobbled, ARYPT1 took full advantage. Having started in early January with a 4-0 victory against Hinckley Dare, they notched up an impressive win (1-3) away at Lowfors- a tricky match in anyone’s book. However it was their 4-1 win away at Binley that really caught the eye. They really are the team now to beat in this division.

At the other end of the table, whilst Hinckley Dare are sadly looking at an early return to Division 2, Affinity are really building up a head of steam in their fight to stave off relegation. Cathedral, Lowfors and Meredith are all looking over their shoulders at a resurgent Affinity. In their defences, Cathedral do have a lot of games in hand; Meredith had a great win (8-0) at the weekend against Hinckley Dare; and you’ve already heard about the Great Lowfors Fightback. There’s much excitement for the neutral in the weeks ahead.

Incidentally we all wish Matthew Plant of Cathedral a speedy recovery. He broke his leg against Binley on 26th January in a game that Cathedral were leading at time, which was subsequently abandoned. A reminder, if there ever was one, that this can be a tough physical game.

In Division 2, the race for the top flight has warmed up considerably. At one time, it looked like Hinckley Baptist were going to stroll it. However under the calm management of Neal Saunders, Coventry Saints have shown that they are indeed a force to be reckoned with. Just before Christmas they knocked five past Hinckley Baptist, with only one in reply. Their impressive form continued with victories against Holy Trinity (2-1) and an impressive 4-0 win away at promotion chasing St John’s.

St John’s themselves have played two games more than Hinckley Baptist, who still look favourite to clinch a top two spot. Don’t rule out the challenge however of New Horizons, QRBC and ARYPT2 who are all packed in tightly in mid-table.

There’s now a gap of three week to allow some of the postponed games to be replayed. Don’t forget to let us know at results@covchurchfootball.co.uk when your game is rearranged to and what the score was. There are hundreds hanging on your information…

In the last big date of the fixture calendar before the Christmas break, the weather played the starring role. Three games didn’t even get off the starting blocks (Meredith Rd. vs Cathedral, Cov Saints vs QRBC and Elim Eagles vs Hinckley Baptist) and were all postponed.

Perhaps most notably of all, the clash of the Division 1 leaders was abandoned after 52 minutes. In a rollercoaster game up  until then, Sporting Myton were hanging on to a 2-1 lead, having gone behind to ARYPT1. A sharp passing move had seen ARYPT1 take the lead halfway through the half. They were pegged back by an err.. 25 yard (sorry millimetre) screamer from Andy Ditch and a good finish from Tim Flight, starting his first game.  However with the worsening Leamington conditions, the referee called the match off, with the full agreement of the captains, citing player safety. These two teams now have to meet no less than three times next year. They’ll be sick of the sight of each other….

Up in the warmer climes of Hinckley (yeah right!) however Binley underlined the threat they are, with a  comfortable 5-1 win over Hinckley DARE. That win propelled Binley to the top of the table and they’ll stay there over Christmas if either Sporting Myton or ARYPT1 fail to win their games in hand next week.

In the final Division 1 clash of the day, Lowfors took part in a another high scoring thriller, eventually beating Affinity 6-3. Are those Lowfor boys managed by Kevin Keegan I hear you cry?!

Turning to Division 2, New Horizons put their wobbly recent form behind them with a convincing 7-3 win at newboys, Holy Trinity Attleborough. In the other game of the day that survived the weather, a wet and muddy battle at St John’s Westwood saw them edge out ARYPT2 by three goals to two. That win leaves a resurgent St John’s only 2 points off the chasing pack and handily placed for the New Year.

Finally, big congratulations to the Andy Bastable (the fellow who usually writes this stuff) and his wife Bella. The latter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on 30th November and all are doing well.

The Cup Draw was made tonight and (assuming voice of the legendary Bert Millichip) “The ties will be played on the weekend of 23rd February 2008.”

So it’s….

Holy Trinity Attleborough or Cathedral v. Meredith Road

Sporting Club Myton or ARYPT1 v. Binley

So another home draw for the Northern giant killers…..if of course they can make it through against the mighty Cathedral.

Well the Quarter Final draw pitted Division 1 against 2 in all but one tie. Ah the romance of the Cup!!
In the two matches played this weekend, both Meredith and Binley faced tricky away matches at ARYPT2 and high flying Cov Saints respectively. In the first, despite a stubborn display from the Division 2 outfit, Meredith ran out 4-2 winners. The other game saw Binley steam past Coventry Saints 4-1.

So the only Division 2 team left in the Competition are new boys Holy Trinity Attleborough. Their match with Cathedral was bizarrely postponed at 1.30am on Saturday morning due to the absence of a referee! In what is arguably the tie of the round, the top two in the first division, Sporting Myton and ARYPT1 won’t meet until January. By then the semi-final line-up should be complete…

Well there we have it- ARYPT1 have finally been deposed as leader of Division 1, although their 100% record stays intact.Ten man Cathedral managed a crucial second half equaliser to deny Sporting Club Myton a fifth straight win, but it wasn’t enough to stop the visitors from leapfrogging ARYPT1.

Binley put their mixed start to the season behind them with a 2-0 victory over Lowfers and stay in touch with the leaders. Meredith consolidated their mid-table position defeating Affinity 2-0. Watch out for Binley and Meredith as the season wears on- these two have recent championship pedigree….

In the Second Division, with pace-setters Hinckley Baptist not in action, it was a chance for Queen’s Road to close the gap. In a real ding-dong game away at New Horizons, which saw the lead change many times, QRBC eventually ran out 5-6 winners. Elsewhere, ARYPT2 dispatched Elim Eagles 7-2 .In the final match of the day St John’s were 6-0 up after an hour against Holy Trinity Attleborough, when they were reduced to ten men. This clearly evened things up a lot as the final score ended up 7-1.

There’s a long way to go, but the race for promotion to the top flight looks likely to be a fascinating one as we approach the Christmas Break.

Well, if the league didn’t go gooooooooooooooaal crazy over the weekend. It was the 10 show for both ARYPT1, with a real goal-fest of a 10-5 win against Cathedral, and also for Lowfors, who also made double figures in a 10-1 defeat of Hinckley Dare. Elsewhere in Division 1, Binley overcame Meredith 4-3, and Sporting Club Myton continued their good start to the season, hanging on despite losing their goalkeeper to injury, with a 2-1 win over Affinity.

In Division 2 and wow, what a season Coventry Saints are having — they cemented their place in the promotion positions with a resounding 6-0 win over New Horizons - and not to be out-done, Hinckley Baptist made their title aspirations clear with a 5-1 defeat of ARYPT2. And a round of applause everyone, for Holy Trinity Attleborough who celebrate their first league win with a tight 2-1 win against Elim.

So, that’s all for this week. Quick bit of housekeeping, please remember to send your scores in sharpish. Right now the Div1′ers are consistently in on Saturday, but Div2′ers - you need to raise ‘yo game. Sweet.

Well, there were some interesting scores over the weekend, weren’t there?

In Division 1, Cathedral overcame Hinckley Dare with the first-half show - all 5 goals in a 5-0 win coming in the opening 45 minutes. In the weekend’s other Div 1 game, Sporting Club Myton again showed why they’ve got the meanest defence in the league with a hard-earned 1-0 win against Binley.

In Division 2, Hinckley Baptist put the ghosts of their cup defeat to bed, with a fine 9-0 victory over Holy Trinity, and Queens Road registered a healthy 4-1 away win against Elim Eagles. Meanwhile, in the “south Coventry” derby, St John’s and New Horizons served up an entertaining 2-2 draw.

That’s all for this week folks!