Week ending 2th August by Mason Norton

We've now played four games each in the Everards Brewery Premier Division, so Ramble Round feels that we can now take a look at the League table and begin to make sense of the early running and riding.

There's only one team with four wins from four, and that's the League leaders Desford & Caterpillar, who came through 2-1 at home to Friar Lane & Epworth on Saturday. Madison Murrell gave the hosts the lead on 41 minutes, and sub Acer Szilak scored in the second half to seal the points, with Mahdi Pandor scoring for Lane. The League's top scorers though are second-placed Allexton & New Parks, two points behind Desford, but already with a goal difference of +16 after a 4-0 thumping of Burbage & Huncote in a re-run of last season's Tiger Cup Semi. Zak Adams (2), Ryan Charles and Jake Wain scoring for ANP.

Just one other team remains unbeaten- third-placed Ellistown, who took away Highfield Rangers' unbeaten record after a tussle at Gleneagles Avenue. For Ramble Round, Andy Grout reports:

"This game will be an early contender for match of the season. This was a classic and fitting tribute to everyone who puts in the hard hours to keep grassroots football going. As is the norm these days, clubs look forward to visiting Highfields to play on their new pitch and take advantage of the excellent food and drink on offer. Highfield took the lead on 7 minutes when a flowing move allowed Raijaun Morris-Laing to drive into the box and score.

It took Ellistown around 20 minutes to work Highfields out and at that point, they started to play and flying wingers Shea Bates and Christian Nguessieu took advantage of some great midfield balls to give the Highfields full-backs a nightmare. What was missing was the final product, which kept Highfields in the game. This was a game of high quality fast flowing attack v defence from both teams and the crowd of 80 were enjoying it and cheering on their team in an atmosphere where all understood what they were watching. Credit to the Refereeing team of John Carr, Graham Freer and Kev Wesson who let the game flow and contributed to a classic.

Ellistown then bossed the second half, but could not find a way through. That changed on 68 minutes and actually moved up a level in quality, when another superb town passing move of 1 touch football gave Shea Bates the chance of driving into the penalty box, which he did, and the panicking defender had no other choice then to bring Bates down, referee John Carr pointing immediately to the spot. Tom Vyce coolly stepped up and equalised. Ellistown went for it, and Rangers withstood the pressure until 10 minutes from time, when another fine passing move put Jake Robertson, who made no mistake to put Ellistown in the lead. Rangers then went for it, with Tyler Weeks pulling off a couple of cracking saves. However, another penalty four minutes from the end of normal time was converted by Vyce, making it 3-1.

Game over? No chance as it was Highfield's turn to batter Ellistown, who had to stand up to multiple waves of attack. On 88 minutess, the legs turned to jelly as Liam Bloxham cut in from the left and fired in a 25 yarder that gave Tyler Weeks no chance. A quality goal for a quality game to bring Highfields back in it. With Mr Carr playing 5 minutes of injury time, the last 7 minutes were torture for the Ellistown faithful as the atmosphere was rammed up as the Highfield faithful sensed a sensational comeback. Town defended for their lives and where possible slowed the game down. Highfield had the chances and were inches away from equalising on 94 minutes when a hook shot grazed the bar. But Ellistown hung on for a memorable win.

In an environment where people are quick to criticize and ignore the good, this game was a credit to the Senior League Premier Division. It was well officiated that allowed both teams to play superb football in front of a large crowd, and an example of what grassroots football should be like."

At the other end of the table, last season's Div1 champions Ashby Ivanhoe Knights are propping up the table and the only Prem side now without a win. They lost 1-0 on Tuesday night at home to Magna 73 in a low-quality game littered with errors, with one of the few bits of good play bringing Magna the only goal of the game five minutes before the break through Arjuna Govia. Barrow Town remain in the relegation zone of the bottom two, but recorded their first win of the campaign and collected their first points with a 5-0 win at home to Thurnby Rangers. Barrow sprinted to a 4-0 half time lead as they finished with an hat-trick for Scott Stevenson, added to by Niall Stafford and Moses Anidebe. Hovering above the drop zone on goal difference are Friar Lane and also FC Khalsa, who lost 4-0 at Hathern, Jack McLachlan (2), Nils Bogaard and Chris Davis the scorers.

Elsewhere in the Premier, sub Ellis Haines' second half goal gave AFC North Kilworth their first home win in the top flight of the LSL for almost 28 years, as they won 2-1 at home to Sileby Town after Christian Dyke and Szymon Donnerstag had scored goals for the home and away teams respectively before the break, whilst Aylestone Park Reserves cruised to a 3-0 win at home to Cottesmore, Leo Hicking, Cory Pinchbeck and Aaron Preston scoring.