Walsall Olympic

Sadly, I have to report that Walsall Olympic have decided to call it a day. This will mean that the two games that they played will be removed from the records. Sorry Selly Oak and Dynamo Kingswinford.

Common Ground United will receive a bye into Round Three of the Cup and any games that were arranged with Walsall will be cancelled.

Saturday Review

Any notion of a potential shock was brushed aside by the 'big two' yesterday as Clarendon and St Mary's cruise into the Second Round of the Cup. We saw a change in the leadership of Division One whilst they went about their business but I would imagine the games will be made up with aplomb once Division One matches are resumed.

League Cup Round One

Once again, the Cup Final venue is thrown into doubt as I understand that Halesowen Town FC have gone into administration. I hope that things are sorted out soon as the Grove has served us well over the last ten years.

Lighthouse Lions 2 Brierley Hill AOG 0

Lighthouse ease into the Second Round with a 2-0 win against Brierley Hill at Norman Chamberlain yesterday. They look forward to another home tie, this time against Division One's Halesowen Zion who perhaps will provide a slightly sterner test. After leaking twelve goals in their first three games, I think that the nil was probably as important as the two.

Junction Ten Village 1 St Mary's 3

Martin Woodhall reports: Going in to the game everyone seemed to have the impression it was going to be tight and they were not too far wrong. In the end a bit of experience and clinical finishing were the difference. A couple of St Mary's players remarked after the game about our lack of cutting edge yesterday which pretty much summed up the game.

I read many match reports involving St Mary's and it often says the opposition started brighter. Yesterday was no different. Our top scorer Pete Major missed a great chance early on and our football was neat, and nice to watch. However, I never felt we would win the game at any point yesterday.

St Mary's took the lead from a corner. The big centre-half towered above two defenders to head home. If we were to get back into it, the first half was the time. Paul Gibbons hit the bar with a great strike, and a couple of times we had half chances. We were probably marginally the better side and a touch unfortunate to go in a goal down.

The game was really over a couple of minutes into the second half. St Mary's top scorer and biggest threat got away cut inside and went down in a tangle of legs. It was clever play and the ref had no choice but give a penalty. Five minutes later and it was 3.0. St Mary's broke away and all our defenders stopped expecting the offside flag which never came. I would say in 90 minutes it was the only contentious moment but it effectively killed us off.

I think our biggest success today was not rolling over after the third. In fact we did press on and won a penalty of our own to make it 3.1. Apart from a couple of the Division 1 sides St Mary's will not get many tougher tests and will probably go on and win at least one trophy again. Without making too many excuses I think St Mary's benefitted from playing us in the friendly and knew what to expect. A tidy bit of management from the St Mary's team I say. Good luck to them though, they are a good bunch and in two games the ref has not really had to have a word with any player from either side.

Back to the league next week and arguably our toughest game of the season. We have 9 players either on holiday, away for a birthday party, or injured. Typically, I found out too late to cancel our game so, we are expecting a tough test at Lion Farm.

Clarendon 5 Champions Church 0

Tommy Woodward says: A good result today against a decent side. We still haven't managed to get out of first gear yet but we sparkled in front of both goals. Rumour was that a few Champions players had doubted Pablo's (Everton Morrison) influence in a game, but I think he proved his critics wrong today. Pablo showed us all how to finish in front of goal with some excellent strikes. But the real star of the attacking show was Jason Greene. He ran the Champion's defence into the ground and showed what a quality player he is.

We had to shuffle the midfield as Laurie Cunningham was injured. I only lasted 5 mins of the game so it was a first outing for Moses and Lee Roberts in the centre, but they both did a good job. Matt, Roger, Craig and Daley cleaned up everything Champions had to throw at them, limiting Champions to one shot on goal all game.

We still aren't playing as well as we could be but there are signs of us getting back to our best. We started slow last season dropping points that eventually cost us the title. This season we have started slow again but haven't dropped a point. We have lost a few players, three of them influential, but have gained two quality players in Laurie and the infamous Jamie Hunter. We also have two Clarendon old boys, Moses and Big Mark returning that has given the squad a boost. We will be up there again when it comes to handing out the medals but the sooner we get out of first gear the better.

Shawn Devonport adds: Well, we went into today's game believeing we could win after giving Clarendon a good game last year but today was totally different and we were outplayed. Clarendon took the lead when Everton Morrison slipped in and it was soon 2-0 when a great team move lead to Everton's second. We had hit the post at 1-0 and had that gone in it may have been a different game but it wasn't to be, 2-0 half time.

Second half we went for it as it was the Cup and went 3-4-3 but it was our undoing. We went close with a few free kicks but that was it and Clarendon were playing some superb football and Everton Morrisson helped himself to another two and Jason Greene got one for himself with a fine solo goal. Clarendon were outstanding today and their manager said they would have beaten anyone on today's performance and I have to agree, they were up for it and wanted it way more than us and their football was fantastic going forward whilst being solid at the back.

For us the lack of fight was disapointing and we didn't really show up with our big players going missing and defensively we never really knew where to turn but some credit for that must go to the brilliant Clarendon front line.

Next week it's Rowley and we need to pick ourselves up.

MBD United 5 Living Hope Church 0

After last year's early exit, we were determined to do the job today, and we did. We carried our recent form into a game that, like it did for us last year, came too early for such a new team. The score-line although comfortable doesn't really show our dominance today. The Living Hope keeper made numerous fine saves to keep the score down in a game we controlled from start to finish.

From the first whistle MBD's movement and passing was superb, some of the best I have seen. Gary and Temo controlling the midfield and Simon terrorising the defence at will. The first half finished 2-0 and MBD cruising.

The second half followed suit and MBD added another three with Si and Temo both being denied their hat-tricks by Living Hope's keeper as well as Ryan having several chances to add to his tally. Living Hope only had one chance on goal today only for it to be ruled offside. Credit too them though, they fought hard and played the game in good spirit and I'm sure they will settle into the league soon. They battled 'til the end and we wish them best of luck for the season.

The whole team did well but special mention to Simon, Temo and Gary who were outstanding. St Mary's next and I'm sure it will be a totally different type of match from today's but with the pressure being on them to progress, I'm sure it will be an interesting game.

Division One

With only St Mary's and Clarendon in First Round action, the remaining ten Division One clubs got about their business to see out September.

Zion Athletic 1 Amblecote 3

After a very quiet close season, Amblecote have come alive and yesterday took the lead in the Division One title race adding another win to an already unbeaten September. In fact, this season, the only other unbeaten club are At Mary's in competitive football as they beat Clarendon in the Kevin Kovacs Memorial Trophy, so it makes their achievement all the more remarkable.

Amblecote's fixtures for October include two matches against sides currently in the bottom three but it's November when the real fun starts: They are paired with Clarendon, St Mary's and Halesowen and a Cup match to boot, that is assuming they beat Inter on 17th, which is far from a foregone conclusion.

Simon Ashby says: First of all I think it's only right to mention the excellent work that the guys running Zion are doing through their work with young people based at the Phase Trust in Halesowen. My understanding is that one of the main aims of the team that Jallen runs is to allow young people they come into contact with to play football in a competitive league and we pray that the work they are doing continues to go from strength to strength. Its great for WMCFL to have teams with these visions as it means a solid future for the league.

However, as we know football is a competitive business and must admit a lot of our talk prior to kick off centred on the fact that young teams tend to come out all guns blazing and if we could weather the early storm we could take control, and also that with our recent style of passing, a younger team may struggle to cope with quick one-touch passing.... and that's pretty much how the game panned out.

The first 15 minutes we came under pressure from Zion and they seemed to have a host of free-kicks in and around the box, but failed to really test our keeper. After this early storm I think we began to exert a bit of pressure ourselves and managed to get a 2-0 lead before half-time.

The first goal was an excellent bit of thinking down the flank, a quick set-piece and Tim Fellows ran in on and goal and with the keeper expecting a shot across goal, whipped it of the inside of the near post and we were in the lead.

We were probably somewhat fortunate to go to 2-0 up when a tangle in the box led to a penalty which Azza coverted easily... the decision could have gone either way but we felt 2-0 reflected the game so far.

Unfortunately after the break there were a few unsavoury scenes as a couple of tackles led to a few harsh words being spoken and a player from each team being booked following a bit of a 'rumble', but it blew over.

As the game wore on we had a few more chances and Spencer Harris smashed in with his left peg to make it three before Zion rallied and got a deserved goal to finish the scoring.

Zion have some talented individuals and I expect a few teams to come unstuck this year against them. For us, although we sit top I think from reading various reports this year one of six teams could be on top but for a few moments in games, so we just take each game and keep trying to move forward.

Sheldon 2 Halesowen Zion 5

Halesowen move into third with a solid looking score-line against Sheldon. Dave Walters says: I was pleased today that while not playing our best we still came away with three points.

Early in the first half Sheldon were having a lot of possession and were looking comfortable, but we looked dangerous on counter attacks and Tom Doran did well to beat his marker and the keeper for our first. Soon after Earl Grant scored our second from another swift counter and took his chance well. Sheldon then made their pressure felt when they were awarded a penalty and made no mistake from the spot, 2-1.

Our third goal was an absolute top drawer finish from Spicer who was on the end of a good build up firing his shot from 20 yards and would have cleared the railway lines if the net hadn't stopped it. Sheldon again created chances, one notable one was a thunderbolt of a shot which hit the underside of the bar and out, but apart from that they were struggling to get close.

The second half was much the same with Sheldon keeping the ball well, but we always looked like scoring on the counter and we did with a second goal in two games for our captain Chris Bennett and an own goal after some good work from Dan Carver on our right wing. Sheldon pulled one back with 15 mins to go through another set piece effort catching Si in our goal off his line.

We entertain St Mary's next week and I think we will need to be better than today to get something from that game. I thought Sheldon looked good today and if they can convert some of their chances they could do alright.

Lyndon Fisher adds: Well, believe it or not we could have won this one. Awful defending gave Halesowen easy goals, although one of them was a screamer, we had just as many chances and at 2-1 Craig Shipley also hit a screamer which slammed against the bar, if that had gone in who knows? Don't get me wrong, Halesowen did their job and came away with the three points. What is frustrating is, when you can't get the same eleven out every week, for one thing or another.

But apart from our defensive errors, we are creating chances so there are positives we can take into our next game.

Wolverhampton and Perton Churches 2 St Matthew's 2

Martin Nicholls writes: We are not happy with a point today and I suspect W & P will also feel aggrieved. Wolves and Perton took the lead when a slack passage of play saw several poor passes leading to our keeper clearing straight in to the advancing W&P player who scored an easy goal. Prior to that both teams had decent chance with a sliding player for Wolves somehow not putting enough on it to reach the goal and an excellent block from Andy Page foiled me and Uncle Rich showed unexpected agility low to turn a Taylor drive round the post.

Wolves may feel annoyed with the equaliser. Two defenders jumped with me for a ball into the box. The ball went up in to the air and when everyone was spinning to see where it went it came down hit me on shoulder and bounced on the edge of the box. The defenders appealed and I turned and volleyed from the edge of the box. The goal was allowed to stand. Did the ball strike my arm? Yes it did. Did I intentionally move my arm to control the ball? No I didn't.

The second half saw us do most of the pressing with Wolves threatening on the break. Time and time again we got the ball in good areas but failed to deliver quality. We went 2-1 again under controversial circumstances. Chris Smith chased down a ball over the top and fed Anthony Kelly who cut in towards goal, a defender nudged him and he went down, the ref said no, he got up and squared for me to slide in the second. Wolverhampton felt Tony dived, he said he was nudged; the ref felt that challenge was legal so Tony played on and we scored. Wolverhampton equalised when we were caught napping on a long throw.

Tom Baugh adds: An unchanged W&P side took to the field and enjoyed the better of the play in the first half, without really working too many clear openings. In fact, it was a sloppy backpass that gifted the home side the opener, Olly Jones closing the keeper down and benefiting from a favourable deflection to fire home into the empty net.

Martin soon drew St. Matt’s level, with an exceptional turn and volley that left Uncle Rich with no chance. There was a shout for handball, but there can be no questions about the quality of the finish.

The second half saw the visitors take more control and work a few openings. Wolves remained a threat though and Tom Baugh hit the top of the bar when he perhaps should have scored. That miss looked more costly a few moments later, when another trademark Nicholls finish gave St. Matt’s the lead. Again, there was a bit of controversy in the build up, but Wolves were guilty of losing concentration and not playing to the whistle.

It didn’t look like there was a way back in for the home side, especially after Olly and Pag both limped off with injuries. However, a quick bit of thinking and a trademark long throw from Phil allowed Chris Roberts to poke home from close range and rescue a point.

On reflection, a draw was probably a fair result, although both teams will feel they did enough in certain stages to deserve the win.

I was impressed with St. Matt’s. The football wasn’t always sparkling, but they setup well and are solid all over the pitch, meaning they’ll give every team they play a good game. In essence, a lot like W&P.

Ed - The result leaves both clubs in mid-table with St Matthew's taking four points from their three games but have a game in hand. The draw does neither side much good in keeping up with the top sides but will perhaps ease them away from the basement.

St Boniface 3 City Church 4

Martin Ogbourn says: Today's game was similar to our previous two this season (and every game we played in Division One last year) as it was close and competitive, although the play was a little too loose for my liking with the emphasis on attack rather than defence!

City started in control and created several good opportunities from crossed balls and sharp interplay. City finally took the lead midway through the half with a lovely run and lobbed shot from Stephen Bailey after a nice through ball from Tom Smith. However, we allowed St Boniface back into the game with some sloppy passing and marking. They scored two well taken goals after good closing down and movement from their front three players to leave the scoreline 2-1 to St Boniface at half time.

During the second half City showed great character to battle back into the game and then to take control of it. A great run and header from Johnathon Sheppard, a composed finish from Daniel Atkins, and an exquisite free kick into the top corner from the same player allowed City some dominance and breathing space. Dave Cooper and Andy Thomas worked tirelessly in midflield, and Daniel Atkins and Stephen Bailey were always a threat up front. As the half wore on though the game became a little fractitous, and the excellent Will Wright ended up in hospital with a broken nose. A late Boniface goal meant it could have been a tense ending, but City held on comfortably to deservedly take all three points.

Jason Garwood, Paul Snelgrove and Will Wright were particularly impressive in an improved all round performance in which everyone played their part. There is still more to come though once we play for the full 90 minutes in games!

St Thomas 2 King's AFC 4

King's pick up their first points of the season with a win away at struggling St Thomas. After ending last season on a high, St Thomas have once again slipped into the habit of losing matches and seem to have lost their battling spirit. If they are not careful, they will be cast adrift at the bottom of the table, unable to catch back up. They face Amblecote next and whilst the task may seem a tall one, this division is not that diverse; they beat them last season.

Division Two

Rather than take the opportunity to move on, some of the clubs on six points spurned their chances and were joined by yet more teams on six points. The division is looking mighty tight behind Champions.

Selly Oak Methodist 6 Dynamo Kingswinford 1

Jason Russell says: Going into this game, we have played well and gained some good results and knew that we had a chance to kick on and continue to add pressure to the teams above us.

With 18 players available for the game, I took the opportunity to rest a couple of lads and give some of the squad players a start. With a delay due to pitch problems, the game was set to be massive and it was. The result doesn't tell the whole story as Selly Oak should have scored more if it wasn't for the cat-like Josh Homer in goal.

We didn't start well and lacked the energy and drive that we have been known for. Selly Oak played some absolutely cracking football and won every ball but the movement was the difference. We managed to score with a Chris Sweetmore effort that means we have scored in every game; a positive from a disappointing result.

In summary Selly Oak on their day will challenge even some of the top Division One teams. We are left to dust ourselves down from a poor result, poor tactics and a poor footballing performance. But in football I have learn't that character will always come through and we haven't lost ours. Next weeks game at home to Birmingham International; another good footballing team can't come to soon for us to dispel the bitterness of defeat today.

