Heron Way and St Peter’s Cowfold teams scooped up the honours at the Horsham Area Primary Schools Football League, year 5+6 age group. Teams met again at the Tanbridge astroturf yesterday to contest the second and final round of fixtures across three divisions of play.

Castlewood started top of the Small Schools Division courtesy of three straight wins in the previous meeting but Slinfold put a big dent in their hopes from the start by defeating them 1-0, and things went further downhill from their for the Southwater outfit as fellow front runners St Peter’s Cowfold and St Andrews Nuthurst both beat them 2-0.

In contrast Slinfold went the other way. After scaling the Castle’s ramparts they savaged Rusper 4-0 and drew with Northolmes to finish a respectable third place.

Cowfold and Nuthurst were near level pegging in second place at the outset of the second night and were expected to be right in the mix by the end of it. The Nutties’ hopes suffered a blow in their first contest at the hands of mid-table Northolmes who held them to a 1-1 draw and Cowfold rubbed in their advantage by confidently taking out St John’s Horsham 3-0 in their first before consolidating their position with the Castlewood victory. Nuthurst rallied with their slice of success but it was no surprise to see Cowfold confirm the title in their last fixture against lowly Rusper, 2-0.

In the lower reaches Rusper’s 2-1 victory over St John’s saw the villagers leapfrog the towners by a single point to consign the latter to bottom spot, although both will take comfort from always being competitive.

Arunside and Heron Way B were the chief protagonists in the Larger Schools Division 2, both winning all their matches in week 1 but the former holding sway on goal difference. It wasn’t long before the two met in a crunch match that lived up to its billing, ending up 2-1 in the Herons’ favour.

From that point Arunside won its two remaining matches to keep Heron Way honest on its run in and they were given hope when St Mary’s Horsham held the favourites to a goalless draw. So anything but a win for Heron Way would see Arunside pip them to the title and when that win is required against a Southwater Junior Academy team even more reason to be nervous. However all worries were allayed with a 2-0 victory that ensured Heron Way surpassed their closest rivals by a single point at the top of the charts.

An undefeated night ensured St Mary’s Horsham finished in third. Southwater B’s two victories in week 2 elevated them to fourth and Steyning B will be encouraged by some good performances that saw them into fifth spot. Kingslea B’s 2-1 win over Leechpool B effectively decided the bottom two placings in the former’s favour.

In the top tier of the larger schools section the drop out of St Mary’s Pulborough thinned out the fixture schedule and their opponent’s were awarded 2-0 default wins.. Heron Way A held pole position and their first challenge against Leechpool A never threatened to upset the status quo as the 3-0 scoreline evidenced. Things got even better for the Herons as they hit Shelley for six.

From the chasing pack Steyning A made the most plausible case for upsetting the applecart by beating Shelley, Southwater A and Leechpool A. They weren’t freescoring but with a watertight defence they didn’t need to be. 

Due to the fixture gaps Kingslea A had to wait until round 6 of matches to re-enter the fray and the concession of a last gasp equalizer to Shelley ended their hopes of superseding Heron Way, although in holding the champions to a 0-0 draw in the last game they showed both quality and character.

So, Heron Way worthy winners, Steyning A second, Kingslea third. Southwater A claimed third on a night when the fixture gods contrived to make their involvement in the second evening more friendly-based. Leechpool fifth just above the unpredictable Shelley and absentees St Mary’s Pulborough propping things up.

YEAR 5+6 FOOTBALL RESULTS FOR 151021 MEETING (2)

KEY = Small schools division bolded                        Division 1 in italics                        Division 2 underlined

*Match awarded 2-0 due to Pulborough having to drop out of second meeting

TABLES

5 points for a win, 3 for a draw, 2 for a scoring loss, 1 for a non-scoring loss