Welcome to the Lancashire Sunday League Website

The draw for the quarter-finals of the Syndicate Trust Youth Trophy is as follows;

Bamber Bridge	v	Bolton Lads & Girls Club
Charnock Richard	v	Lostock St Gerards
Leyland Albion	v	Thornton Cleveleys or Coppull United
Poulton	v	Clitheroe

These games are provisionally scheduled to be played on Sunday 8 February 2015.

Eamonn McNamara.

Some decent weather for the first time this year allowed us to play a pretty full programme including the first of this season’s Syndicate Trust semi-finals and they resulted in wins for AFC Ashwood and Shawes who will meet in the Presidents Cup Final on Wednesday 18 March at Bamber Bridge FC.

Shawes (Div 3) faced the holders Euxton Bolts (Div 2) and they took the lead on 17 minutes when the ball rebounded to the feet of Gaz Allen, who deftly dispatched it to the back of the net. Shawes took full advantage as the momentum went their way with a well struck goal by Pete Carling from the edge of the area that failed to trouble the Euxton keeper or defence to take it to 2-0.

A penalty awarded to Shawes by referee Shaun Taylor was firmly dispatched by Lee Ashcroft and 5 minutes later Ashcroft scored his second from a well taken header to give Shawes a 4-0 lead at half time.

Following the break, Euxton reasserted themselves, took the game to Shawes and were rewarded by a goal from John Abbott on 78 minutes. Shawes swiftly responded with a goal from Cieran Shaw to take the game to 5-1 and beyond the reach of a battling Euxton team. This was an excellent game well handled by Shaun Taylor who at 17 years of age became the youngest official to referee one of our semi-finals.

Their opponents in the final are AFC Ashwood who won the Presidents Cup in 2009 and they had to fight for their place in the final against and excellent, well drilled young Southport side. The first half which was played at a ferocious pace with neither team able to wrest control of the game saw Southport’s Joe Stephens dismissed for retaliation by referee Paul Jackson on 42 minutes and that handed the advantage to AFC Ashwood.

The Southport management team reorganised their charges during the interval and try as they may Ashwood were unable to make the break through. That was until the 76th minute when a half chance fell to the ace predator Mitch Newsham which he dispatched into the back of the net for his 36th goal of the season. Any chance of a comeback by Southport evaporated in the 86th minute when an act of petulance saw Drew Lewis become their second player to be dismissed by referee Jackson.

Our two youth sides were playing their much postponed LFA U18s Youth Cup games and Thornton Cleveleys produced a fantastic result by holding AFC Fylde for 90 minutes and then beating them 5-4 on penalties to reach the final. Ramsbottom Untied lost the other semi-final 4-2 at home to Daisy Hill. Bolton Lads & Girls Club beat Lytham Town 4-2 to progress to the second round of the Syndicate Trust Youth Trophy.

BAC Continental Casuals sit on top of the premier division after beating Fulwood East End 6-0, AFC Ingol and Ingol Rangers drew 2-2, Acregate Lane LC produced an excellent performance to hold Plungington Celtic 1-1 and Unicorn beat New Longton Rovers 3-1. Grange and Ashton Villa both won in division 1 and hold onto the top two places, Hesketh Bank beat Frenchwood 7-0 to stay level at the top of division 2 with Wilbraham Wanderers who beat Ashton on Ribble 5-2 and wins for Tarleton Corinthians, Leyland Orient and Vernon Sports have made it very interesting at the top of division 3.

Clitheroe beat Astley & Buckshaw 6-0 in the only game in youth red, there were wins for Charnock Richard, Southport and Lostock St Gerards in youth blue. Euxton Villa beat Aspull 5-1 in youth white where New Longton won 3-0 at Fishwick Rangers and Kirkham Blues and Ribble Wanderers drew 3-3. The two games in youth green produced away wins for Kirkham at Penwortham and Broughton Amateurs at Poulton.

Round up and photos by Eamonn McNamara.

Both Preston City Council and South Ribble Borough Council have declared their parks and pitches fit for play this weekend Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th January 2015.

However the final decision will be made by the match referee and should the weather deteriorate clubs and match officials are asked to act responsibly and not play on any pitch which is clearly unfit.

Eamonn McNamara.

The Lancashire Football Association (LFA) has announced that the Sunday Trophy semi-final tie Boars Head Thistle FC v Plungington Celtic FC will take place at AFC Blackpool, Jepson Way, Common Edge Road, Blackpool FY4 5DY on Wednesday 25th February, kick off 7:30pm.

Eamonn McNamara.

The semi-finals of the Syndicate Trust Presidents Cup, AFC Ashwood v Southport Vulcan and Euxton Bolts v Shawes, which were postponed last Sunday, have been rescheduled to be played at the UCLan Sports Arena this Sunday 25th January 2015.

This means that the Youth Cup semi-finals Southport v Garstang and Springfields v Ramsbottom United have been postponed to a later date as Ramsbottom United are involved in an LFA U18s Youth Cup tie on Sunday and this game takes precedence over our domestic fixtures.

The LFA Under18s Youth Cup semi-finals AFC Fylde v Thornton Cleveleys and Ramsbottom United v Daisy Hill have been rescheduled for this Sunday.

These alterations have inevitably resulted in changes to a handful of league games which are listed on the fixture page.

Eamonn McNamara.

Another difficult Sunday for all of us connected with the League which saw 37 games fall by the wayside and just one game played, the youth blue clash between Bamber Bridge and Lostock Hall SC, played on Brownedge St Mary’s 3G pitch and Lostock Hall won 3-2.

Any changes to next week’s fixtures will be posted on the website as soon as we have the details.

Eamonn McNamara.

Training will be held from 6.30-7.30pm every Monday evening at Preston Sports Arena during the summer in preparation for the 2013-14 season.

Our weekly fitness sessions with the excellent facilities on offer at the Arena and the support group atmosphere is something very positive which the Society offers.

Organiser Paul Marsden said, "I would particularly appeal to any members who perhaps do not currently attend Society meetings for whatever reason to give the fitness sessions a go as I assure you that you will find it a very good way of getting involved, it will benefit your refereeing.

If you are interested in coming down either next week or in the future, please contact Paul Marsden via e-mail .