Chawn Hill Church 3 EK Corinthia 2

Chawn extricate themselves from the bottom three with a narrow 3-2 win at home to EK Corinthia. This division is going to be mighty interesting as we go forward, with sides bouncing from the relegation zone to the top three if it remains as it is.

Paul Taylor says: A hard fought game a south road saw Chawn taking all three points. Performances have been good of late but lacks in concentration have gifted goals costing them dearly. Unfortunately a familiar story unfolded within 20mins as EK took a two goal lead, both from set pieces. In previous games heads would have dropped and it would have been how many will we concede but in the last two games, Chawn have dug deep to make a game of it. Chawn quickly pulled a goal back from the penalty spot through a Alan Shearer like penalty from Hovis. 2-1 Half-time

In the second half Chawn were much the stronger side and had numerous chances to equalise. Alfie, Bedda and Super Kev all hit wood work but again it was Hovis from the penalty spot who smashed home the equaliser. Chawn had their tails up and wave after wave of attacks finally resulted in Sooty scoring the winner. EK did have a half chance late on but were kept at bay by Chunk. Also, Jack, Tiggs, and the Lloyd brothers (players who don't normally get a mention) played excellent.

The game was played in a good spirit with both teams tackling hard. A special mention should go to the referee as they do come in for some stick (from me too) but a professional performance by the ref kept the game flowing and enjoyable to watch, Well done Buddy!!

Chawn travel to Solihiull next week and plan to continue their impressive performances.

Renewal Solihull 6 Bournbrook Athletic 2

Solihull continue their reputation as one of the best yo-yo sides that the league has, getting pounded one week, then doling out the pounding the next. Life is certainly not dull watching Renewal; there have been twenty-nine goals scored in their four matches this season. As for Bournbrook, they have a brilliant team but sadly many of them are either unavailable or injured. When they get their best eleven out, they will be winning matches for fun.

Division Three

St John's Church 8 Sandwell United 3

St John's come through their test against old friends Sandwell United with a bumper score-line; their best result yet. With J10 away involved in Cup activities and CGU and DC tripping themselves up, St John's cruise into top place.

October looks a little trickier with DC, CGU and a Cup match amongst the agenda.

Adam Wall says: St.Johns v Sandwell was much anticipated by both side as the side a split from West Bromwich Beacons. The game was playing a fair sporting manner but with plenty of banter. Well done both sides for keeping it about the football.

St.Johns have a finally begun to gel and scored eight today. They were ahead early on when Stuart Rogers flicked Lee Pitchford's effort in. As the rest of the season has gone, St. Johns gifted the opposition a goal and were pegged back 1-1. About 30 minutes in St. John's were at it again gifted the opposition goals when keeper Gary Bailey came and dropped a long ball for Sandwell to take a 2-1 lead. It didn't last long though because 30 seconds after the goal it was 2-2. Daniel Platt sent Adam Wall racing away he beat his marker and fired home. Just before half time Paul Beagen made two in two for himself when placed a through ball into the bottom corner. HT 3-2

The second half was completely dominated by St.John's as they moved the ball around well and created many chances. A contender for Goal of the Season came next when the ball was cleared wide towards Ash Hamer, he returned the ball with a stunning volley into the top corner. I think it's a honest assessment to say not one person on or off the pitch actually saw the ball fly into the net it was struck so well. Again St. John's pressed for more when Ryan Venables beat two players and squared for Adrian Partington to score his first ever goal, full stop. Ash Hamer made it two for the day and season when he tapped home after a scramble. A long ball pumped high into Sandwell's box was volleyed goalwards by Craig Turton but the keeper somehow managed to keep it out only for Stuart Rogers to put home the rebound. Captain Lee Pitchford completed the scoring for St.John's when finished cooly in the box.

St. Johns had one more chance when Ryan Venables rounded the goalkeeper in the box and fell over firing horribly wide in the process. Sandwell scored once more late on another goalkeeping mistake allowed the forward to head home.

Well done St.Johns 12 points from 12. Unlucky Sandwell.

Common Ground United 3 DC Dynamos 3

Mark Crouch reports: A draw but it feels like a loss. Common Ground will be elated by this draw as this game should have been won by DC by half time. Another sending off for swearing cost DC the maximum points today as the extra man allowed Common Ground back into this game.

The game started with DC attacking Common Ground at will and from a corner DC hit the crossbar only for Common Ground to hit straight back on the counter and a well taken goal saw them one up. Five minutes later is was all level as a great shot from Adam Bradshaw found the back of the net. Ten minutes later, after lots of pressure the second goal came for DC as Shaun Capper hit a thunderbolt header into the roof of the net. DC hit the crossbar again and had a stone wall penalty denied so the half finished 2-1 DC.

After the restart it was all DC and at times we passed the ball around really well. Chris Gee the pick of the DC bunch today. Five minutes later it was 3-1 to DC as some great play down the right and a great whipped in ball saw Adam Bradshaw get his second. Soon though DC were down to ten men as Adam Bradshaw was sent off for swearing in frustration after failing to put his cross in. This made all the difference as DC lost their shape. A ping ponged ball in the area saw the ball eak into the DC net when it looked easier to clear it.

Two minutes to go and it was all level as DC wasted the opportunity to clear the ball and again Common Ground sneeked in to score. Fair play to Common Ground for not giving up but they will know they were very fortunate to get a point and with half our regular back four out today due to holidays then this game would have been dead and buried by half time.

Better finishing and more composure from DC would have seen this game finish 7-2. Man of match today Chris Gee closely followed by Dave Rich and Shaun Capper. Their left back was outstanding today.

Rockmount United 5 Pye Green Towers 1

Rockmount keep in touch with the leaders with a 5-1 win at home to Pye Green. Pye Green are yet to find their feet in WMCFL but play some of the teams that they are rubbing shoulders with in Division Three. As for Rockmount, they need to keep winning if they are to make it into Division Two next season.

All Nations 2 Zion City 6

The Wolverhampton derby ends with Zion City taking the points; their first win of the season which sadly comdemns All Nations to another defeat. They are yet to win in WMCFL. Keep plugging away lads, it will come if you believe in yourself.

Saturday Preview

Division Two

Chawn Hill Church v EK Corinthia

EK can put last week's disappointment of losing the lead of Division Two by beating Chawn Hill at South Road on Saturday. A big win will put EK back on top but they face a Chawn Hill team that hit a bit of form last week-end scoring four against Selly Oak.

Selly Oak Methodist v Dynamo Kingswinford

DK, also on six points, are one of five clubs that can nick the lead off Champions Church whilst they are off on their Cup exploits. It's a tall order for DK as they would need to win by six to overtake Champions but a win would probably be enough to satisfy either side. Both teams have looked OK so far and it's difficult to pick a winner. DK have a couple of wins under their belt and Selly Oak gave Champions a severe test at Coneygree when they met on the first day.

Birmingham International v Walsall Olympic

Inter have looked promising so far this year, winning two and losing their opener against Solihull. The Inter boys say they were unlucky to lose that one. Walsall have yet to pick up any points, so a home win would be the natural line of thought.

Renewal Solihull v Bournbrook Athletic

These two sides sit side by side just above the relegation zone in Division Two. Renewal have let in more goals than any other side in the middle division, whereas Bournbrook's goal difference is zero. With both Mckenna's fit and available, Bournbrook will be a force to be reckoned with this season. Solihull are also a good team when they get their best side out, so I think it could be a good game.

Division Three

Just four games in Division Three too as some teams are in Cup action:

Common Ground United v DC Dynamos

Game of the day in this division and one of the plum ties throughout the four competitions in progress this Saturday. Whilst it's early days, this could have a bearing on the way the table looks at the end of the season. The match is second versus third and the winner can go top, depending on the result of the St John's v Sandwell game. I think there will be many people interested in the result come Saturday afternoon. I'm working, so don't expect an early update.

St John's Church v Sandwell United

West Bromwich Beacons folded and it would seem that most players either now play for St John's or Sandwell United, so I would expect there'll be some hearty banter flying around along with some robust tackling. On form, you would expect a home win but when these type of ties take place, the underdog raises their game and sometimes pulls off that shock result. Keep it sensible boys, the fines are not cheap.

Rockmount United v Pye Green Towers

You'd perhaps expect Rockmount to win this one, with Pye Green having played three and conceded twenty. But I think the Towers will shock a few sides this season. Like a lot of teams, when they concede a couple, they can implode and the pack of cards comes down after competing for long periods. I wouldn't put it past PGT to secure their maiden WMCFL victory on Saturday.

Rockmount have lost touch a little with the leaders of this division and will see this as the idea opportunity to make up some ground whilst the top four play each other, are involved in old pals' matches or Cup activity, before they settle into mid-table.

All Nations v Zion City

All Nations and Zion clash in the Division Three Wolverhampton derby. Neither side have registered a win yet this year, so will both be looking at this game as the ideal opportunity to register three points.

Saturday Preview

League Cup Round One

Just four matches in Round One to trim the draw down to the last thirty-two. Despite the paucity of ties, they couldn't have been much more dramatic. There is a real possibility that the finalists from the last two seasons could be knocked out. Whilst Clarendon and St Mary's are two cracking sides, it would freshen up the competition to see someone else in the final and indeed the latter stages.

Lighthouse Lions v Brierley Hill AOG

The Lions have looked superb going forward this season, scoring for fun but a little vulnerable in defence. It has made for some pulsating matches, especially towards the latter stages of games and some eyebrow-raising scorelines. I have to go with a home win in this one, I think Lighthouse will be too strong going forward and Brierley will be unable to capitalise on the Lions' defensive frailties.

Junction Ten Village v St Mary's

J10 have started the season like a greyhound out of the traps; they've scored twenty-five and just conceded one goal. Perhaps it would be pouring cold water on their achievements to say that they have beaten the bottom two sides in the League but then you could also say that J10 put them there. A most interesting statistic from pre-season was the result from when these two sides played each other: 2-1 to St Mary's.

St Mary's have also started extremely well and I think they will win this game but the odds are fairly short; J10 will compete in this match and are certainly one to watch this season.

Clarendon v Champions Church

This fixture and the aforementioned J10 vs St Mary's tie would have been fitting semi-finals and all four sides may well have prefered to draw less challenging opposition. But this is the Cup and that's what happens in unseeded open draws. Almost all of the sides in the top half of the draw will be fancying their chances of a Cup Final appearance.

Just to add a little extra spice, I'm sure that the mixture was already sufficiently tastey, but Clarendon knocked out Champions in last year's competition. They are the only WMCFL team to have beaten Champions in a competitive fixture. It is a difficult one to call but I think that Champions will win this one. Clarendon are not looking quite as strong as last season.

MBD United v Living Hope

Last but not least, Living Hope visit MBD in their maiden League Cup fixture. The Cup came a little too soon for MBD last season; a later start and an easier draw may have meant better progress but it wasn't to be. It's early days for Living Hope and I think they are yet to settle as a side. It's not been plain sailing for MBD either this year but I think they'll get their best team out for this one and win at a canter.

Division One

Zion Athletic v Amblecote

Amblecote can go top of the table should they manage to beat the Division One new boys. Me rubbishing their chances was the boot up the backside they needed; they have taken great pleasure in sticking one in Ed's Eye every Saturday morning. This will be a stern test for them. Despite losing 4-0 last week, Zion worried St Mary's for most of the game and were a little unlucky to concede four. I think Amblecote will wobble, consistency and Amblecote aren't words used in the same sentence unless interjected with lack of.

Halesowen Zion v Sheldon

It would be possible for Halesowen to go top as well but they would have to win 16-0. And despite Sheldon's lack of self-confidence this season, I can't see them getting turned over to that extent. Having said that, Sheldon drew with Zion Athletic first game of the season and claimed that they could and should have won it. I think Halesowen will be too strong for Lyndon's men this Saturday.

Wolverhampton and Perton Churches v St Matthew's

A mid-table clash sees Wolves play St Matthew's this week-end. Another game that's hard to call, with neither side getting into their stride yet this season. If Wolves win, it'll be three on the bounce and will put them towards top half of the table rather than a mid-table berth that they occupy. A win for St Matthew's would see them leap-frog this week's opponents.

St Boniface v City Church

I've been carping on about St Boniface's bad luck with the opening fixtures. Shawn uses a web-based program to arrange the games. You tap the names of the teams in and it spits out the schedule. Saturday sees the Bees take on slightly weaker opposition and they are at home too, so perhaps they will rise to the task and secure their first three points.

St Thomas v King's AFC

I really didn't think that this would be a relegation battle, especially with Mark Hadden returning to St Thomas. But tenth versus eleventh it is what it is and neither side has yet to take a point from their escapades so far, so at least one of these clubs will be taking something home with them on Saturday afternoon, if not both!

Saturday Review

Division One

St Mary's 4 Zion Athletic 0 - Another convincing looking win for St Mary's as they stretch their goal-difference to a massive plus twenty after just three matches. Jallen says: It was a closely contested game today, despite the scoreline. While two St Mary's goals were well taken in each half, the other two took lucky deflections. We can take heart that we were in no way out-played today, which will give us heart for next week.

Clarendon 4 Sheldon 1 - Another win for Clarendon to keep up the pressure on St Mary's. It does seem like St Mary's are streets ahead but it's points that count first and Clarendon have as many. Yesterday they seemed to soak up anything that Sheldon threw at them. Whilst Craig Shipley's brilliantly taken goal was a boon for his team, it was a minor blip for Clarendon.

I think that Sheldon will struggle this season. Their side is unsettled and Lyndon has many enforced changes every week. For Clarendon, they will need to pick up the pace if they are to beat CHampions Church next week.

King's AFC 0 Amblecote 3 - Simon Ashby reports: After a good start to the season, we expected this to be a really tough test as King's had soundly beaten us at the end of last year, but I think we turned in our best performance to date to secure a 3-0 away victory. Not an easy thing in WMCFL.

The first 15 minutes were fairly even and King's probably just had the better of the opening exchanges though an early stalemate was probably a fair reflection of play as both teams had a couple of good chances to open the scoring.

But as we all know, goals change games and as the match drew towards the interval, we scored two excellent goals courtesy of Curtis Jordan. The first followed good build up play and Curtis broke free on the left wing and lobbed the ball over the advancing keeper. The second was more his own work, as he again picked the ball up on the left, beating the full-back he ran in on goal and smashed a fierce shot to put us two goals ahead. This gave us a great lift, and we were very upbeat at the interval and really confident of holding on to the lead and possibly extending it.

The second half, I think we had the better of it again, although the physical King's team as always make you know they are there, but creatively we were on top for a lot of it. As the game drew on King's did press, but when we got a third goal it secured the win with Spencer Harris feeding Dozza who courtesy of a slight deflection made sure the points were in the bag.

A quick word for our tireless front six of Doman, Fellows, Hughes, Cartwright, Jordan and Harris today who covered every blade of grass in baking heat. We are happy with a good start but things can change quickly but think we would have took this position given three tough games to kick off the season.

Halesowen Zion 5 St Boniface 1 - Dave Walters says: We came out today needing to put right the disappointing result we had last week, and with almost our full squad available there could be no excuses. The first half was very tight with St B's keeper making at least three brilliant saves and Si in our goal making two excellent blocks but the first half finished goaless.

The second half started much the same, however after around 55 mins St B's took the lead when a weak shot from the edge of the box trickled through Si's legs and into the net. It's tough being a goalie, hero to villain in seconds. We were flat for the next five or so minutes until a solo effort from Chris Bennett which ended in a powerful shot which beat the impressive St B's keeper brought us even. We then made some subs, changed our formation and took the lead from a well taken Wayne Spicer goal. The last 15 minutes saw us pile on the pressure and score a further three late goals. We looked like a formidable outfit in the second half but we will need more consistant if we are to make a challenge.

Grant Doran adds: After last week's defeat we needed to get back on track today with a win and preferably a few goals to boot. We started the game looking to play the ball on the ground and get in behind St Boniface using the wings, and we created several great chances only to see the keeper pull off four good blocks to keep the score at 0-0 at half time.

