In the third division cup Royal Oak progressed into the quarter finals when they overcame Drinkfield United 2-0. The first half was a scrappy affair with neither side capable of creating a clear cut chance. However the Oak turned up the heat in the second half as they began to take control of the game, and Carl Marnsfield almost broke the deadlock when his fierce volley narrowly cleared the bar.
However it was Drinkfield who looked more likely to score, when Carl Eeles chipped Oak keeper Preston Slade, only to see Slade recover his ground and gather the ball before it crossed the line. The Oaks response was swift, as Slade found Any Laing, who played the ball to Stu Broughen to slot the ball past Paul Holiday in the Drinfield goal.
With time running out Drinkfield pushed on to try and take the tie into extra time, but it was the Oak who found the back of the net as Neil Jollie nodded a ball through to John Woods, who drove on into Drinkfields' penalty area to dispatch the ball into the bottom corner to seal the victory.
The other team to make into the quarter finals were Fighting Cocks who had an impressive 2-1 victory away to MN All Stars, with the visitors taking the lead on the half hour mark when Richard Robinson chipped keeper Dave Hardisty, this was the only goal of the first half. The second half started with constant pressure from the All Stars and it was only a matter of time before Paul Braithwaite equalised, finishing a move he started in his own penalty box. Despite the home side dominance of the second 45 minutes it was Gary Bowman who broke down the right and provided a great finish to put the Fighting Cocks through to the quarters.
In the quarter finals bottom of the table Sherwoods, put their poor league form behind them as they scored a convicing 4-0 victory over Axa Insurance. With the home side missing many first team regulars, they were still favourites to progress in the competition at the expense of a team without a victory this season. With Axa creating chances it was only some poor finishing in front of goal that kept the scoresheet blank, but the visitors always seemed to be in overall control of the game and it was no surprise when Rob Harland gave Sherwoods the lead and it was only the intervention of the woodwork that kept the score at 1-0 at half time. The second half saw the away side continue to have the upper hand as AXA struggled to put any kind of passing movement together, but with only one goal separating the two sides it was always going to be close, but the visitors came on stronger in the later stages of the half, hit the home side with three more goals in the final 15 minutes, Steve Park, Pete Taylor and a second for Harland ending a good performance by Sherwoods.
The other quarter final saw an even game between the Cricketers and Goodfellas and with the tie heading for extra time and despite a man of the match performance in the Cricketers goal by Kenneth Burns, Karl Christie hit the winner for Goodfellas in the 89th minute to see them into the semi final draw.
In the only league game Newton Cap played hosts to AFC Aruba, in a hard fought game it was just about even until Andrew Geary scored just before half time. Mathew Gowland made it 2-0 just after break, then Jamie Gardner pulled a goal back for AFC Aruba, which brought the visitors back into the game. Gowland was then brought down for a penalty which Keith Hirst made no mistake from the spot and Hirst added his second late in the game to make the final score 4-1 to Newton Cap.
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