It was another good weekend for AFC Flixton, while Oakhill Lions, Maccabi Manchester 2nd and Heaton Park Rovers notched up impressive victories in the Shonn Trophy. Darren Witcoop reflects on all the action.
PETER MORRISON TROPHY
LEEDS MACCABI 1ST 2 SOUTH MANCHESTER SPORTS CLUB 3
South Manchester set up a mouth-watering clash against Maccabi Manchester following a thrilling 3-2 victory over Leeds, with the ice-cool Toby Levy settling a high-octane affair from the penalty spot late on.
Adam Gilman had put Leeds in front, but quickfire strikes from Marc Yaffe and Marc Addis turned the game on its head in South's favour. South skipper Mike Stratton was sent off and Leeds levelled when Bradley Lander levelled the scores. Levy then converted for the 10 men of South and they breathed a huge sigh of relief when Gilman blazed over with a stoppage-time spot-kick.
South boss Jody Marks told JC Sport: "I am proud of my players. We have created a never-say-die attitude over the last couple of years and I'm not sure in years gone by we would have come away with a victory after going down to 10 men with the wind in our faces."
Leeds boss Simon Marks told JC Sport: "If the game had gone to extra-time, then I would have really fancied our chances of going on to win. However, we wish South Manchester the best of luck in the next round and hope they go on to do really well in the competition."
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MANCHESTER ACCOUNTANTS LEAGUE CUP
AFC FLIXTON 1 IRAQ FC 0
Super-sub Daniel Garmen struck with his first touch to send Accounts League Premier Division basement boys Iraq FC crashing out.
Flixton joint-manager Stuart Delmonte told JC Sport: "The important thing was to get through and we achieved our task, even though it was not pretty.
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SHONN TROPHY QUARTER-FINAL FIRST LEG
AFC FLIXTON RESERVES 1 OAKHILL LIONS 4
Goals from Richard Sandberg (2), Ben Mandell and Saul Hoyland saw Oakhill put one foot into the semis with a comfortable win over Flixton Reserves.
Manager Josh Daniels was delighted to see his troops continue their unbeaten start to 2014. He told JC Sport: This win puts us in pole position to make it through and we have to see out the job."
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SHONN TROPHY QUARTER-FINAL FIRST LEG
MACCABI MANCHESTER 2nd 5 SOUTH MANCHESTER SPORTS CLUB 2nd 0
Irving Modlin's men put in a five-star cup showing against South Manchester Sports 2nd, with Jack Myers, Saul Davies, Dan Rubensteen, Ben Gould and Richard Buxton easing them home.
Modlin told JC Sport: "We have given ourselves some real daylight and we are very confident of progressing now
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SHONN TROPHY
HEATON PARK ROVERS 6 HAROLDEANS 3
Heaton Park Rovers set up a quarter-final tie with Reich Insurance Rangers after hitman Jonathan Franks rediscovered his scoring touch in devastating fashion to gun down Haroldeans.
Franks hit the target four times, including a first-half hat-trick, and although the Merseysiders rallied with strikes from Bobby Fishel, Adam Shiffman and Adam Cross, it was HPR who progressed thanks to efforts from Harry Roache, Ben Annis and another from Franks.
Haroldeans boss Fraser Saville told JC Sport: "We are playing for pride now so we will have to keep going and look to build for next season."