We started the second half well but as so often we found ourselves behind to what can only be described as a soft goal, with the final shot going in after rolling through Simon's legs. However we carried on trying to play the ball on the deck and we managed to get back into the game through our captain Chris Bennett. Once we got the equaliser we started to take control of the game and the second arrived soon after. It was also pleasing to see Dan score his first goal for the team today after a season and a half of playing with Zion and a debut goal for Earl, one of several new faces we have brought in this year. Tom also got on the score sheet to get his season up and running after coming on midway through the second half.

Overall we were happy with the display and the result, but we need to start working on cutting out the silly errors that still keep surfacing most weeks. We need to get a good result next week away to Sheldon as the following month will give us a real test as we face St Mary's, Clarendon and Zion.

City Church 2 Wolverhampton and Perton Churches 3 - A couple of reports, firstly Tom Baugh: In a competitive match on a small pitch, it was Wolves who started the brighter and soon opened the scoring after a neat passing move presented Tom Baugh with the chance and he duly provided the finish from close-range. After that though, the first half was all about the home side as they began to take control. And after a good half hour of sustained dominance, City equalised when a ball ran loose from a set-piece and was smashed home emphatically from just outside the six-yard box. They deservedly took the lead moments later, when a fierce shot was superbly saved by Uncle Rich, only for the rebound to be headed in.

But disappointingly from the home side’s perspective, they couldn’t hold on to their advantage until the interval. Some persistence from Olly Jones down the right saw the ball drop invitingly on the edge of the box and Dan Lodge hit one of the cleanest strikes of a football you’re ever likely to see, sending the ball rocketing into the bottom left corner in the blink of an eye.

The second-half was more end-to-end, with City perhaps enjoying more of the ball but struggling to create clear cut openings. And as the game progressed, it looked more and more like a stroke of genius or a bad mistake would be needed for either team to score and thankfully for Wolves, it went our way: A long ball hooked over the top drew the City keeper from his line and a mix-up between goalie and defender, allowed Olly Jones to nip in and skilfully lob home the winner. After that, City kept on pushing for the equaliser, but other than long-throws and set pieces, they never really looked liked opening the Wolves defence up.

The game was slightly marred by a nasty clash of heads late-on, which drew blood from both the City player and John Morris. Fortunately though, both lads were able to walk away and compliments must go to the City ‘medic’, who handled the situation very well indeed.

So a good game all in all, played in the right spirit with the ref (who also had a great game) having very little to do.

Dan Atkins adds: Today was a game that City will probably care to forget! With a quick start and a good chance squandered following a great through ball from Matt Blount. City then struggled to really get to grips with the game allowing Wolves to start creating a few chances.

The first goal was well crafted and left City a little deflated. Back came City with a bang and with a strong pressure and persistance from the midfield duo of Dave Cooper and Andy Thomas, City eventally broke through and a snap shot from Coops broke the net and city began to play. Good passages of play and some further solid defending allowed City to really open up and create some chances. We eventually took the lead after a lethal cross from centre-back Jonathon Sheppard and a quick bit of thinking from new striker Steve Bailey. We then switched off again an allowed Wolves to hit back a cheap equaliser from the edge of the box. HT 2-2

The second half just seemed to pass City by with long throws and corners being the only chances really created. The game was decided by some quick feet from the striker and a lob from about 35 yards. City will hopefully not rue missed chances in this game and will bounce back next week so... Beware St Boniface!

St Matthew's 3 St Thomas 1 - Martin Nicholls says: What a difference a week makes. We played much better last week and were on the other end of a 3-1 reverse.

This match started at a frantic pace and it was St Matthew's that got the first goal when Chris Smith rose between two defenders to head in a Robin Davies throw in. We were soon 2-0 up when Chris Smith squared it to me and I was able to finish from the edge of the area. We went in to half time 3-1 to the good. Our third was our best: A neat build up and a header from myself finished a flowing move. St Thomas did get a goal when one of their lads headed in un marked six yards out.

In the second half we were not able to increase our lead. The quality of football dropped as players got tired, but we did fashion more chances, clipping the bar twice and several shots flashed across the goal.

The performance not as good this week but we deserved the win which gaves us a firm platform now to build our season on.

Division Two

EK Corinthia 3 Champions Church 6 - Champions usurp the position of leaders of Division two in this top of the table clash at Moor Lane yesterday. EK will be very disappointed with the result, especially afetr taking the lead but should take heart from their performance yesterday and their start to the season. It would appear that I got the prediction of last in Division Two completely wrong. There are five teams all level on six points but due to EK's superior goal difference they are top of this bunch, despite conceding six against Champions yesterday.

Chris Morrison says: EK started brightly and took an early lead from a goal from Luke Perkin (is it Perkin or Perkins?-Ed). I think Champions were a little shocked but soon found their rhythm and quickly got two goals back. The battle really was won in the middle of the park and Champions again went on the attack and scored the third goal for them. EK never gave up and created chances in the first half but the score remained 3-1.

At the start of the second half, EK's mission was to get an early goal back but instead it wasChampions who scored two in quick succession and really tied the game up. EK kept on going and got their second and started to play some better football. Again Champions came back with another goal but to be fair EK kept battling and got their third - a hatrick again for Luke Perkins.

Shawn Devonport adds: Well this one was billed a big big match and once again we managed to produce the goods.

We started OK when Rion Mills missed an open goal with a header in the first minute. But after that EK started to dictate things and we were 1-0 down early doors when Luke Perkins finished well for EK. We had some pressure but didn't really threaten after that until the referee gave us a penalty which was a push in the back but they don't usually get given and I slotted from the spot. We kicked on from there and bossed the first half from then in and we were 2-1 up when good work from Ralphy resulted in a Josh Ball lobbing the keeper. We made it 3-1 soon after when a Dave Oakley flick on was met by Robbie Cox to get his first Champions goal. All in all we recovered well and deserved the lead playing some very good stuff with Josh Ball almost adding to his tally with three other good oppurtunities.

Second half and we expected a backlash and the instruction was to keep it tight for the first ten minutes but it was us that scored. Firstly a fantastic Dave Oakley ball allowed for me to get my second and then a Josh Ball cross was met by Greg Thompson to make it 5-1. Both teams then traded openings with EK having some good chances off corners; hitting the bar and heading one over and ourselves looking dangerous on the counter. EK made it 5-2 with a fantastic finish from the Luke again catching a volley superbly but again we hit back when I got my hat-trick when we made it 6-2. EK pulled one last goal back late on, when Luke Perkins, playing centre midfield, got his third but our keeper will be a little disapointed with that one but again another fantastic performance from the 49 year old stopper! Both teams could have had a penalty after that but all in all we deserved the win.

EK look a good outfit and the centre midfielder Luke Perkins was top class today but it's a good win for us and we go top but nothing is won yet. Next week its Clarendon and a massive, massive test for us just a shame its a first round match!

Rowley College 3 MBD United 5 - Pete Bennett reports: Big thanks today to Simon Morris who came along to watch and ended up an emergency signing and played in goal in the absence of both our keepers at a wedding. He was kept plenty busy by a lively, skilful and well-organised MBD today. It was too early in Rowley’s rebirth to quite match a team that ran for ninety minutes and carried a significant threat at all times and losing Marc McLaren from centre mid inside twenty minutes didn’t help. Defender Kevin Simpson slotted in well but we lost something of our attacking threat that saw us take the lead. Nathan Wilkins crashed in a terrific volley. Despite their endeavour our defence played them very well first half and it was terribly disappointing to concede from practically the last kick. Great goal though: our stand-in keeper took a step or two forward for a free kick from wide and their lad simply powered it over his head.

Second half just got harder as we tired and they continued to attack and we were a little disappointed to concede a couple of goals to balls over the top (though when these boys get past you they usually finish). We went 3-1 down but Danny Wheeler scored a classic goal to give us some hope, bending an angled drive over their keeper. Sadly we couldn’t peg it back and our forward pressure left inevitable gaps, but the attitude from most of our lads was first rate. The to and fro of the last twenty minutes left the score at 3-5 with Michael ‘Jonah’ Jones capping an excellent performance from the penalty spot. Full marks (and points) though to MBD!

Walsall Olympic 1 Dynamo Kingswinford 4 - Another convincing win for the 'reborn' Dynamo Kingswinford keeps them well in the mix towards the top of Division Two. A couple of goals from Chris Sweetmore helped them on their way and I'm sure if he plays all season, DK will finish far higher than the tenth place I suggested before the season started. Also on the scoresheet again was Rob Waddams, who has managed a goal a game so far.

Jason Russell says: We started our game today against a backdrop of a big defeat last Saturday against Bournbrook, and it was important for us that we dusted ourselves down and attempted to maintain the challenge on the top clubs.

We had 19 players available for this game and difficult decisions were made in order rotate the squad to keep the freshness and competition for places. We started very brightly, with crisp passing and movement and created a number of chances with the movement of our front two. Walsall rode the storm and found themselves a goal in front. We changed our shape and pressed on for the equaliser that was found by the sharp Chris Sweetmore who latched onto a slide rule pass from the hard working Dave Trask. It was important for us to use our experience and take positive steps in the game to drive forward to win the game.

Our determination and closing the ball was then rewarded by a penalty converted by Chris Sweetmore whose solo run created the chance. Once we were in front we continued our probing and played some excellent football and was then rewarded by a goal from James Symons who ran the length of the pitch to score on the second attempt. Our final goal came from Rob Waddams who now holds the DK record for scoring three goals in consecutive games.

Special mention goes to rock in defensive Ian Hopson, the solid Matt Smith, the energetic Andy Waddams, the creative Scott Bradley and unflappable Josh in goal. In summary we were made to play and work for this win by a young, creative, determined team who battled and fought for every ball. Credit to all our boys, those who played and those who accepted the rotation with grace. To enable us to challenge for promotion each one of them will play an integral and important part. We now look forward to a very difficult game away to Selly Oak.

Bournbrook Athletic 1 Birmingham International 4 - Phil Shand reports: Birmingham International grabbed their second successive win of the 09/10 campaign with a 4-1 victory away to newly promoted Bournbrook Athletic.

Inter looked strong from the start and applied pressure to Bournbrook’s defence. Early attacking flair displayed by Ashford and Morgan proved threatening for the opposition, but they did just enough to prevent a 1-0 lead Ashford’s quick feet were caught by a Bournbrook defender just outside the 18 yard box, and the referee immediately gave a free-kick. R Maycock teed up Morgan who rifled the ball into the top left hand corner; the keeper had no chance. The deadlock was broken.

Second Half. International were given a serious team talk by manager Sam Derissi at the half time break, and they came out all guns blazing! Shand tackled strongly in the middle of the park and played a first time ball to Asfa who sent a pin-point pass out wide to Woolley, whose 25 yard strike cleared the keeper and dipped delightfully into the back of the net putting the away side 2-0 up.

Bournbrook tried hard and had a few chances, but Inter’s defence and midfield held strong. Keeper, Ahmed Shikpour made some solid interventions to keep the advantage at two. The third came soon after: Woolley’s pass sent Shand free, but the whistle blew after he was taken down just outside the penalty area. R Maycock stepped up and sent a fierce curling free-kick beyond the keepers grasp to put Inter 3-0 up.

Their fourth was finished when Ashford deservedly slotted home into an empty net, having rounded the keeper after some neat work. Inter were glad to put away more of the chances they created, as goals were all that was lacking from the first two performances.

The back four put in what should have been a clean-sheet performance, but it wasn’t to be. Bournbrook didn’t give up and battled hard until the end. They grabbed a deserved consolation minutes from time. Inter’s keeper couldn’t quite hold onto a Max Tully strike, which, to be fair, was crisply struck into the bottom corner by Bournbrook’s talisman and man of the match on the day.

Chawn Hill Church 4 Selly Oak Methodist 4 - Chawn pick up their first point of the season and drag themselves off the bottom of the division with an impressive scoreline against one of the better teams in the second tier of WMCFL. It was a high scoring game in a high scoring division as all but two sides scored at least three out of the twelve teams.

For Selly Oak, it's been another indifferent start to another season.

Renewal Solihull 4 Lighthouse Lions 5 - Another blockbuster of a game for Lighthouse. They are making a habit of the thrilling finishes to games and did it again with a 5-4 win over Solihull. They've played three, scored twelve and conceded twelve.

An Adam Elcock hat-trick helped his team to the points yesterday and Lighthouse are one of the clubs with six points sitting tight behind Champions Church.

Brian Follows says: A very good game Renewal going in front twice, bad defensive errors bringing Lighthouse level. The Lions then went 4-2 up with defensive frailties again evident but take nothing away from a skilful Lighthouse side.

Renewal then managed to get back to 4-4 completing a fine Richard Allen hat trick. But Lighthouse took all the points from a late corner tucked in at the far post.

Division Three

Pye Green Towers 0 Junction Ten Village 9 - Juction Ten march on with another bumper scoreline, just shy of double figures in a superb start to the season. It will be very interesting to see what happens on 31 October when they meet CGU.

Dave Spencer says: I'm sure few people will be surprised with our result this morning. We started in a bit of a rush due to unforeseen circumstances, though we did manage to have eleven men ready for kick off.

Keen to make an impression we fought hard and during the first 20 minutes and we probably had as many realistic chances as J10. Unfortunately, we had a penalty awarded against us, which we didn't agree with, which put us 1-0 down. At this point, heads seemed to drop and although both sides still had chances it was Junction 10 that found the net twice more before half time. HT 0-3

The second half was not a good bit of football for us, an own goal followed by another penalty lead to what we thought was looking like an unjust score line. At this point Junction 10 picked up the tempo and spent the rest of the game firing balls into the box. We did have some occasional breaks but Junction 10's keeper was never to be caught napping FT 0-9.

My appreciation goes to Martin Woodhall who has put a team of quality players together who will obviously do very well in the league.

Sandwell United 4 Common Ground United 6 - Division Three almost feels as though it has set itself up now, with very little movement throughout. CGU knocked in another half dozen against Sandwell, bringing the total to eighteen in three games. They are taking to life in WMCFL and appear to be enjoying themselves. Sadly for Sandwell, the results are all too familiar; no points from three games; however a 4-6 result against the team in second is a vast improvement on some of the results from last year. Let's hope they pick up some points soon.

DC Dynamos 2 Brierley Hill AOG 0 - Mark Crouch says: Another match another win with a scoreline that doesnt reflect DCs dominance.

Brierley were simply played off the park today and again our finishing stopped this being a cricket score. DC peppered the Brierley goal but were just unable to keep their composure in the final third. DC missed a penalty first half when their defender pushed our attacker in the box. A great save by their keeper keeping them in the game. 0-0 Half time but a more realistic scoreline would have been 4/5 nil.

Second half saw DC play by far the better football but this time the finishing was more clinical. Adam Bradshaw scored a great goal when he looked to have done too much, the ball blasting its way past their keeper. By now DC were playing lovely one touch football, finding space and keeping Brierley constantly on the back foot. A couple of moves were sheer class and had a goal come from them I would not have seen better contenders for goal of the season but they weren't to be and it stayed 1-0 for 15 minutes more.

This time some great play down the right wing saw James Cole pick up the ball and go on a mazy run before slotting the ball home for a great team goal. DC played out the last 25 minutes with 10 men as another red for swearing left the lads battling hard but we are used to the fight and saw the game comfortably and were unlucky not to add a few more to the tally.

A great team performance but man of the match Adam Doupe for a truly outstanding battling midfield workout. A clean sheet and another win on the road to promotion. Common Ground next with a chance to go top of the pops.

Living Hope Church 4 St John's Church 6 - Adam Wall says: St John's maintain their 100% but it wasn't after a big scare. St John's started well and nearly scored early on when Adam Wall had a free kick tipped onto the bar. Once again they were deined by the woodwork when Ryan Venables struck the post with a 20 yard volley. Living Hope had bearly been invovled when St John's had a player off injured and a long ball allowed them to take a 1-0 lead.

