(Photo by Essex Senior League @EssexSenior)

Saturday 15^th January

Buildbase FA Vase 4^th Round

Athletic Newham 5 Littlehampton Town 0

Saffron Walden Town 1 Loughborough Students 1 (Loughborough Students Win 6-5 Pens)

Premier Division

Cockfosters 2 Takeley 1

Hoddesdon Town 3 FC Clacton 1

Little Oakley 4 Sawbridgeworth Town 1

Sporting Bengal United 2 West Essex 3

St Margaretsbury 3 Clapton 1

Stansted 3 Woodford Town 0

Stanway Rovers 4 Enfield 0

Walthamstow 1 Redbridge 0

White Ensign 4 Ilford 1

Athletic Newham may be the penalty kings, but they also have Richard Kone upfront and he certainly knows how to put the ball in the back of the net. With the ESL top scorer in their ranks, the hosts went into a 3-0 half-time lead with Kone scoring all the goals. He went on to add another one in the second half, with Seidi Jailson also getting on the score sheet. For the hosts it means their best ever Vase run continues; they are into the 5^th Round now and getting ever closer to the Wembley Arch. Saffron Walden Town fell at the hands of Loughborough Students on penalties, which is a bit of a sore point really as Michael Toner had an early penalty for the Bloods which he cannoned over the cross bar. However the Bloods did take the lead when a long throw from Gavin Cockman was turned into his own net by a Loughborough defender. George Ward grabbed the equaliser for Loughborough early in the second half, but with no further goals the game then had to be decided on penalties and it was the visitors who held their nerve to win the tie 6-5 on penalties to end Saffron Walden’s Vase campaign. Meanwhile in League business and leaders Walthamstow picked up a very welcome win against fellow Title chasers Redbridge, who came to Wadham Lodge lying in 3^rd place and managed to test Amarildo Cekresi twice in the first half, in what turned out to be a very tight game. Callum Ibe had a great shot saved by the Redbridge keeper midway through the second half, with Stow then taking the lead in the 73^rd minute when a well timed run by Charlie Cole ended with him slotting the ball home. Stow then ended the game on the front foot as Jason Beck had a header cleared off the line, then Tommy Spillane clipped the cross bar from a free kick. In the end the 1-0 win means that Walthamstow are ten points clear of their nearest rivals Stansted, while Redbridge drop down to 4^th and with 15 points to make up means that Redbridge’s title ambitions are looking slender at best. Stansted managed to keep up with Walthamstow as they won their home game against Woodford Town 3-0. Billy Coyne and Michael Mignot scored within a minute of each other to put the Airportmen into a 2-0 lead, and the win was wrapped up just before the hour mark when Connor Hammond added a third. Stanway Rovers are 3^rd after a 4-0 win over Enfield. Joel Older, Ernest Okoh, Ayo Odukoya and Sean Bartlett were the marksmen. Little Oakley also scored four times against Sawbridgeworth Town with Danny Garrad notching a hat-trick. Lewis Wood was the other Little Oakley scorer, while Sawbridgeworth’s reply came via Daryl Doolan. White Ensign beat Ilford by the same 4-1 score line with Jason Reynolds-Blanche opening the account from the penalty spot in the 12^th minute. Ben Austin doubled the lead four minutes later, with the hosts then adding a third when Luke Woodward netted on 83 minutes. The visitors did pull one back through Lee Sharpe three minutes from time, but any hopes of a late comeback where to be quelled when Shemarie Perkins-Palmer wrapped things up by scoring White Ensign’s fourth in stoppage time. Hoddesdon Town found themselves trailing to a Kyle Cassell goal after only two minutes, but bounced back to beat FC Clacton 3-1. Harry Norman equalised with a penalty just before the break, with the Lilywhites going on to score twice in the second half via Sam Cross and Josh Stevens. Miles Holding scored a brace for St Margaretsbury, with Lawrence Ajong also scoring in their 3-1 win over Clapton. Timi Abiola scored the Clapton goal, however bottom placed Sporting Bengal United were unable to capitalise on the teams above them losing – as they also lost themselves. A goalless first half against West Essex came alive in the second period, that saw the deadlock broken by West Essex when Jonathon Ogunsanya fired them into a 55^th minute lead. However Airon Paul was able to level things up in the 62^nd minute. The visitors took the lead once more when Reece Clarke notched on 80 minutes; David Bell added a third in the 89^th minute, which proved to be a very timely goal as a minute later the hosts scored again through Quincy Roberts. And over at Chalk Lane the game between Cockfosters and Takeley remained goalless until George Wappert handed the visitors the lead in the 75^th minute. But Carl Mullings equalised five minutes later, before scoring the winner in the final minute.