Week ending 28th October by Mason Norton

In Everards Brewery Division One, Anstey Town continue to sail along serenely, defeating Birstall United Reserves 4-2 on Saturday, Joe Harris (2), Casey Richardson and Jordan Small scoring for Town, Kian Robinson and Geraint Price for Birstall. Hinckley LR Reserves stayed in second after a 5-0 win over Kirby Muxloe Reserves, with Josh King and Sam Carroll scoring first-half braces, Harry Smith shortly after the break making it five, which was enough for Leicester Road. Hinckley, however, are 10 points off the lead, and have only one game in hand. Fourth-placed Dunton & Broughton United have not played since 7 October, but could be breathing down Anstey's neck if they were to win their four games in hand- however, short of that, Anstey look well-set to echo their achievements of the mid-2000s, when they regularly won the Div1 crown.

At the bottom of the table, Barrow Town Reserves' ordeal continued, when they failed to raise a side for the third time this season, this time failing to send a side to promotion contenders Leicester Atletico. The previous two no-shows resulted in walkovers for the other side; it will be a decision for the Management Committee as to what action will be taken on this occasion. Barrow Reserves, as a reminder, are the only side in the LSL this term without a point.

They are now eight points adrift of safety, after Sporting Markfield made the battle for the relegation spot interesting when they secured their first win of the season, 2-0 at home to Holwell Sports Reserves, Reece Dando and Connor Helps scoring both goals in the second half. Markfield remain in the bottom two, but are now just three points behind Holwell. Ingles Development put a bit of distance between themselves and the fight at the bottom after winning 2-0 against Sutton Bonington, Luke Allard and Louis Clarke for Ingles, that game being moved from Sutton to the 3G pitch at Quorn, and kick-off being brought forward to 11.30am, after SB's pitch continued to be unfit owing to last week's heavy rain.

There were just two games in Everards Brewery Division Two. A local derby for Mountsorrel Amateurs and Rothley Imperial, which was also moved because of the weather affecting the pitch at Mountsorrel. Rothley took a 2-1 lead at half-time, thanks to goals from Simon Harper and Lennon Stephenson, but Jensen Kenny's hat-trick, along with a strike from Chris Yates, saw Mountsorrel come out 4-2 winners, drawing level on points with second-placed St Patricks, who were on the sidelines this week- Mountsorrel, however, have played two games more, and have an inferior goal difference. At the other end of the table, Loughborough remain at the foot of the standings, propping up the LSL after a heavy 8-1 defeat at home to Melton Town Academy, a brace of braces for Kairo Edwards-John and Cameron Roberts, Oliver Borland, Henry Dunn, Sheunusu Kanonda and Tarik Mokhtar for Melton, Dylan Henderson for Luffs.

Apart from St Patricks and Desford & Caterpillar Reserves, all of the teams in Div2 are now at the halfway point of their campaign already. In light of that, the LSL's Management Committee are to introduce a Div1/2 cup comprising 4 divisions consisting of the 19 clubs that will provide extrat games.
The final tie outstanding in the first round of the City Goldsmiths President's Trophy was played this weekend, rescheduled from last Saturday, which saw Div2 leaders Loughborough Students Development win 5-0 away at Desford & Caterpillar Reserves, Owen James scoring twice, Andrew Hall, Henry Hazell and Hugo Stephenson adding the other goals.

That rounds up the action on the pitch this week. As you know, this weekend saw the clocks go back an hour with the end of British Summer Time for 2023 (though that might be a surprise for some to learn that we had one...), so from next Saturday onwards through to the end of February, all kick-offs in the LSL will be at 2pm, with the exception of clubs with functioning floodlights that wish to use them, where kick-off will remain at 3pm- readers are invited to check Full-Time to see whether their game kicks off at 2pm or 3pm.

Divisions One & Two both take a break next weekend owing to the second round of the County Cups, with the Intermediate Cup for Div1 sides and the Saturday Trophy for Div2 outfits. The latter contains perhaps the most interesting tie, as St Patricks welcome Loughborough Students Development, the top two Div2 teams facing each other. Next weekend, we will have Ramble Round the Premier for the Premier Divison games, and Ramble Round the County Cups for next weekend's games across all three county cups. See you then.