The game was then tainted by a moment of madness when Jaime Lawrie was sent off along with one of their players for a pushing match. They also had one booked. Their behaviour ruined what was a good fair game in my eyes. Once again St John's dominated but couldn't finish and again against the run of play Living Hope scored: 2-0. Just before half time we were completely undone by a moment of quality by Living Hope 3-0. I am going to avoid arguing that we were the better team and somehow found ourselves 3-0 down at half time and say a contrast in finishing was on show. I had more than a word to say at half time.

Early in the second half St John's knocked the ball around really well and were rewarded when Adam Wall smashed into the top corner from the edge of the box. It was the start of the comeback and soon after Daniel Platt, who came on at half time and completely changed the game, made it 3-2. St John's continued in their search for the equaliser when Living Hope once again undone them on the counterattack. 4-2. What a game for the neutral?

It was soon 4-3 when Stuart Rogers headed home Paul Beagan's cross. Good football and good fight from the away side and they finally drew level when veteran striker Paul Beagan poked home from close range after a goalmouth srcamble. It was 4-4 surely we couldn't win it from three down? The answer: Yes we could when Adam Wall was fed into the box, he turned and fired home. 5-4. At this point Living Hope had a goal disallowed when their striker was deemed offside. There was just time for Stuart Rogers to tap home a low cross to confirm a amazing comeback.

Well Done and unlucky to Living Hope.

Zion City 1 Rockmount United 1 - Zion City were off the mark yesterday with their first points of the season, holding Rockmount to a 1-1 draw. Zion hover just above the bottom four teams who are all yet to register. A sizeable gap has opened up between the top four and the rest as Rockmount's dropped points means there are four points between them in fifth and the leaders of the division.

All Nations 1 Sporting Zion 7 - A convincing win at last for Sporting away at All Nations. They have their work cut out to catch the top four but the race is far from over despite the five point gap.

Division One Preview

City Church v Wolves and Perton - Two similar clubs in my book. Both sides seem able to give the very top sides a game but neither perform with sufficient consistency to mount a title challenge. Perhaps home advantage will reap dividends.

Clarendon v Sheldon - After an 11-0 destruction at the hands of St Mary's, described by their own manager as 'the worst day in the history of the club', where better to put the matter straight? Clarendon away? I think not. Joking aside, if Sheldon can come away with something from Saturday's match, then it will be a resounding success.

Halesowen Zion v St Boniface - St B's have been a little unlucky in the way that the fixtures came out of the hat. After playing St Mary's and Clarendon, they now have to go to Halesowen, one of the teams some people have suggested as long-shots for the title. It could well be B's day as Halesowen don't seem to have fired on all cylinders yet and Boniface knocked three past Clarendon last week.

King's AFC v Amblecote - After getting written off by your truly, Amblecote have risen to third place and are unbeaten so far this year. Fellow founder members of the league, King's have played one and lost one. The matches between these two sides are usually closely contested and played with due gusto and I'm sure this one will be too.

St Mary's v Zion Athletic - St Mary's have started this season like a house on fire, scoring for fun. The slight changes to their squad seem to have done nothing but strengthen the team, rather than weaken it as I suggested. Having said that, Zion have started their first season in Division One well, unbeaten themselves, so they will be up for this one.

St Matthew's v St Thomas - The near neighbours clash in a match that is an early season basement battle with neither team not starting the season as they would have liked.

Division Two Preview

Game of the day in Division Two and probably WMCFL as a whole has probably got to be first vs second as EK play Champions Church. EK have been bouncing since the start of the season and are the early leaders of the division having won their first two games: A shock 6-0 win against MBD and tighter 5-3 result against EK. However, Champions are yet to be beaten in WMCFL yet since their introduction to the league just over a year ago. If EK win this one, the odds of them getting promoted or even winning the Division Two title will be dramatically slashed.

Despite having only played one match, Bournbrook are in third and face a tough match against Inter. Inter will want to win this one to keep in touch with the top of the table. They are looking a little low on goals, with only Rowley scoring fewer of the teams that have played two matched. So they will need to start finding the net if they are to win.

Bottom club Chawn Hill will be very keen to get something from their match with Selly Oak on Saturday in order to shed the tag of early pace-setters for relegation. But Selly Oak have looked good in their games and will be hard to beat, however the match is at South Road. I would think that on current form, Selly Oak should win but perhaps it's time for Chawn to win a game?

Lighthouse visit Renewal Solihull this Saturday and if you were paying to watch a match, the Lighthouse games have looked like good value. They beat Chawn 4-3 and then lost to EK, effectively in the last minute 5-3 when they were trying to scramble an equaliser. Solihull, as ever, are completely unpredictable beating Inter 2-1 and then getting an 8-1 mauling at the hands of MBD.

I cannot imagine that Rowley are relishing the prospect of facing a rampaging MBD, despite the tie being at Lion Farm. MBD destroyed Renewal last week but which side will turn up at Rowley? Rowley themselves are down in the dumps with their fellow former Division One winners Chawn and like Chawn will not want to be playing catch up all season.

And lastly, Walsall Olympic are visited by Dynamo Kingswinford; two more famous names from WMCFL's past. This one's a tough one to call but as both sides have played good games this year, I think it's too early to tell.

Division Three Preview

All Nations have unfortunately picked up where they left off last season. However, they played a lot better last week, especially in the second half. A 1-3 reverse against Rockmount was not a bad result and they will be looking to build on that as they are visited by new club Sporting Zion. Sporting could have started better, taking just one point from their two games and may see this as their opportunity to get three points; All Nations will have other ideas.

DC Dynamos' start has pretty much gone to plan. I think they were a little disappointed to miss out on promotion in their first season and they will not want that to happen again. But they take on the unbeaten Brierley Hill this week-end. Both sides will be keen to take three points from this game but I think a draw would be seen as success for Brierley.

Living Hope will look to banish their first game nightmare in which they lost 4-0 with three points against St John's, however St John's have taken maximum points from their two games but they haven't been burying teams like J10 have. I will be interested to see the result from this game as the Division begins to sort itself into an order.

Just as Pye Green were showing flickers of promise, they have to play Junction Ten. It will be a real test for Pye Green and for me, keeping the score down would be a good result.

I did think that Sandwell would do a little better than they have and like Pye Green, they are playing a team on Saturday that appear to be scoring for fun: Common Ground. CGU have done very well this year so far; they have some very talented individuals and appear to be gelling as a side.

Zion City go into their third match still loing for their first points. It won't be easy against a determined Rockmount side looking good so far. Rockmount need to win this one or face falling away from the leading teams.

Goalkeeper Wanted

King's AFC are after a new goalkeeper. Please contact Willis Mullin on 07920 403084.

Defenders Wanted

Zion City are looking for some defenders for their team. If you are interested, please contact shilohunited@hotmail.co.uk.

Marathon Men

It turns out that we have several members of WMCFL running the Birmingham Half Marathon. Good on you chaps.

Martin Ogbourn - City Church

On 11th October I will be running the Birmingham Half Marathon in memory of Adam Earp. As many of you are aware Adam sadly lost his life on 26th August this year at the age of 20 after courageously battling leukemia and a lung disease.

I played football with Adam in 5-a-side and 11-a-side football over a number of years and I have been struck by his mental strength and positive character during his illness.

Through the Dreams Come True charity, Adam was able to meet his hero Joe Calzaghe and this became one of his chosen charities to support. By running the marathon I hope to raise money in Adam's memory to enable other terminally ill young people to have the same opportunities.

www.justgiving.com/oggers/

Richard Webster - Wolverhampton and Perton Churches

Richard is running for Cancer Research - Please visit www.runningsponsorme.org/richardwebster5

Ashley Innis - Clarendon

Ashley is running for Birmingham Childrens' Hospital www.justgiving.co.uk/ashley-innis

Anyone else?

Saturday Review

Another great Saturday with a record number of games played. Thirty-four teams involved with just one match requested as a free date. I seemed to have made quite a few errors on the tables last week; thanks to those who pointed out the mistakes. If you see an error, please let me know.

Also, if I've spelt you name incorrectly, just drop me a text or email and I'll get it sorted. I have taken several photos of clubs recently but I don't know who's who. If anyone can tell me the names of the players on the club photos for Sandwell United, Junction Ten or Common Ground, please drop me an email. Cheers.

Division One

Sheldon 0 St Mary's 11

The table does have a very familiar look to it with St Mary's and Clarendon already opening up a gap after two laps. Everyone except those two sides have dropped points.

Nick Sprason says: Not too much to say today. A comprehensive win against a depleted Sheldon, we were missing Luke, Tom Locke and Jon Bignell so were wary going into today's game but we didn't really miss them and eased to a comfortable win. Really it should have been more as I had a penalty saved and we missed a host of presentable chances. Still we have started well and can only seeing us improve further.

Lyndon Fisher adds: We had eight players missing today, we had to sign two on the Saturday morning. This was going to be a tough match with a full squad, let alone a depleted one, we were outclassed in all departments, but for some outstanding saves by our keeper it could have been more.

This is the lowest point in Sheldon's History. Bring on the next match to get this one out of our system.

St Boniface 3 Clarendon 5

A much better result for St Boniface but it is a defeat and it leaves them bottom of the table. For Clarendon, another three points keeping abreast of St Mary's but already a vastly inferior goal-difference.

Amblecote 3 St Matthew's 1

Simon Ashby says: This time last year, we played St Matthew's at home and were soundly beaten 3-1 and I think today's results shows we are a slightly different proposition this time round with a 3-1 one over the same opponents, a repeat of our pre-season victory just a few weeks ago.

Today was similar to last week as our first 25 minutes was excellent but without reward and we passed the ball well, creating a lot of space and some good chances. But then as last week, the opposition came into the game after the half hour and had an excellent ten minutes which culminated in their No 11 smashing a great shot against the inside of the post and Martin Nicholls finished the rebound very well.

We came back into it but I think were somewhat fortunate to get a penalty right before half time for a push on Spencer Harris, new signing James 'Kit' Cartwright dispatched the penalty with no problem.

In these tight games it's often individual moments that change the game and two such moments after the break certainly decided this match. Firstly St Matt's were awarded a penalty and I must admit I dont expect Mart to miss as don't think he did in his time with us, but this he found the bottom corner only to see John 'The Cat' Hawker leap like a salmon and turn the ball round the post. It really was an excellent save!

As we entered the last 15 minutes came the second moment, when following a corner a headed clearance fell to 'Kit' Cartwright and from outside the corner of the box he hit the ball on the volley and it flew straight into the top corner! (9 times out 10 it hits the neighbouring houses). This really lifted the game and St Matt's had a real go at getting an equaliser and had a great little spell, but as they pushed forward Jadon Silva broke away and finished comfortably with only the keeper to beat.

A good start to our season, but we know we need to push on now and have a tough game with King's next week!

Martin Nicholls adds: When players had left the field and reflected on what was a great game and a great advert for this league it was decided by both teams a draw would have been the fair result. However, football is rarely fair and despite a great St Matthew's performance we left with 0 points.

Amblecote started brighter and had the majority of the possesion for the first 25 minutes or so, but we did look dangerous on the break and we had several good opportunities before we opened the scoring. A drive from the edge of the box flashed just over, two headers narrowly missed the target before Robin Davies broke down the left and drove a shot against the post. The rebound fell to me on the edge of the box, I controlled before finding the bottom corner.

The first contentious moment came just before half time. An Amblecote corner was whipped in, their player ran near post with his marker. The ball cleared both players and the ref blew for a penalty with no appeal. Credit to the Amblecote player who stated it wasn't a penalty as there was no contact between the players - a very sporting gesture but the penalty was despatched to bring the scores level at half time. Amblecote may have felt disapointed not to be leading at this point. They had the lion's share of possesion but we felt we had the better goal scoring opportunities.

Needless to say we felt a strong sense of injustice and came out determined to put things right. Whilst Amblecote had the better of the first half we certainly had the better of the second. We were in the Amblecote half for long periods and our pressure told when Knowles broke in to the penalty area and when through one on one was bought down as it looked like he was about to slot home. This was undoubtibly the turning point of the game. The resulting penalty was saved very well by the Amblecote keeper. The penalty was hit low to his right but he got down well and tipped the ball round the post.

What compounded our disappointment was that shortly after we failed to clear a corner well enough and the ball broke to the Amblecote wide player. After one bounce he volleyed the ball from 25 yards with the outside of his foot and found the far top corner. If he hit that shot 100 times 99 would fly high and handsome but credit given an excellent strike. We again regrouped and had more chances. Robin Davies thumped the under side of the cross bar from easily 25 yards. The ball came down and shot directly up in the air and as a result cleared. We again had chances: A defensive error caught Stuart Wilkinson by surprise and he failed to capitalise. Corner after corner came in but Amblecote were dangerous on the break and our Silva completed the scoring late on after we felt a clear infringement had occured but was ignored by the ref.

We can take plenty of positives from our performance and if we play like this and keep our squad together we will certainly win more matches than we lose.

Zion Athletic 2 King's 1

James Hamilton reports: After last week's battling performance, we went one stage further today with a cracking win against a strong King's team. Our game plan today was to soak up the pressure and catch them on the break. It worked a treat as we had numerous chances in the first half and could have come in to the break 3 or 4 up. As it was we came in at half time just the one goal ahead from a breakaway strike from Westy who, along with Michael Knowles ran the King's defence ragged until he came off injured in the second half.

King's pulled a goal back on the hour with a header from a long throw. Our heads could have dropped at this point but we bounced back with 10 minutes to go from a typical strike from James Toomey. King's couldn't find a way back and we hung on for all three points. All in all a great team performance and we are delighted with our first win in a long time. I think it's St Mary's next week so we're not getting carried away.

Wolverhampton and Perton Churches 4 Halesowen Zion 3

Dave Walters reports: An entertaining game for the neutral, but frustrating for me. We played some fantastic stuff in the first 15 mins but only got the two goals. Wolves had their fair set of chances too and at half time it could have easily been 5-5 but we went in at 2-0 to the good.

We started the second half well again squandering a couple of good chances, but then Wolves scored direct from a corner and we seem to go to pieces conceding an equaliser from a corner and then would you believe it, another goal direct from a corner. Wolves were now in complete control but we did manage to bring it to 3-3 in the last minute only for Wolves to score the winner immediately after, again from a set piece.

We showed today what we are capable of, fast exciting football, but also the frailty to really punish sides. Well done to Wolverhampton whose heads never went down, we could learn from that.

Division Two

Lighthouse Lions 3 EK Corinthia 5

Chris Morrison reports: EK again came out on top but was made to earn this win and was a much harder game than their previous. EK again came out of the blocks quickly and played some great football. EK were piling on the pressure and had 5 or 6 corners on the trot. We were awarded a free kick on the edge of box and a great cross from Matt Dormer found the head of Sean Steward who placed the ball past the keeper to give EK the lead. The second quickly followed with a superb goal from Sean Steward. With Luke Perkins winning the ball in the midfield he crossed the ball to Sean who took one touch and placed the ball brilliantly in the net. Right on the stroke of half time Lighthouse pulled one back from a corner and the scoreline at half time was a fair one - 1-2.

Again EK scored quickly with a goal from Matt Dormer to make it 3-1. Lighthouse battled back and made it 3-2. Then EK took the lead again with another set piece from Matt Dormer and Robbo 'Curtis Davis' just about got his big toe on the end of it. 4-2. Then Lighthouse came back again to make it 4-3 and piled on the pressure for what seemed like a lifetime! It wasn't until the last minute when they got a corner and the keeper went up. EK cleared the ball to the lone striker Sean who dribbled down the pitch to make it 5-3 and claim his hat-trick. Excellent game!

Just to add, Lighthouse are an excellent team and are very well run - they have (from what I can see) great values and are a great credit to league. Well done EK keep it going.

