Giant Killers Rule the Roost

East Manchester Galaxy, AFC Stockport and Didsbury FC all delivered Rhodes Cup shocks to reach the quarter finals.

Galaxy, second and unbeaten in Division One, illustrated their quality by defeating Premier Division leaders Bollington United on penalties.

The underdogs took the lead through a well-worked set piece which the outstanding Muhamed Jatta converted, only for Bollington – who have dropped just three league points all season – to level at the break.

A few tactical adjustments by Galaxy saw them gain the upper hand early in the second half with Jatta added his second converting a precise through ball.

But Bollington again responded with a well taken free-kick header taking it through to a penalty shoot-out with Galaxy going through 4-2 with Jaffa again on target.

The Galaxy man of the match was Sohaib Tantouch with a composed and disciplined performance keeping the team organised.

AFC Stockport arguably provided a bigger shock given their battle against relegation in Division One. But they put Premier Division high-flyers Bedians to the sword 7-5.

Didsbury FC completed a hat-trick of Rhodes Cup upsets for Division One teams by edging Premier Division Manchester South End 2-1.

Manchester Rose had no such problems against second tier opposition, comfortably seeing off Santos 8-1.

The other game was another excellent contest between two top Premier Division teams as Rushford Park hosted AFC Oldham. Clinical finishing by Rushford gave them the edge in 5-2 victory.

The shocks continued in the Wray Cup as Division Three Moston Brook Thirds triumphed 4-1 at Division Two promotion-chasers Old Strets Gregs.

The other two games were all-Division-Two affairs as Moston Brook Reserves defeated the team one place and two points above them in the table by dispatching second-place Manchester Rovers 5-2. Heywood St James Reserves saw off Old Alts Thirds by the same score.

In a thriller at South Manchester, the hosts avoided an upset at the hands of Waterhead as the game ended at 3-3 with South going through 5-4 after extra time.

Fitton Hill All-Stars kept up their good form in division three with a 3-1 win at Spurley Hey to move into the last eight.

In the Whitehead Cup, Division A leaders comfortably beat Division B promotion hopefuls Whitehead Reserves 5-0, while Newton Vikings hammered fellow Division A outfit Village Manchester Reserves 6-0.

Silver Birch were agonisingly close to shocking Cheadle and Gatley but after a 1-1 draw, Cheadle prevailed 5-4 on penalties.

In the Keith Marsden Invitational Cup there were wins for AFC Oldham A by 2-1 over high-flying Stoconians Reserves and Altrincham Hale thirds 5-2 in a local derby with Trafford United.

There were a limited number of league games played, none in the Premier division and just one in Division One with Stretford Paddock Ams beating Withington Wanderers 8-1 to lift them out of the bottom two.

The solitary Division Two encounter saw Konger win 3-0 at Tintwistle Athletic Reserves.

In Division Three Stoconians enjoyed a 9-0 derby win over AFC Stockport Warriors and in Division A, Heyside won 4-2 hosting Urmston Meadowside.

There were two games in Division B with Bury Ams B closing in on the top two with a 6-3 win over Cavaliers and Santos u23’s kept in touch with a 6-0 win at Manchester Victoria.