On This Day

ON THIS DAY MARCH 30th 2013

Despite a flurry of snow but then brilliant sunshine eight games were played, league leaders Burnham Ramblers winning 2 1 away at Bethnal Green United and second place Great Wakering Rovers 2 0 winners over Eton Manor in a game switched due to a backlog of fixtures. In joint bottom place were Clapton who drew 0 0 with Sawbridgeworth Town and Bowers United. The 1-0 Basildon success at Enfield 1893 was thanks to Greg Akpele. London Apsa drew 2 2 with Sporting Bengal United, Barkingside beat Barking 2 0 for their sixth win in a row, and, with the same score Takeley saw off Hullbridge Sports and, finally, Southend Manor beat Stansted 4 1. The leading scorers were Greig Taylor of Takeley and Bradley Hunter of Burnham Ramblers with 23 apiece.

The Reserve Division was divided into East and West with Canvey Island Reserves leading the East and Romford Reserves, the West. In a Reserve Division Shield 3rd Round 2nd leg match, Tilbury beat Great Wakering 8 0 for an 11 0 aggregate.

Monday April 1st was good for one but not the other as the Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy Final was a resounding 8 2 victory for Burnham Ramblers over Enfield 1893. Goalscorers were Charlie Kirby (2), Bradley Nobbs, Brad Hunter (2), Mitchell Stewart Evans, Neil Richmond and Tony Jestico. Enfield responded through Mervyn Abraham on 4m and 26m . It was 3-1 in the first seven minutes much to the astonishment of late-comers. This was the all-time League Record Cup Final score but remained only current until 10th May when Barkingside surpassed it in the League Challenge Cup Final at Rush Green Arena.

In the Premier League, Arsenal beat Reading 4 1 and Wigan beat Norwich 1 0. In the Blue Square National League, Hyde beat Wrexham 2 0 and in Scotland Division One, now Non-League Cowdenbeath lost 1 2 at home to Partick Thistle and Glasgow Rangers were languishing in the bottom tier Division 3 and only managing a 0-0 draw at Montrose.