Darren Cartwright adds: On another day Lighthouse could have won this game but it wasn't to be. The first 18 minutes were very contested with EK having a couple more chances than Lighthouse. Then EK scored 2 goals on 18 and 22 minutes to make it 2-0. After this Lighthouse began to press more and were rewarded with a goal just before half time with a corner from Carl Jones and Lewis Cottrill heading in to the net. The second half Lighthouse came out and played more of the football with EK defended solidly. With Lighthouse pushing more up field EK counter-attacked with good effect with a goal on 50 min.

On 63 min Lighthouse had a corner by Carl Jones which was tapped in by Bryn Oliver. 2-3. Soon after EK scored again, score now 2-4. On 72 min Bryn Oliver scored again when he unleashed a superb shot from outside the area. Lighthouse pressed more and more to find a fourth goal. A free kick was rewarded in which Carl Jones curled one in and hit the crossbar. With time almost up Lighthouse had a corner and everyone went up including our goalkeeper This resulted in the ball been cleared away to EK's striker who ran the rest of the pitch for a simple tap in. Score ended 3-5.

Well done to EK and on this performance should have a good season.

A beautiful day today where we played Chawn Hill on the flattest surface ive played on in our league at Coneygree which really played into our hands today.

Champions Church 5 Chawn Hill Church 1

Shawn Devonport says: A beautiful day today where we played Chawn Hill on the flattest surface I've played on in our league at Coneygree which really played into our hands today. The game started with Chawn putting a few challenges in and chasing everything. We looked dangerous going forward and after a few half chances we took the lead through Josh Ball after a Lee Ralph ball followed by a Dave Oakley deflection allowed for Rion Mills and Josh Ball to be put through on goal and after a one-two Josh Ball made no mistake. It was soon 2-0 and it was Josh Ball again when I crossed in from wide right and Josh was brilliantly placed and on hand again for his third in two matches (I said he would get a lot of goals!). We continued to press and a few dangerous corners followed us hitting the cross bar and us also having one disallowed. We went 3-0 up when Rion threaded me through and it was in off the right hand post and was soon 4-0 when a quick Ralphy free kick played me in and from just inside the box it flew into the top corner. Chawn had a few chances from range but we were in full flow first half and deserved to go in at least 4-0 up.

Second half was a different story as is often the case. After a first half mauling we didnt really turn up with the same tempo sensing the game was all ready won and after a Kovacs rocket at half time Chawn came out and to be fair really raised their game. They were now competing better and were getting the ball down on the deck causing us a few problems through Greg Jones out wide. We were still making the chances but Chawn were now stretching us a lot more and looking much more dangerous. We missed a few decent chances with the Chawn keeper making one very impressive stop but it was soon 5-0 when I got my hat-trick with a free kick from 25 yards. Chawn then pulled one back through Bedford who had been dropped from the Chawn team coming on and scoring with a fine header. Chawn were unlucky not to get another soon after when Greg Jones struck a fine free kick that smacked the post and if it had gone in it would have been some goal! We had a few more chances late on when the game became stretched and Chawn tired but it stayed 5-1.

Chawn were much better second half and gave us a good game but the damage had been done, I expect a much different game on the tight, bumpy South Road pitch which will suit Chawn much more than the flat big pitch at Coneygree. I think that puts us into second joint with EK on six points who we play next week and I'm sure it will be a good game as they seem to have improved greatly since last season.

Dynamo Kingswinford 2 Bournbrook Athletic 5

Jon Earp reports: an emotional return for Bournbrook Athletic was started by a minutes silence for Adam. Bournbrook Athletic wearing black arm bands started the brighter of the two teams and taking full control of the game with good passing and movement. Bournbrook should have been a few up before Dynamo scored after a cross was deflected in off our centre back, this was against the run of play and the first time Dynamo had been near our box. We carried on playing our football and levelled the game with a nice strike from Sean Boughton. We then went 2-1 in front with some intricate passing allowing Max Tully to burst into the box to finish. It could have been 2-2 after a cross off Dynamo hit the post, the half ended 2-1 to Bournbrook.

After the break we were a little slow to get going but soon started to knock the ball around again. We were then awarded a freekick 25 yards out which was dispatched into the top corner by Carl Mckenna, 3-1 and looking good. We then allowed Dynamo back into the game after some slack marking from a corner allowed a free man at the back post to score, 3-2 game back on. After some good play Carl Mckenna was pulled down in the box and awarded a penalty, Carl put it away to make it 4-2. After making a few changes and our sub Stuart Webley volleyed home off a corner to make it 5-2. We should have finished with a lot more goals and were guilty of missing four one on ones in the last 15 min.

All in all a great performance from start to finish and a fitting tribute to Adam. I am very proud of my team for the professionalism they have shown during the last few weeks. A special thank you to Rob and all the lads at Selly Oak Methodist for honouring Adam by wearing black arm bands last week. Tracey and I would like to say thank you for all the support we have received during a very difficult time and for all the clubs for honouring the minute's silence for Adam.

Jason Russell adds: Today we aimed to maintain the momentum from our hard fought victory away against Rowley last week. We started poorly failing to at least do the basics right and at least two yards off the pace but managed to take the lead from a Robert Waddams cross, stubbed toe, rebounded shot at goal and hoped that this would steady us. Bournbrook's crisp passing and bright start meant that it wasn't long before they equalised and we found ourselves behind as we went into the break.

The second half started as the first with us struggling to string together anything like a pass and found ourselves three behind. A glimmer of hope came from a rocket from Gary Lamsdale (two in two games) and we thought that we would salvage a point. But today wasn't our day and the score line doesn't reflect the game. Bournbrook would have been disappointed that they didn't score more.

In football you have to learn your lessons fast and next week will have to respond if our target of promotion is to be met. It's a massive game for us against Walsall Olympic. We could use the excuse that we had five players unavailable but the team we put out was and is good enough to have won this game. When we play the DK way we are very hard to beat and compete until the final whistle, in flashes it was there today but no where near where it should have been. We have young players and they are disappointed and we will pick them up. Football is very fickle with highs of last weeks win and the lows of being showed a lesson in football today. Positives include having four subs available and another two goals from positions other than forwards but our individual performances have to improve and unlike last season we have the luxury of being able to change the team (and I will next week) and maintain the competition for places just like in our heyday.

A big thank you to Bournbrook for a great game. I predict on their performance today to be the team to beat this season and to gain promotion to Divison One, maybe even as champions. (Unless we sort ourselves out).

MBD United 8 Renewal Solihull 1

Another surprise scoreline for MBD, who jump up to fourth place and obliterate the goal-difference they accumilated in last week's disaster. Ryan Reynolds and Si Larmour were back and boy did they make an impact, scoring six goals between them.

Brian Follows reports: The game started well with good chances both ends, MBD striking the post. Then a free kick on the edge of the Renewal box, the referee Rob Styles like offered the player a quick free kick and as Renewal were lining up their wall the ball was in the roof of the net.

Another goal quickly followed when Renewal scored what looked a good goal; the assistant ruled it out for offside. A bad start got worse as a hungary MBD, sharper all over the pitch scored at regular intervals. A fine strike from the edge of the box by Joe Clarke the only bright spot for Renewal.

Neil Howard adds: Todays game couldn't of been more different from last weeks. Not only did we have a full 16 from the start but Simon, Ryan and Temo were all available for selection, so defeat today and there would be no excuses.

MBD started brightly from the off with some of the best movement and interplay I have seen from them. Within ten minutes could have been 1-0 up if not for the upright preventing Gary Jordan's shot from finding the net and Chris Thomas having a header saved by the keeper. Soon after though a quickly taken free kick saw Ryan get his first with a cheeky lob into the top corner. Solihull seemed to have equalised soon after only for their goal to be ruled offside. After this though it was pretty much one way traffic. Ryan got his second when the ref played the advantage after a Solihull foul and Gary fed him the ball out to the edge of the box for him to beat the advancing keeper. Simon got his first after Temo slid the ball through leaving him one on one with the keeper and Ryan added his third when MBD pressure caused the Solihull defence to panic a little and it fell straight to his feet. MBD finished the half with five after Simon became provider and Andy cut in from the right to slot home.

The second half started in the same vein. More good movement soon saw us get number six when Chris Raybould headed the ball up from midfield and Solihull were caught out as although Ryan was offside he was deemed not be interfering and Simon was able to receive the ball and put it away. Solihull got a consolation goal with a wonderful strike from 25 yards out that our keeper could do nothing about. Captain Chris Thomas got on the score sheet after meetings Ryan's corner with a lovely header and then Ryan got his fourth with a calm finish. MBD could have had more in the second half, Gary Jordan having another rocket shot go just wide, Simon denied his hat-trick by the cross-bar and Ryan seeing the keeper just get a hand to the ball to prevent his fifth when he was through one on one.

Overall a great performance today not only the victory but also to over turn the minus six goal difference from last week in one game. Special mention to the ref today he was by far the best we have had in our time in the league and also to the two young linesman who kept their heads when at times were getting challenged.

Credit to Solihull they kept their heads up til the end.

Birmingham International 2 Rowley College 1

Pete Bennett says: Another decent step forward on the Rowley rebuild today (though a point or two would be nice!) as a number of absences forced an other shuffle of the pack. Mark Southall had to make a number of tough decisions today including playing himself at centre back but he was a model of patience and grabbed a goal before having to come off and watch our profligacy in front of goal.

Again we were solid in all areas and again had a mad few minutes that cost us the game. This time it was uncertainty in defence which shipped a goal after a promising start and then another almost immediately afterwards: two good finishes by the way. This was down a slight slope and on a hot day and we had a number of ring-rusty warriors back today (notably Alan Micklewright and Marc McLaren who would both find the pace of it in the second half. Things looked good when on the stroke of half time Danny Wheeler’s excellent corner caused havoc in their box and Mark turned it in from a sharp angle.

Second half we gradually took control and almost literally threw the kitchen sink at them. Mark had to go off as a precaution to be replaced by new boy Steve Dickinson who had an impressive debut alongside the excellent Rob Hill and Nathan Wilkins and Kie Barker were thrown on to add extra threat forward and though it seemed inevitable we would score, we didn’t. Chance after chance went begging and we had to settle for ‘one of those days’. Plenty of positives though.

Selly Oak Methodist 3 Walsall Olympic 2

Rob O'Neill writes: I have finally gotten round to sending in a match report so I think I'll start with a quick paragraph about the last few weeks. A good pre-season only losing two players but signing some real quality additions. Started off a bit shaky with a draw against B'Ham Inter and a loss against St Matt's but then with a win against Walsall we started to gain confidence showing in the 6-1 and 8-1 demolitions of Sheldon and St. John's respectively. Our first fixture against Champions was always going to be tough however we were 1-0 up at half time a few quick fire goals and we lose 3-1 the difference being finishing our chances and a debatable disallowed goal but Champs look good for going straight up this year most likely fulfilling their name.

Which brings me onto today and a lovely sunny day at Lion Farm against a Walsall side that will never give you an easy game. A few new faces in their team but cheered on by the ever vocal Steve Breeze on the sideline. We started brightly with an unchanged side bar a few tactical movements and it was us that struck first from a corner. Lukiano Zinnetti providing a quality ball for our new signing Carl Jones to rise above the defence to put away. We continued to apply the pressure having quite a few opportunities and yet another "Goal" flagged offside (I ran the line a lot last season you will never please everyone, it's impossible). Selly Oak looking good for the win already but wouldn't you know it a speculative Walsall shot from 25-30 yards out bouncing low along the ground beat me to my right, I should have done a lot better with it but the undeniable fact was it was 1-1. As Shawn mentioned last week we have a great mentality now at Selly Oak, working hard for each other and this showed as the rallying cries began to ring round whereas in our early days we might've turned on each other. Our defence shut up shop to close out the first half which allowed a lot of attacking pressure to be applied but again, like last week, we struggled in the final third. Half time 1-1.

We knew after last week it was important to come out strong in the second half and try and push on and do this we did. Jamie, Carl, Dan, Lukiano, Mozza able to apply some serious pressure because of the security given from the defence and defensive mid and the second came from another corner, again another great ball from Lukiano for Carl Jones to stick away through the crowd in the box. This started a 15 minute period of dominance from Selly Oak with plenty of good jinxing runs and some good defending and one or two cracking saves needed to keep us at bay. The third came when Carl picked up the ball from deep left mid and ran across at least four Walsall defenders at pace before finding a few yards of space about 20 yards out to thump a great effort past the keeper to complete his hat trick. I'd be surprised if he isn't in the shake up for the golden boot and Division Two player of the season.

Walsall rather than crumble answered back with some pressure of their own: A one on one situation I rushed out to close the space and the striker lobbed the ball over my head, all 22 players watched the ball as it dropped four yards out and bounced over the crossbar. Walsall won a corner on the right hand side and clearly buoyed by their pressure they piled forward, a header at the back post and it hit the cross bar, the ground and then in for 3-2. There was no way however we could let this game slip after dominating great periods of play we had already taken off all three of our main goal threats in Carl, Jamie and Dan but Loz and Naf the subs working well applying some more pressure forcing more saves from their keeper who at this point was recovering from a collision in a 50-50 ball. With a minute left Walsall broke down their right flank again I came rushing out and the striker struck the ball across me towards the far post and I managed to get fingertips on it to push it onto the post. Final score 3-2.

Walsall gave us a good battle today but I don't feel we played as well as we did against Champs last week. It's always satisfying to get the first points on the board but a difficult task of Chawn at South Road awaits us next week, a fixture we lost heavily last season. We have quality throughout the whole squad this season including some great players on the bench. If we can kick on from here and start converting our chances maybe just maybe we won't let Ed's curse of predicting us for promotion effect us this year haha. Just don't say fourth and less than three points away from promotion that's a hat-trick we don't want.

Would like to dedicate today's win to Adam Earp.

Division Three

Almost no change to the table; has Division Three sorted itself out already. I did say before the year started that I thought we'd have a destinct top and bottom split; well we'll see.

Junction Ten Village 5 Zion City 1

Martin Woodhall says: A good game today on our home debut. Our pitch at Bentley West is pretty nice, better than I really expected. All we need now is the council to open up changing facilities.

We had played Zion in a friendly a few weeks prior and won comfortably but there were certainly some additional faces for Zion today. As in our previous encounter Zion started brighter and caught us napping. We were quickly 1.0 down. In all honesty it was exactly what we needed and we soon equalised through Pete Major. 5 goals in a game and a half is a good start for Pete. The rest of the first half was fairly even but we nicked a second through Danny Plant. 2.1 Half Time

In the Second Half we were much much better and added further goals through Danny (2) to complete his hat trick and Pete Falconer. On our second half performance we would give most teams a game. Zion were just a bit unlucky to catch us in form.

The Zion lads are not far away from being a really decent outfit and I think they will finish in the top half of the table.

Just a comment that today's referee was excellent. We also had the luxury of two assistants. I know the debate is probably still going on. All I would say is having two assistants helps the game and nobody can really complain about bias. In the end it is probably well worth the extra cost.

Common Ground United 4 Living Hope Church 0

Neil Oakshott says: For their first ever competitive match Living Hope couldn’t have asked for harder opposition, and so it proved as Common Ground romped to a much deserved victory.

Initial play was end-to-end and, although Common Ground looked the livelier side, Living Hope gave as good as they got in the early exchanges. Indeed it was Living Hope who could have taken the lead on four minutes, with Nathan Brain rolling the ball past the Common Ground keeper, but luck wasn’t with him as the ball struck the far post and was played out to safety. Common Ground broke away and their number nine rifled a shot on the turn just wide, with the Living Hope defence stood watching.

As it was, Common Ground only had to wait a short while before taking the lead. This time the Living Hope defence stood still appealing for an offside, an appeal that the referee and linesman both ignored, and the home number nine made the most of his opportunity with a neat finish.

Two further goals saw Living Hope trailing 3-0 at half time and manager Steve Farley made two changes that saw the visitors at least trouble the home defence a little more during the second half. Common Ground still found time to hit a fourth goal, but Living Hope’s Callum Oakshott could reflect on several shots on target and a penalty appeal turned down, whilst Nathan Brain had one of those days when, after rounding the home keeper, he still managed to place his shot wide of the post.

