Week ending 18th November by Mason Norton

Leaders Allexton & New Parks were sidelined this weekend by the weather, as overnight rain forced FC Khalsa to call off their game at home to ANP, with waterlogging found on the Judgemeadow College pitches. That left Ellistown and Desford & Caterpillar to battle it out for the status of title-chasers, with the weather also forcing a change of plan, Ellistown electing to play at the South Charnwood and the 3G pitch. It was Desford who came out on top, outmuscling and outhustling Ellistown, leading to the pressure to cause Ellistown to crack. They conceded an OG early on, and were unable to get back on level terms, with Sam Hankin's goal just after the break doubling Desford's advantage and securing them a 2-0 win. Desford consolidate their hold on second, four points clear of third-placed Aylestone Park Reserves, who did not play on Saturday. Desford sit a point behind ANP, but have also played two games more than the leaders. Ellistown stay fourth.

Sileby Town kept alive their faint hopes of forcing their way into the top four after an entertaining end-to-end game at the Meadows in Countesthorpe saw them come out on top by the odd goal in seven against Magna 73 on Saturday. Mark Etherington, Stan Logan, Jan Meiwald and Jacob Nicol scoring for Sileby, Jack Horne, Reegan Lawrence and Matt Richmond from the penalty spot for Magna, Sileby winning 4-3. If they can convert their games in hand into points, then Burbage & Huncote might be able to make a dash for the top four places as well in the second half of the season, although the heavy work that they made of it was almost as heavy as the pitch they were playing on yesterday at Knighton Lane East, where they took on host Friar Lane & Epworth. Harry Hopkins-Tamblyn scored the only goal of the game in the first half with a 30-yard effort that flew in, but FLAE pushed hard late on, with Burbage having to hang on for the three points.

There was little to report at the bottom end of the table, where both of the bottom two, FC Khalsa and Ashby Ivanhoe Knights, were on the sidelines. Barrow Town remain just a point ahead of the drop zone after being edged out 1-0 at Highfield Rangers, Yankuba Camara scoring the only goal of the game in the second half. Thurnby Rangers nudged away slightly after a 2-2 draw at home to AFC North Kilworth, but it could have been much better for them, having lead 2-1 at half-time thanks to goals from Austin Enekwe and Sam Harper. North Kilworth though dragged their way back into it, and goals from Reece Hookway and Josh Wright secured a share of the points, Thurnby now three points above the bottom two.

The other game was a mid-table clash between Hathern and Cottesmore. Fixtures between the two sides normally don't produced many goals between them, with the last three only producing five goals in total. That counted brutally for nothing this week, as Hathern blitzed Cottesmore to go 3-0 up within the opening 10 minutes, thanks to two goals from Tom Insley and a strike from Liam Walton. Ant Berridge added a fourth to leave the Rutland side 4-0 down at half-time for the second time in a week, and things got worse when it was 6-0 within 10 minutes of the restart, Jake Davies getting onto the scoresheet and Berridge adding a second. Insley was denied his hat-trick when his penalty attempt was saved, and Cottesmore did salvage a goal late on from a Will Rawdon free-kick, but Insley finally claimed his hat-trick in the final minutes when his header took a heavy deflection into the net, Hathern winning 7-1 to swap places with Cottesmore from the morning standings, Cottesmore completing a nightmare week that saw them concede 13 times in two outings.