Combined Counties Review: 12/02/2017
- Johnnie Lowery
- Feb 13, 2017
- 2 min read
It was a high scoring weekend in the Combined Counties League as the story took several interesting twists.
Badshot Lea, who had been without a win in seven games secured a 4-3 home win against a Walton & Hersham side 4th place in the table, bouncing back from conceding an early goal to gain a vital three points. Not to be outdone bottom side Bedfont & Feltham also scored four in a 4-2 win over Horley Town. The result broke a streak of four straight defeats for the Middlesex side. Wins for the two bottom sides meant Chertsey Town’s 3-0 home defeat against Epsom & Ewell was particularly costly. It was game over by half time really as the Salts stormed into a three goal lead before the interval. The other side firmly involved in the relegation battle, Raynes Park Vale, were hammered 6-1 at runaway leaders Hartley Wintney, Sam Argent reaching 50 goals for the season in that one – a quite incredible achievement given it’s still only February! The gap at the top is now 23 points, with Hanworth Villa now the side in 2nd spot. They beat Guildford City 2-1 on Saturday, despite an early own goal giving the visitors the lead. Knaphill’s poor form continued with a 2-1 home defeat against CB Hounslow, the visitors now being well away from the relegation battle. The recent good form of Sutton Common Rovers has taken them too away from the drop zone, but they slipped up on Saturday losing 1-0 at home to Bedfont Sports, Matt Riggs with the goal to give Sports their first win of 2017. There was decent entertainment at Farnham Town, who came from two down to equalise against Abbey Rangers, only to see the newly promoted side get a late winner. Neither Colliers Wood nor Windsor have been particularly consistent form-wise this season, with the game between the two sides at Wibbandune at the weekend finishing 2-0 to Windsor, two goals in five second half minutes doing the job.
There were a number of postponements in Division One, with Bagshot stealing the headlines in the games that were played with a 7-2 win at home to struggling Farleigh Rovers, Jordan Merriman scoring a hattrick on his return to the club. Farleigh’s fellow strugglers Dorking were defeated 3-1 at Sheerwater. The young Chicks were level at half time but slipped away slightly in the second half, an encouraging performance nonetheless. Elsewhere in Division One Worcester Park beat Staines Lammas 2-1 and Eversley & California and Chessington & Hook played out a 2-2 draw.