If the match from Living Hope’s perspective could be summed up in one (printable) word, then it would have to be “passive”. Living Hope were slow and sluggish, rarely won a tackle and passes were often miss-hit. By contrast Common Ground were livelier in all aspects of their game and fully deserved the victory; if they can keep up their current form they will be up there at the end of the season. On the positive side for Living Hope, across the whole game they created as many opportunities as Common Ground, with the only difference being that they couldn’t even threaten the home keeper.

Finally a special mention has to go to Living Hope’s goalkeeper Peter Goodwin, signed on emergency forms prior to the game as the regular keeper cried off with injury on the Saturday morning. Peter had travelled up from Kent to visit his friend Dean Russell, the Living Hope central defender, but ended up being awarded man-of-the-match by the manager and coach. We are currently calculating his travel expenses so we can bring him up each weekend!

Sporting Zion 2 DC Dynamos 4

Mark Crouch says: Two good passing sides met today but it was DC who came out on top. Out passing and out hustling Zion today who were lucky not to be on the end of a cricket score with better finishing from DC. Zion it was though that scored first as a ball in the box was badly cleared, the ball pinging back off the defender and landing at their strikers feet to put under the keeper and make it 1-0.

That was Zion's one and only chance of the half as DC battered their goal playing lovely football at times not able to capatalise on their pressure. Soon though the pressure paid off as Adam Bradshaw picked up a ball cut inside and unleashed a pile driver of a shot that rocketed into the goal. 1-1. The half was all DC but it finished 1-1 although it could have been 6-1.

Soon after the break it was 2-1 as Shaun Capper hit a neat shot for his first of two. Zion started to come into the game and had a decent 10 minute spell resulting in an equaliser. 2-2. Five minutes later it was 3-2 to DC as a bit of great play from defence to midfield to Ben Russell saw Ben beat three players cut inside onto his right foot and bury the shot to score a wonderful goal. 3-2 DC.

Ten minutes later the game was wrapped up by Shaun Capper scoring his second from the penalty spot as their player had handled in the area. He hit his spot kick and was well saved by the keeper but Shaun followed up and blasted it in. 4-2.

Players of note Dave Rich, Richard Rudge and Man of the Match Shaun Capper. Great team performance and winning comfortably. Good lads Zion.

St John's Church 3 Pye Green Towers 2

Adam Wall writes: St. Johns kept a 100% record at the expense of hard working Pye Green. I feel I have to mention that despite St John's missing six through different reasons this takes nothing from the away side. We played Pye Green twice pre-season beating them 12-0 and 4-1 and now we've played them in the league I'd like to say there has been a massive improvment each time. They fight every ball and make things difficult for their opposition.

The game started with a goal just two minutes in when Gary Waites of St John's flicked the ball through two defenders for Adam Wall to nod down and slot home. Pye Green continued to compete but found themselves two down when Adam Wall beat two players and crossed for 5'4" Daniel Clarke to HEAD home. Minutes before half time Pye Green were rewarded for their hard work when their striker lobbed the goalkeeper from the tight angle. Half Time 2-1

St John's continued to dominate the football and played lovely stuff but found it hard to find that third goal. It finally came when Peter Wilson whipped a cross which bounced around the box before a wild shot by Jon Blackshaw was turned home by a defender. St John's had many chances now and wasted many but when Jon Holmes finally had the ball in the net TWICE, he found them both ruled out for offside. Not sure on second one but there was a flag and that's that. Pye Green did have one more left late on when there man of the match captain and striker fired home. Full Time 3-2

Much better by Pye Green and three points is all St John's care about.

Dave Spencer adds: We're very aware that after numerous unsuccessful pre-season fixtures, we're almost being written off as a club, but today there were times that we felt we could turn the score our way for once. Both sides had chances but it was St John's who were able to find the net early on and once again at about the thirty minute mark. But keen to fight back we had several chances and eventually David Wright hit a 25 yard shot in lobbing the keeper. HT 2-1.

Quite a battle went on in the second half and all credit should go to both defences for keeping the goals away - Unfortunately a tussle following a corner lead to what I think was an own goal against us. Still keen to fight on, following a few misses captain Gaz Darby was able to find the back of the net showing us why he's our top finisher. FT 3-2.

Despite today being another loss I think it's fair to say we battled hard and showed ourselves that we can do better. Personally I felt Dave Blakesley, Dave Wright and Ash Gilbert on our side put up a huge fight making so many chances today.

Ed - Very pleasing to see Pye Green coming of age today. Like Dave says, they've taken some serious pastings over the summer and that's good for neither them or their opponents. They proved today that they can compete in Division Three; I look forward to them celebrating their first win shortly.

Rockmount United 3 All Nations 1

Shane Wedderburn writes: All Nations went in to this match very low on confidence, as they lost heavily last week. However they can take heart from a magnificent performance despite losing 3-1. The game started evenly, both teams looking to attack from the off. Rockmount will agree they were fortunate to take the lead with a lucky goal. That seemed to knock All Nations a bit and two more mistakes allowed Rockmount to build a three nil lead. The scoreline suggested dominance by Rockmount but it was anything but.

The second half was completely dominated by All Nations and we got that goal we deserved through Sam Jarvis. Unfortunately we weren't able to put away the numerous chances we created. However All Nations can take much encouragement for the rest of the season.

All the best to Rockmount for the rest of the season. Greater things are yet to come.

Brierley Hill AOG 5 Sandwell United 2

Brierley Hill preserved their unbeaten start to the season with a 5-2 win at home to Sandwell United. After hearing stories of Brierley Hill losing 20-0 in a friendly pre-season, I feared the worst. I am pleased to see that they are back with us and competing.

As for Sandwell, they have now lost both of their league matches 5-2 and face Common Ground next week. In fact, most of the matches are top half versus bottom half, so unless a team springs a surprise I can't see anything other than the gap widening between the leaders and also-rans.

Saturday Preview

Division One

With St Mary's netting six and Clarendon ending the day in second, it did seem like normal service was resumed last Saturday.

Amblecote v St Matthew's

St Matthew's open their campaign with an away tie at Amblecote. Both teams have been playing well so far, so I would imagine it will be a close game. Some new faces for St Matthew's this season, so we're not sure what they will deliver. A small tight squad though.

Sheldon v St Mary's

St Mary's appear to be on a roll and despite their small changes in personnel, there doesn't seem to be a change in results. They have one or two players back and a couple of new faces. Sometimes this can upset things, but no sign of that happening yet. I think Sheldon will have their work cut out to get anything out of this game.

St Boniface v Clarendon

St Boniface haven't exactly had it easy in the way the fixtures have come out of the hat. Sometimes in matches a couple of early goals against can cause a team to implode and it all can go to pot. I hope that if St Boniface lose on Saturday that it will not upset their season, they were very much on the up after years in the doldrums. St Boniface have a good team and I was surprised to see them lose by so many against St Mary's. Maybe they'll do better against Clarendon this week-end. I still think that Clarendon will take the points.

Wolverhampton and Perton Churches v Halesowen Zion

Another game that is hard to call between two teams that have similar levels of ability. Wolves will fancy taking the points having lost last week. Two games and no points may start to sow the seeds of doubt.

A three point haul would add to the three that Halesowen captured in a tight game against St Thomas' last week and mean an excellent start for Dave's men.

Zion Athletic v King's AFC

King's open their campaign with an away trip to Zion Athletic who started last week by taking a point from their match with Sheldon. Both sides will be keen to get a win on the board, King's looking to build on last season's excellent third place and Zion in their first year in Division One.

I'm sure it'll be a good game.

Saturday Preview

Division Two

Division Two looks like having a good year again, perhaps the most exciting of the three, with all to play for throughout the year. I think it will take a few weeks before we settle down to who is heading where.

Birmingham International v Rowley College

Two teams who come out of their opening fixture disappointed and on the end of defeats. It sounds like Inter were undone by their own poor finishing last week-end and Rowley by a poor second half performance. Both teams will be wanting to banish the memory of last week's defeats with three points, one side having been relegated from Division One and the other promoted from Division Three. It should be a good match.

Champions Church v Chawn Hill Church

I have to go with a home win here: The big open pitch and the fact that Champions are still undefeated in WMCFL league matches. It'll be their twentieth match unbeaten if they make it.

Dynamo Kingswinford v Bournbrook Athletic

An emotional return to football for Bournbrook and no better way to pay their respects to Adam than to get back to playing football. The team have been up and down over the last few weeks and are missing one or two key players. They'll have their work cut out against a Dynamo side on the up after their 3-0 win last week.

Lighthouse Lions v EK Corinthia

Another corker of a game this Saturday. Lighthouse soaked up last week's challenge from Chawn and opened their Division Two campaign with an excellent three points away at Chawn, whilst EK stunned the League by blasting away MBD 6-0. MBD were below strength, that's for sure, so I can imagine this will be a great game. Was EK's win a flash in the pan, or are they the real deal? We will see.

MBD United v Renewal Solihull

Another game that is hard to call. Was MBD's defeat last week a one off or was a sign of things to come? Solihull opened their season with a win against daughter club Inter but can they add to their three points? I think that with their first XI on the pitch, MBD will be a match for most teams in this division and would be able to beat Solihull. Starting with nine last week got them off on the wrong foot from which they never recovered.

Having said that, Renewal are a good team on their day and could make things difficult for MBD.

Selly Oak Methodist v Walsall Olympic

Selly Oak looked back to their best last week-end and pushed Champions right up until the final whistle. Pastor Burchell made a couple of good saves to keep them at bay. I know that Walsall have lost several players to different clubs towards the end of last season and during the break. Their form dipped in 2009, so I have to go with a home win here.

Saturday Preview

Division Three

A full set of matches in Division Three sees all twelve clubs competing this week-end. It's amazing to think how far the league has come in such a short space of time. We finished the 04/05 season with just sixteen clubs, we now have twenty more teams.

Brierley Hill AOG v Sandwell United

Ian Baker from Brierley Hill pointed out to me that his side are unbeaten in the league so far this season. I think this was a tongue-in-cheek remark to suggest that his team are not the strongest side in the division. You never know with Brierley Hill though, Ian's been playing in WMCFL since its beginnings and as they say, he didn't come down with the last shower of rain.

Whatever the weather, I think Brierley Hill will enjoy their football and as ever spring the odd surprise. Sandwell looked alright last Saturday. They were up against DC Dynamos, who we expect to be challenging for the Division Three title. They took the lead and who knows what would have happened should they have got that second goal?

Sandwell are a capable team who, I hope, will do better than last season. Michael Ferguson looked threatening up front last week and I believe his goals will make the difference this week-end.

Common Ground United v Living Hope Church

One of two 'all new club' fixtures this Saturday. CGU had a great first day last week-end and they will be hoping to double their points tally by ruining Living Hope's debut in WMCFL. Without wishing to insult Pye Green, I think that Living Hope will offer a little more resistance, although I think that CGU will take the points.

Junction Ten Village v Zion City

In my pre-season predictions, I put J10 down as my favourites for the title. After week one, it's looking good, however All Nations came bottom last year. Zion City will pit their wits this week-end; they gave St John's a test last week and 3-1 is no pasting. I rate St John's too, so I would think that Zion will provide a sterner test.

Rockmount United v All Nations

Rockmount will have enjoyed their match last week and will take some energy into this fixture. It's always better to catch up than to be caught and coming back from 4-2 down against one of the stronger teams in the division will have been a boost.

I'd like to say that All Nations will be in this game but Rockmount are a good team and I think they'll beat All Nations.

Sporting Zion v DC Dynamos

I think this is the tastiest tie of the Division Three games this Saturday. From the recent results, both friendly and proper competitive, these two teams appear to be similarly matched and a win for either side will be something to write home about. If I was a betting man, I wouldn't put anything on either team to win.

St John's Church v Pye Green Towers

Quite often in matches, teams will comptete for the majority of the game and then go to pieces for a little while. I understand that's what happened to Pye Green last week. Both teams have put in their preparation before embarking on the new season and from the results we've seen, perhaps St John's have looked a little stronger and with home advantage, I think they'll win this one too.

Saturday Review

More reports have been added with contributions from Ray Rose from Lighthouse Lions, James Gray from St Boniface and Grant Doran from Halesowen Zion.

Thanks chaps and to everyone else that has sent in reports too.

Saturday Review

Well, what a day! I was out with my camera capturing club photos yesterday and managed to get pictures of Sandwell United, Dynamo Kingswinford, DC Dynamos and Rowley College. In addition Paul Taylor sent in a new Chawn photo and Liam Walton did the same for Amblecote. Thanks lads, I'll be publishing them later today unless the wife drags me away from the PC to undertake some kind of domestic chore or family activity. Please let me know who is who on the images so that I can put a face to a scorer on the scorers page.

The day started in a somebre mood as we remembered Adam Earp before the matches in a minute's silence. I managed to get to the end of the Champions Church versus Selly Oak Methodist game. The Selly Oak lads were wearing black armbands; a nice touch gents, very respectful. Adam deserved it.

Normal service appears to have been resumed as St Mary's hit six and remain at the top of the table from last season. Clarendon settle into second with their 2-0 win at home to Wolves. The table needed little adjustment as several other sides sit in similar places. City Church take up the fifth place they finished in last year, although it is on an alphebetical basis at this early stage.

You can draw what conclusions you like but there were forty goals scored in Division Three yesterday, twenty-three in Division Two and just sixteen in Division One. I think perhaps that clubs are more evenly matched further up the League. Just four of the thirty clubs in action yesterday didn't manage to score.

Division One

St Mary's 6 St Boniface 1

A rude awakening for St Boniface, who are welcomed to Division One by the Champions and finding them in ruthless form. Nick Sprason says: St Boniface started better but once Josh Blunt opened the scoring for us we dominated and it was 4-0 by half time.

The second half was a bit scrappy and we scored two more before St Boniface pulled one back in the last five. All in all, it was a good start for us.

James Gray adds: I think I've recovered enough from Saturday, although my back is sore from picking the ball out the net so often. St Mary's were a very organised side all the way through, we huffed and puffed at times forcing them back, I remember four or five corners one after one another. We were looking the stronger side until they broke quickly with a long ball catching our defence very high and me in no-mans-land (probs a good job it went in or I may have walked). The same happened again and by half time 4-0 down.

A good traditional half time talk with all the players airing where and what we were doing wrong! We came out after a change to hopefully injected a little pace in the back three and started playing football like we know we can. I have to give full credit to St Mary's, they were clinical where we were not, lets see if we can bounce back from this!

The ref again was very good!

Clarendon 2 Wolverhampton and Perton Churches 0

Tommy Woodward reports: A good start to the league campaign for us today but we are lacking that killer instinct that we had last season. We controlled the match throughout, with the odd half chance coming from Wolves. Goals from Everton and Lee Roberts were enough to secure the three points, but we have a lot more to give on the pitch.

Richard Webster adds: It was good to meet up with Roger and Clarendon again today, as our previous games have always been very competitive, been reasonably close games and played in the best spirit.

Clarendon opened well and pressured us during the first 20 minutes, but really couldn't make a clear chance to take advantage of. We battled back into the game and started to create some chances of our own, but they were mainly half chances we could not take.

An enforced substitution at half time saw a switch around and again Clarendon pressured the W&P goal, creating a couple of clear and half chances that we dealt with (albeit uncomfortably!) We continued to break well and again saw some half chances not taken, but the eventual pressure from Clarendon told, when they finally put away a chance.

Again we battled away to try and draw level and were caught on the break a number of times as we desperately searched for an equaliser but could not convert, with Clarendon scoring the second killer goal on another break.

Halesowen Zion 2 St Thomas Aldridge 1

So, just three clubs in Division One with maximum points from yesterday. Ominous isn't it? St Thomas' Marc Buller reports on this match: We started our season away at Halesowen today on a pitch that looked like it hadn’t been cut since the end of last season! This was never going to be a game for slick passing and running that was for sure.

