Woodlands Rangers still on course for glory in Bristol Churches League

WOODLANDS Rangers stayed on course for a historic treble as they closed the gap on Division I leaders Widcombe Wanderers with a 3-0 win over The Sanctuary.

Woodies are in the semi-finals of the GFA Minor Cup and the Churches Cup and moved to within three points of Widcombe with four games in hand.

Goals from Matt Hyde, Ieuan Pearse and Matt Smith sealed victory and Rangers could even afford a spot-kick miss from penalty king Dave Peregrine.

Widcombe's title hopes suffered a big blow as they were beaten 4-1 by Counterslip and finished with nine men due to injuries. Dan Flynn fired home two free-kicks for Slip, with Tim Moody and Steve Birtle also netting. Oliver Chalmers replied.

SAS remain in second place after hitting back from a goal down to beat Thornbury Baptist 5-1. The Baps led through Chris Beddoes but SAS took control after Thornbury striker Martyn Down was sent off.

Mike Cawley made the most of the numerical advantage as he netted a hat-trick, with James Cawley and Steve Dayman also on target.

Bristol Sanctuary bounced back to form and recorded just their second victory of the season as they hammered Christchurch Clifton 6-1.

Darren Fitzgerald fired BSXI in front and, although Richard McNerney levelled for Christchurch when he volleyed in from Nick Smallman's cross, the visitors eased to a comfortable victory with Mike Ball scoring a hat-trick and Fitzgerald and Chris Stout adding further goals.

Nailsea Churches continued their march to promotion from Division II with a 6-1 thrashing of BS4.

The visitors led at half-time through Ally Tolfree's penalty but Nailsea proved too strong after the break. Paul Gunning netted four times and Jon Moulding twice as Nailsea extended their lead at the top to six points after second-placed Hillfields Park Baptist lost 1-0 to Rock Crusaders.

Welton Rangers are top of the pile in Division III but were held to a 2-2 draw by inconsistent Racing Santos.

Welton scored through Nick Bailey and Tom Davis but James Moody and Seb Rodriguez-Wilson earned Santos a point.

Bristol Pistols boosted their promotion chances with a 4-3 win at Suburbs United thanks to goals from Andrew McManus, Joel Reed, Peter Webb and Josh Whiddon. Michael Duggan, Dan Hull and Steve Thomas replied for the home side.

Results – Div I: Counterslip 4 Widcombe Wanderers 1, SAS United 5 Thornbury Baptist 1, The Sanctuary 0 Woodlands Rangers 3, Christchurch Clifton 1 BSXI 6.

Div II: Nailsea Churches 6 BS4 1, Hillfields Park Baptist 0 Rock Crusaders 1.

Div III: Racing Santos 2 Welton Rangers 2, Suburbs United 3 Bristol Pistols 4.

Fixtures – Saturday, February 13: Churches Cup semi-finals: Thornbury Baptist v Woodlands Rangers, Counterslip v Widcombe Wanderers.

Shield semi-finals: Christchurch Clifton v VCF Santos, Hillfields Park Baptist v Nailsea Churches.

Div I: Pip n Jay v The Sanctuary.

Div Two: BS4 v Rock Crusaders, Kensington Baptist v BUCU.

Div III: Carmel v Suburbs United, Gordano Valley Church Rovers v Bristol Pistols, Welton Rangers v Hayhill.