Sides in the Hitchin Sunday League decided to abandon defending and go goal crazy.

There were 87 goals scored across 14 games, six of them in cups.

 

In the second round of the Carl Couzens Challenge Cup, Down And Under were at home to Division Two rivals Niche, and it was the away side that booked their place in the third round with a 5-1 win.

An all Division Three clash saw VFC Rovers go down 10-1 to BOCA and an all Division One encounter between Coach & Horses and Hitchin Rovers.

There were 12 goals in this one with C&H winning 9-3.

Feed Up Warm Up from Division Two just missed out on a place in the next round losing 4-3 against Division One side Sandon.

Squirrel Taverners had no trouble winning their home game against fellow Division One side Arlesey Town with the final score ending up 7-1 to Squirrel.

There was just one game in the second round of the George John Cup and this saw Division Three side Lea Sports PSG at home against All Saints United also from Division Three.

In Division One, AC Malone were at home against St Ippolyts and moved up to second in the table following a narrow 2-1 victory.

It was a game of two halves but the score could have been different if the St Ippolyts keeper hadn’t denied Ben Fairey with a great save in the opening five minutes.

The good start from AC Malone was then turned on its head when a St Ippolyts midfielder scored from 30 yards into the top corner to give them a 1-0 lead at half-time.

A more upbeat approach from Malones saw them go all out for a needed win.

A long ball over the top from Phil Payne saw Kane Stanton run away but confusion in the Ippolyts defence left the ball for Eduardo Garcia to score his first goal on his second appearance back for the club after almost 18 months out.

Then another long ball caused havoc as Stanton found debutant AJ who rounded the keeper and showed great composure to find the net with a defender on the line and seal a deserved win for Malones.

Troll Campbell enjoyed their day winning 9-0 against bottom side North Baldock.

Cronies were at home against Fairfield Park in Division Two and the game saw 10 goals being scored, Cronies winning by a 7-3 scoreline.

It was first against second as The Cock faced North Herts Hatters with the latter's 3-1 win seeing them leapfrog over The Cock into the top spot.

Goals from Lewis Croucher and Tom Elmes saw Queens Herts Rangers win 2-1 at home against GSS and maintain their third place with a 2-1 victory.

Getting the goal for GSS was Casey Lynch following an assist from Liam Bayford.

The final game of the day was the only game in Division Three and this saw Buffs fall to only their second league defeat of the season as Rovers 49 made it back-to-back wins with a 3-1 victory.

An extremely even first half came to life in the final six minutes, firstly when the Buffs keeper dropped a catch and before he could recover control of the ball Ismail Ablad stole in and converted from six yards.

Two minutes later Rovers 49 were awarded a penalty for a foul and as per the previous week Tom Hills finished clinically from the spot to double Rovers’ lead.

The first 45 wasn’t finished there as with literally seconds remaining a foul by Liam Thomas gave Rovers a penalty and then the lead.

After the restart it was all Rovers and the introduction of new signing Aiden Farrelly bore fruit on 64 minutes when he cut in from the right and scored with a stunning shot across the keeper.

That meant that in the last two games the Villagers have had two new signings score on their debut.

Buffs managed the odd foray forward as the clock ran down but couldn’t manage a serious threat on the away sides goal and with Rovers unable to find the net again they happily claimed all three points, climbing up two places in the table and out of the bottom three.