The game started quite even with both sides seeming to struggle to create chances on the long grassy pitch except from the occasional ball in the box. We allowed the Halesowen midfield way too much space in the middle which allowed them to get there foot in the game. The first goal of the game went to Halesowen after some poor marking in our own penalty area allowed their player to nod in off a corner. We then lifted our game after the goal went in and came into the game more. We scored our equaliser after a ball from the right hand side was bought down well by Ash Thorpe before knocking it in the back of the net. The first half ended quite even with both teams generally quite happy with how it went.

The second half was a completely different story for St Thomas, we just didn’t turn up. They scored early on from some more poor marking in the box and from then we just looked like we ran out of energy, we didn’t seem to create much and gave them way too much time on the ball. Credit to their midfielders who I thought ran the game for them today, they look a good side and I’m sure they will be up there come the end of the season. Also a well done to the referee who I thought was excellent today, let things go and generally got all the decisions spot on.

All in all not the greatest start for us but I’m sure we will kick on from here.

Dave Walters adds: A great contest on a challenging pitch that looked more like a meadow than a football field (thanks Dudley Council). Both teams coped well with the conditions with some good football.

The first half was an even game with nothing much between the teams until around 35 minutes: Chris Noon got on the end of a corner and fired a super header into the net, only for St Toms to equalise soon after. A mix up in our defence when three defenders could have cleared the ball (other than that, our back four were solid).

The second half saw us take much more control and we soon took the lead through a well taken Mark Boyle goal. For the remainder of the game we looked the most likely to score again but St Toms were never out of it right until the end.

Grant Doran also says: First game of the season and three points on the board, so we couldn't really ask for much more than that. We started brightly and got the ball down well, creating several half chances. As the half went on we felt we had started to get a grip of the game and several times St T's scrambled the ball out of their box when it seemed we would put the ball in the net. When we did finally get the break through it had nothing to do with pretty football instead coming through a corner, with Noony losing his marker and heading home at the front post. Despite the chances that we had St T's always carried a threat and so it proved as an angled cross came in form the left before being stabbed home at the back post by Thorpe. Half time 1-1

The second half was very pleasing for us as we started to take control of the game and limited the opposition to very few half chances. Boyley netted after about ten minutes of the half and although that was the end of the scoring we could have converted several more. The keeper made three great full length saves and we hit the post after Tom Doran beat four men and bent the ball towards goal from the edge of the box. Overall we were happy with the result and the performance and need to make sure we follow up this result with another good display next week.

City Church 1 Amblecote 1

Liam Walton from Amblecote reports: We started well and played some nice football crafting some chances with City's keeper making two terrific saves. Late in the half we lost Pete our centre half and had to re-arrange things.

City piled the pressure on in the second half and with some better finishing would have taken the lead earlier than they did with ten minutes left. We didn't let our heads drop and Jon Doman scored with about five to go with his head having missed a couple of earlier headers.

Last season I think we would have lost this after conceeding so late, but this year we kept going and responded well.

Finally can I pass on the condolences to Adam Earp's family from all at Amblecote.

Simon Ashby adds: A really excellent game today with both teams creating chances, looking sharp; not the cagey opening day fixture it could have easily been.

In the first 20 minutes we were definitely on top and created two or three really excellent chances to go one up. City then came back into the game up until half time and were the better team, so 0-0 at the interval was a fair reflection of a good half.

In the second half again, it really could have gone either way, with City looking sharper on the counter attack and Amblecote possibly shading it in terms of passing and again chances to both teams came and went. We thought we had blown it as a long clearance was buried by the City striker with about 15 minutes left, but to our credit we upped the tempo a bit and near the end a great cross from Curtis Jordan was headed home by Jon 'Dozza' Doman to earn a deserved draw.

Early to say but am hopeful that both teams will be top half of the league this year as both looked to have some really class players on show.

And Martin Ogbourn says: Today's game was a great advert for WMCFL as it was competitive, but played in a good spirit and demonstrated some nice football in patches. Overall it was certainly a game of 'four quarters' (not 'two halves'). Amblecote started and ended the game on the offensive and City played some good, and determined football before and after half time.

The first half was pretty combative, but narrow and cagey with few clear chances. City had a goal disallowed after probably the move of the game, and also hit the post from a Daniel Atkins chip, but Amblecote had a couple of one on one chances on the break which were well saved by Chris Chattaway in the City goal. It took City 25 minutes to settle into the game, but City finished the half strongly.

For the first section of the second half City dominated possession and had a string of clear chances to take the lead, yet it took until around the 75th minute for Paul Snelgrove to drive home a through ball with a clinical finish to give City the lead. However, this seemed to spur on Amblecote rather than City, and they equalised from a headed goal off a long throw to the back post with a few minutes remaining.

In the end a draw was a pretty fair result, although it was disappointing to concede a late equaliser after we created enough chances to have put the game out of sight in the second half; this included a second disallowed goal, and several 1-1 missed opportunities.

City are still settling down after the summer moves, and there is certainly room for improvement and much more to come, but one game doesn't make a season and we are off the mark with a point. Johnathon Sheppard, Chirs Chattaway and Dave Cooper deserve special recognition for excellent individual performances. Also a special mention to the referee (Gary Clinton) who had a very good all round game.

Finally it is very sad to hear about the death of Adam Earp. Adam played some games for City, and also played five-a-side with us. He was always a thoroughly decent and positive character and will be sorely missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time. "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34v18"

Sheldon 1 Zion Athletic 1

Honours even at Saltley as these sides show how competitive Division One is currently. Whatever you play, I think it's important that you and your opposition are evenly matched and largely that's what we are seeing in Division One. Naturally, as talented teams enter the league, it'll take a season or three until they find their level. I think that these teams will be battling to stay in the division rather than a Champions League place.

Tim Atkins celebrated the recent birth of his new son with a goal for his team.

James Hamilton says: We came in to today's opener having had a dreadful pre-season, with only one draw and three defeats, coupled with a depleted squad for our opening match. Our confidenece was low but soon we put all that behind us with a battling performance and a well earned point.

The first half was a tight 45 mins with both teams creating little and giving little away. The second half came to life when they scored from a cross come shot that on a better day, could have been kept out. In pre-season this would be the point where our heads went down and we would have let in 2 or 3 more. But we showed great character and pulled level with a debut goal from Jonathan Barrett with 15 minutes left on the clock. But for hitting the woodwork more than once and a fine goalkeeping display from Sheldon's number 1, we would have come away with all three points. Overall we are happy with our improvement and an away point and look forward to next Saturday's visit of King's. Thanks for a good game today Sheldon. I am sure they will hold their own this season.

Lyndon Fisher adds: A tight first half by both sides with midfield and defensive battles cancelling out what few chances were made. Second half was a lot more open, both sides playing attacking football. Sheldon opened the scoring with a shot by Tim Atkins, which looped over the keeper's head into the top corner of the net.

Zion came back at us only to find our man of the match keeper Paul Rushton in great form. They hit the woodwork, we hit the woodwork, but deserved their equaliser scored by a player who signed on the morning, how often will that happen this season? quite often I suspect. A fair result I think for both sides.

Good luck to Zion for the rest of the season.

Division Two

EK Corinthia 6 MBD United 0

Well there's a result we didn't expect. To be fair, I think that MBD had one of those days. It happens every so often in football, whether you are a player, manager, referee, fan or whatever; some days you just wished you'd just not bothered. MBD played about half an hour of this match with fewer than eleven men on the pitch and had some key players missing but to be fair to EK, they looked the part yesterday.

Chris Morrison says: What a start! With EK missing what you 'could' say some key players, the eleven we fielded really stepped up to the plate and delivered for this game with the midfield really shining.

MBD started with nine players as there was a mix up and two players went to their home ground. EK took advantage of this and went 1-0 up within two minutes with a goal from Chris Morrison. EK soon doubled their lead with a goal from Luke Perkins, a great header. Then after ten minutes MBD were at full strength. EK kept pressing and Luke added another goal dribbling right through the defence to calmly put the ball past the MBD keeper. Within two minutes EK added a fourth: A great passing move and then a great goal from Nick.

The second half was as we expected a little tougher. Although EK kept the passing game going MBD never dropped their heads and didn't give up on the game with our new keeper making two one-on-one saves. It wasn't until the last ten minutes where EK got two quick fire goals one from Ash and the other to complete the hatrick from Luke Perkins. I can't quite remember if it was the perfect left, right and header but well done anyway!

EK, in the first half especially, have never been seen playing such good football, passing and moving. EK have really strengthened well and long may it continue. I'm just wondering how I'm going to pick a team next week witheveryone back; oh well if Sir Alex can do it, I'm sure I can! Well done to MBD for never giving up, they are a good footballing side and will get a few decent results this season.

Rowley College 0 Dynamo Kingswinford 3

Jason Russell says: Our first competitive game of the season after our disappointment of relegation last season pitched us against fellow demoted team Rowley College.

The first half was very evenly split with both teams looking rusty from close season and adjusting to the high winds at Lion Farm. The second half was something different with DK moving up a gear. Two of our goals came from general play and it was surprising that both wingers got the early goals, that were well taken. Stalwart Dave Abel used his good foot and Robert Waddams actually ran at pace. Rowley lost heart at this stage and the needle from the first half grew but thankfully common sense prevailed.

From the front to the back all our players showed the commitment that I knew they had and we won today as a team. Our final goal came from the highly experienced Gary Lamsdale who had a couple of chances in the first half but took this chance with a powerful thunderbolt of a pass back, but when you have been where we have you take anything.

In summary I was delighted by our team's performance. (Our first win for 12 months). It was gritty at times and determined. The blend of new & old, youth & experience showed that we have potential. It was a great performance even with five players unavailable today. We showed some of the old DK spirit and the excitement was coming back but we know we have a long way to go, with lessons that we still need to learn. One thing for sure is we will not be taking anything for granted. Rowley played with spirit and were unlucky that they caught us on our first good day. They are a good bunch of lads and will come good.

Pete Bennett adds: What was intended to be Rowley Reloaded (with SIX debutants all doing well) turned into Rowley Misfired while my back was turned! Having persuaded Mark Southall to pick the team this season I settled into my General Manager role with anticipation.

As ever our season coincides with my university's graduation so I knew I had to be suited and off before the end. To make it worse Mark had a wedding and had to leave after 55 minutes. At that point it was totally even 0-0 and every chance of our usual draw (or one side nicking it). As Mark and I walked to the changing rooms I gave him a very positive review of how 'steady' (a good word when you've come as close to going out of business as we have) we'd looked. I got changed into my finery and he slipped off to his friend's matrimonials and I walked back across to return the key and maybe see a winner? In the intervening 15 minutes we'd shipped three goals and the game had become, uncharacteristically for our games versus DK, a little petulant, which left a sour taste as I couldn't stay around to sort it out.

Matt Stanton was excellent for us and I'm sure we can learn a lot from the difference between being in a game and falling out of it. All the best, as ever to DK.

Champions Church 3 Selly Oak Methodist 1

Shawn Devonport reports: Well when I saw I'd drawn out the fixtures and the computer gave ourselves against Selly Oak first game I knew we were in for a big big game. They were up for it, wanting to be the first team to beat us in the league and were up for the first game of the season.

In first half Selly Oak were the better team by far, they outbattled us and had the lion's share of the chances. They didn't create too many clear cut openings but they made our keeper work a few times and had numerous corners. It was from a corner that they opened the scoring when Rob Moody cleared off the line and their player was first to react. They had also had a goal cleared off the line and were by far the better team. We then created a few opportunites ourselves with straight from the re-start Rion Mills having a lob cleared off the line and Josh Ball being wasteful when free in the box. We had a late penalty shout turned down when Rion was free in the box but it was 1-0 to Selly Oak at half time and they fully deserved it.

Second half and the tables turned. We made a few tactical changes bringing Gouley on up front and shifting Josh Ball out wide and Ralphy coming on at left back. We were now creating the chances and after some good pressure we equalised when Josh Ball drifted in at the far post and all though it seemed to hit his hand the referee gave it and that was our bit of good fortune. We were then soon 2-1 up when Mark Goule again drifted in at the far post and although Selly Oak were adamant it was off-side their linesman spotted the full back who stayed on the post and the goal was rightly given. Selly Oak then finally kicked into gear and hit the post and then had a goal dissalowed, I think it was offside but our linesman was a little behind play and gave it a bit late but the referee was adamant it was offside. We then made it 3-1 when I turned my man on the half way line and ran and shot, the keeper saved well but there was Gouley for his second when he tapped in, again Selly Oak appealed for offside but that one was more out of hope than expectation. We closed the game out and should have got more goals but for some wasteful finishing and some great last ditch blocks. Selly Oak had a couple of late chances with the very good and man of the match number nine forcing the keeper into a good save and also blasting wide when in a good position.

This was a very good game with Selly Oak impressing me, they battle for each other and there work rate is top class. The number nine up front and the two wingers were very impressive and the small centre midfielder had a very good first half and the number three at the back saved them on numerous occasions. I have no doubt they will be up there come the end of the season. For us we didn't play well at all first half and still could have raised it a few more levels second half but its all about the three points. One thing we seem to be good at is grinding out wins and this one could be a vital three points come the end of the season.

It's Chawn Hill next week which will now doubt be a battle!

Ed adds: Debate is raging in WMCFL concerning referee's fees and linesmen. I had a chat with Rob O'Neill from Selly Oak after the game. He mentioned the incident that Shawn alluded to: Champions were winning 2-1 and Selly Oak put the ball in the net. Champions' club lineman was not up with play but still flagged for off-side. Champions then scored soon after: 3-1 instead of 2-2.

Rob accepted the decision very sportingly (by the time he was talking to me that is) but he did say that should there have been a paid assistant, there would have been little to debate: Whilst Rob is not made of money, he was saying that it would have been £18 well spent.

I can understand the budgetary strains on clubs but most people want to improve our league and the provision of independent, paid assistant referees is certainly a major step forward and fairly unique at this level of football.

Chawn Hill Church 3 Lighthouse Lions 4

Paul Taylor reports: A disappointing start to the new season for Chawn who have expectant hopes for the coming year. Lighthouse played some nice football and took their goal scoring opportunities with great efficiency.

The first half consisted of intense Chawn pressure but squandered chance after chance which is uncharacteristic of Chawn of late, the inevitable happened when Lighthouse scored their first goal which has to be said was a fine 25yrd strike. 1-0 half time

Chawn started the second half strong but yet again failed to trouble the keeper and resulted in them fading as Lighthouse took control of the game displaying good passing and well taken goals. Chawn finally hit the net three times through, Greg Jones, Daz Lloyd and Jamie Sutton but was not enough.

Chawn displayed both the good and the bad side to their game as numerous goal scoring chances missed and poor decision making were the end products of some fluent passing moves which was indicative of their Championship 2005 performances. Chawn plan to put today's fixture behind them and firmly concentrate on their away fixture to Champions Church obtain three points which would confirm Chawn's high expectations for the season.

Also we hope a hamstring injury to Matthew Taylor will be OK for next week.

Ray Rose adds: Today saw Lighthouse Lions venture into Division Two, with a good display against a Chawn Hill side who gave us a very good game.

Chawn Hill came out firing from the off and for the first five minutes dominated the game creating half chances. As we started to find our feet a good move from Adam Powell found Lewis Cotterill just outside the box, who scored with his rightfoot. More chances followed and we feel unlucky to have missed when James Doris was just wide. Lighthouse were using both wings and Craig Marshall was causing havoc from wide positions. Chawn Hill made chances as well and the first half made for a very good game of football.

Second Half, and straight from the kick off Chawn Hill came out all guns blasing, but our defence held well, marshalled by John Constable who was very commanding. On 56 minutes, a through ball by John Constable was converted by Adam Elcock inside the penalty area we were now two up.

To their credit, that spurred Chawn Hill on and within two minutes they came back with a really good goal. This did nothing to dishearten our players who fought well and again hit back when Craig Marshall got down the right and sent over an excellent ball that Adam Elcock chested down and hit a clinical right foot past the keeper. On 74 minutes Carl Jones sent over another good ball for Lewis Cotterill to head home and we were 1-4 up.

Chawn Hill were still not finished though and their comeback was with two goals in five minutes to make it 4-2.

What a great way to start our Division Two experience. We thank Neil for making us welcome and wish Chawn Hill all the best this season.

Birmingham International 1 Renewal Solihull 2

Brian Follows reports: A really good game of football played in a great spirit. Renewal started well but it was Inter who took the lead: A fine individual goal but Renewal responded quickly with two goals from Scott Murrell.

The second half started with two great chances for Inter which they could not convert. Some fine keeping from Pete Miller also denied them. Renewal missed some good chances of their own but rode their luck aganst a fine Inter side.

Kwesi Okanta-Ofori jnr adds: We started slowly and they applied some moderate pressure for the first fifteen minutes or so, after which we scored a lovely goal on the counter.

They got a scrappy equaliser and a decent, if not possibly offside second, inbetween us not capitalising on numerous chances.

An encouraging performance; poor result.

Division Three

I think that in Division Three, we will see the largest range of ability, with clubs coming in that would probably cope with life in Division One. Whilst it isn't unheard of to put new clubs into higher divisions, I'm not sure how it would go down with other teams.

All Nations 0 Junction Ten Village 11

A bumper day out for J10 in their maiden outing in WMCFL. Village had shown in pre-season that they were a force to be reckoned with and so taking on last year's bottom team was unlikely to be a massive challenge.

I do hope that All Nations have better days than this.

Pye Green Towers 2 Common Ground United 8

I do think that we will see at least two mini leagues forming in Division Three (unofficially) with those who struggle and those who are up for promotion. CGU have come a long way since they played their first friendly and will be bouncing after a highly successful WMCFL debut.

Sandwell United 2 DC Dynamos 5

I watched the first half of this match and whilst DC looked like they were always going to win, Sandwell were in this game during the opening exchanges. DC were a little unlucky to hit the bar a couple of times but in the meantime, Michael Ferguson had slotted in the first goal of the game for Sandwell to complete a superb Sandwell move. Sandwell came very close with two or three efforts but then came DC's equaliser; it was a peach. Adam Bradshaw picked the ball up in Sandwell's half and unleashed an excellent twenty-five yarder into the bottom corner. DC moved into the lead with Ben Russell tapping in a ball rolled across the goal face. I had to leave then.

Mark Crouch tells the full story: A small pitch and long grass made for a scrappy unattrative game to watch but when DC took their time and passed the ball they looked different class today. Be that as it may but it was Sandwell who took the lead with a well worked goal. Their striker slipping the ball under the advancing keeper. DC finally woke up and started to play the ball around, laying it off and running and passing into space. Soon it was 1-1 as Adam Bradshaw cutting inside and hitting a sweet shot into the right hand side of their goal from well outside the 18 yard box. DC made it 2-1 as Ben Russell scored a well taken goal. Ben had a great game and had their right back in his pocket. DC had finally woken up and greated more chance by far. Hitting the cross bar twice as Steve Burford and Adam Bradshaw were unfortunate. 2-1 DC Half Time.

DC started the second half far brighter and were soon 3-1 up. Adam Bradshaw scored his second, Clint Dudson sending the ball in from the right he turned shot, the defender blocked and Adam hit it in on the ground and in. Sandwell came right back in it with a really well taken freekick from outside the DC area. 3-2 DC

An inspired substitution from the Manager saw Chris Gee come on for Dean Cole and the impact was immediate as the substitute hit a sweet shot to make it 4-2. It was end to end stuff with Sandwell hitting the post and DC's keeper Gavin Preist pulling off a couple of great saves but it was DC who finshed the stronger putting the game to bed. Ben Russell scoring his second this time with the assist from Chris Gee. 5-2 DC.

Man of the match for us was Adam Bradshaw who's first half performance was outstanding. We play Sporting next week and can put out our strongest eleven for the first time this season. Good luck to Sandwell as the game was played in a great spirit.

Zion City 1 St John's Church 3

St John's Adam Wall reports: St John's came out of their first ever WMCFL game as deserved winners thanks to goals from front men Adam Wall and Jon Holmes.

St John's controlled the game throughout although Zion made it very diffcult to play. Good play between Ash Hamer and Daniel Clarke allowed Adam Wall to control the ball in the box and slot home St John's first ever goal. It was Jon Holmes's turn next as he slotted into a empty net after the goalkeeper dropped him the ball. It was Jon again not long after but this a little more spectacularly volleying home from a tight angle.

Zion continued to give everything and were rewarded when Thomas Queensborough headed home a fine move. Three points collected at first time of asking good start from St John's.

Rockmount United 4 Sporting Zion 4

Perhaps the most exciting match of the week-end as Rockmount came back from what seemed like an insurmountable deficit to draw the match. Phill Turner says: A great game which was well contested. Rockmount goals from Jamal Thomas and an amazing second-half hat-trick from substitute Matthew Parnell.

Sporting's Dave Guttridge adds: Wow, what a game to start the season! Both started well but it was Sporting who took the lead with a deflected goal from Jay. Rockmount hit back with a well taken goal. We then stepped it up for the last few mins of first half and took the lead again with a great strike from Josh.

The second half started slowly with Rockmount making it 2-2. We then made it 4-2 with goals from Ash and Moss but Rockmount bounced back to make it 4-4 at full time.

Two good teams going for a win.

Referees' Fees

After a debate, an increase to the Match Officials' fees was voted through at the SGM last night. Referees in WMCFL will get £25 from today and Assistants £18.

The change is to bring WMCFL in line with other leagues at this level. This does add a little bit of extra pressure to your Club Secretary's job (or Treasurer if you have one). If they are asking for a little bit more every week, then you will know one of the reasons why. Make sure you pay your subs.

Terry Knott - Just a quick word to say a big 'thank-you' to Terry Knott. Terry officiated in WMCFL for many years and was one of our most respected and able referees. I'm sorry to say that he is retiring due to injury. A tough job done well.

Cheers Terry.

Rockmount United

Please note: Rockmount United have moved home ground to Cooksey Lane, Kingstanding. Please see their club page for details.

Please check your details on the club pages to ensure I have everything correctly listed.

Many thanks - Ed

Sheldon v Landrover

On a rainy evening in Earlswood, we played our final freindly against Landrover. A good competitive game marred by a leg injury to Andy Brotherton who had to go to hospital; the guilty player took no further part in the remainder of the game. We came out 3.2 winners, with one our new signings Craig Shipley scoring two goals, Dean Starling the other.

Overall a good final workout for the team. Bring on Saturday.

Reporting Results

Notice to Club Secretaries: With the record number of clubs now in the league, I would be grateful for some help when reporting results:

Please email or text your result and scorers within three hours of the conclusion of your fixture.

If you are sending a match report with a notification of result and scorers, please start your report with the result and scorers clearly stated at the top of the email.

Match reports are greatly received; I will do my best to include them where possible. If you are sending a report, emails are preferable to texts as I can copy and paste them saving time.

St Boniface

James Gray says: We had a friendly tonight against a Sunday morning team. We played the last weds and beat them 2-1 with a weakened side, tonight we played with an almost full strength team. Walsh ref'd for us as all the refs have gone missing. We played a lot better tonight and beat them 4-2 with goals coming from Jimmy 3 and Obi (trademark overhead kick - well it seems to be getting that way). I'm sure we scored more but as no one knows we'll settle for four.

Another debut tonight from Danny T at centre-back - looks like a strong addition!

Walsall Olympic

Are currently looking for a manager. If you are interested, please contact Gareth Walsh at berty_24@hotmail.co.uk or on 07731460593

Saturday Preview: Division One

City Church v Amblecote

City showed great promise at times last season, drawing with St Mary's and losing narrowly in the last minute to Clarendon. Is it their season? Well, we'll find out shortly. Amblecote's form ebbed and flowed last time out, starting badly but at times not turning good performances into points, for example pushing St Mary's all the way in the first game of last season, only to lose 2-1.

I have predicted contrasting fortunes for these two teams over the coming season, so I'll have to stick with it and say 'home win'.

Clarendon v Wolverhampton and Perton Churches

Clarendon have experienced difficulties at the start of the season on more than one occasion and after seeing them lose last week, Wolves must hope that they've caught Clarendon at a good time to play them.

If W&P turn up with their best side, then they would stand a chance anyway but should Everton Morrison play then the Wolves would need to use all their nous to combat his speed. I do expect Clarendon to win this one.

Halesowen Zion v St Thomas' Aldridge

After predicting Halesowen would be in the top half of the table and St Thomas in the bottom. And the fact that Halesowen are at home, should be a banker for a Halesowen victory. But I've just got a funny feeling that St Thomas will win this one, perhaps a high scoring game too.

Two of the league's all time top scorers are likely to feature: Mark Hadden at number one with 107 goals has been in typical form close season and fourth highest Tom Doran with 73 hopes to add to that total for his team, Halesowen. Tom's also the Division One Player of the Year. To see the full list of top scorers, click on Archive.

Sheldon v Zion Athletic

I think this will be a close match between two evenly matched sides. Sheldon's pre-season preparations took a boost in the last two games they played, whereas Zion were beaten by EK and new team Sporting in theirs. Zion were a bit unpredictable last season as they have been in previous years. Three points will be an excellent start for either side.

St Mary's v St Boniface

St Mary's dispatched St Boniface in the semi-final of the Cup last season. The result was 3-0 but I suspect that the match was closer than the scoreline suggests. St Bees will want to avenge that result but will face an uphill task, as St Mary's will be riding on the crest of a wave having beaten Clarendon last week.

But a St Boniface firing on all cylinders are a very capable outfit and were one of the top scoring teams in the league last year. And they have been banging in the goals in pre-season; we could see a goal fest.

Without the result from last week I'd have predicted a possible shock away win but after that performance I think that St Mary's will open up the defence of the title with three points.

Adam

Adam's Earp's funeral is to be held on Monday 7 September at 12.00 at Lodgehill Cemetery. Bournbrook's match with Walsall Olympic on 5 September has been postponed.

This was earlier published at 11.00. I'm sure the family would like some support if you can make it.

Saturday Preview: Division Two

Champions Church v Selly Oak Methodist

A very interesting fixture this week-end. Champions are fresh from a superb debut season, where they beat almost everybody. On top of that they have had an excellent close season, beating everyone; I think!

Selly Oak have also looked very strong pre-season scoring goals for fun, so it's going to be a big game. I fully expect Champions to win but I'm not ruling out a shock. If Selly Oak do manage to overcome the favourites for this division it would blow the Championship wide open on the first day.

Chawn Hill Church v Lighthouse Lions

Another big match where both teams will want to bank three points. Always a tough trip down to South Road to face Chawn and Lighthouse are probably one of the furthest away from Stourbridge to boot. Both sides have looked good pre-season and I'm sure are raring to go. A hard one to judge but I'm going for a 2-2 draw.

EK Corinthia v MBD United

You'd expect MBD to win this one but EK showed a spark last Saturday in beating Zion Athletic. If EK have turned over a new leaf, then a home win against MBD is the place to prove it. For MBD, they'll enjoy the big flat pitch at Moor Lane and will want three points from this one if they are to start off on the right foot.

Birmingham International v Renewal Solihull

Kwesi reckons that Inter will finish in the top two this season, well three points from this match will set them on their way. The fact that Inter were spawned from Renewal will add a little spice and with Renewal, you never know what you are going to get.

The fact that Solihull are perennial slow starters persuades me to go with a home win prediction.

Rowley College v Dynamo Kingswinford

Two teams that have been around the clock a bit. Dynamo have won the Cup three times and gone well close in the league. Rowley have won them both. Both clubs were relegated from Division One, promoted and relegated again.

Both clubs have had good close seasons, signing players. The fact that Chris Sweetmore is back for Dynamo will be a major boost. Both teams will want to set out their stalls for the coming year and the result may be a good indicator as to how things will pan out over the coming months.

Adam

Adam's Earp's funeral is to be held on Monday 7 September at 11.00 at Lodgehill Cemetery. Bournbrook's match with Walsall Olympic on 5 September has been postponed.

Saturday Preview: Division Three

It's been another superb close season for WMCFL, with half a dozen new teams joining the league. There have been plenty of pre-season friendlies taking place, with many people updating me of results and writing extensive reports. It's great to collate them here.

So the big kick-off is just a few days away. With one or two of the teams exercising their right for a postponement, the fixture list is not quite the full eighteen matches but with thirt-two teams in action, it's WMCFL's busiest ever Saturday.

All Nations v Junction Ten Village

Junction Ten come out pre-season looking like one of the stronger sides in the division, with some impressive results, whilst All Nations finished last year as the bottom team in WMCFL having taken just a point from their exploits. I've not heard anything from All Nations during the summer but you'd expect J10 to win this one easily.

Pye Green Towers v Common Ground United

The only all new team tie this Saturday sees CGU travel up to Cannock to take on Pye Green. It will be an interesting encounter as neither side seemed to be used to playing football at this level. Both teams have played extensively throughout the summer and before, in the case of Pye Green who managed to arrange about twenty friendlies.

Pye Green seemed a little more organised and have home advantage, whereas Common Ground have a little more flair and individually are blessed with more technical skill. I think CGU may win this one but it may be close.

Rockmount United v Sporting Zion

Last season I was being told on a regular basis how well Rockmount played, described by some as the best team in the division. However, the excellent performances only produced eight wins from their eighteen matches. Rockmount need to get off on the right foot if they are to challenge for a promotion place again this year but they are up against a quality side this week-end. A quick flick at the new Sporting Zion photo on their club page reveals a team with a blend of youth and experience; always a good combination. They come into this game having beaten Division One's Zion Athletic. And whilst this had the added incentive of being a local derby and a match against mates, beating a top flight side will be a big boost to their confidence.

Whilst we haven't even started yet, Rockmount and Sporting could be front-runners this year, so I'd say it's an important match. I'm plumping for a draw.

Sandwell United v DC Dynamos

Sandwell ended last season cast adrift at the bottom of Division Two, however they began to look like a side on the up. Whilst they were still getting beaten, results were improving and they were competing with teams instead of getting rolled over.

But DC are looking determined to make something of this season, using last year's excursion into WMCFL's Division Three as a reconnaissance mission. The Division Three crown is their goal, so they need to win here. I expect a DC win.

Zion City v St John's Church

The last of the Division Three games sees St John's travel to East Park in Wolverhampton to take on Zion City, formerly known as Shiloh United. Zion are under new leadership this year with Roberto Gocan standing down as boss. We may see a new approach from the Doves; perhaps they'll be the Hawks this season?

Whilst St John's are a new club, there are many familiar names in the line-up. Several of their players played for St Matthew's, transferred en-bloc to West Bromwich Beacons and have set up this side themselves.

I'm going for an away win in this tie, and deeming last Saturday's mauling at the hands of Selly Oak as a Bank Holiday blip.

Best of luck to everyone in Division Three.

Ed's Predictions

I've been gradually writing my predictions over the past few weeks, taking note of what player changes I've heard about and factoring friendly results. I managed to finish them last week and was ready to publish and then we had a raft of friendly results and the Kevin Kovacs trophy.

I'll be honest, I thought St Mary's were going to be turned over by Clarendon yesterday. I thought City would start with a bang but have not turned in any results (that I know of) pre-season. I thought Dynamo would struggle this year, basing my rationale on their lack of goals; then I hear Chris Sweetmore is back and Neil Hambly played for them yesterday.

EK seemed to be getting pounded pre-seaon, then they beat Division One ZIon Athletic, albeit narrowly yesterday. I hear that St John's were heavily beaten yesterday too. So, most of what I have written appears to have been blown out of the water. I was going to revamp the lot, then I thought 'forget it, I'll put the page up anyway'.

So, by popular appeal, you can click here to read how I think everyone's going to do.

Ed's Pre-Season Predictions 2009/10