Sunday League: Hammers start 2018 with a bang by thrashing Ryburn

Hammers have won six out of seven games this season in the Ziggys Metro Cars Halifax Sunday League and are six points off top spot with two games in hand.

Both teams should have scored before Hammers eventually found the net two minutes before half-time, with Terriq Pervez and Awais Khan missing good chances for the hosts, while Ben Whitehead and Gareth Robertshaw both had efforts cleared off the line for a lively young Ryburn side.

But Sameer Ahmed scored the opener after a fine run down the right and a god driven shot into the bottom corner.

But Hammers got into the groove after half-time, with Khan netting twice in four minutes with two good individual goals.

Ryburn still kept pushing forward but were kept out by good goalkeeping from Yasar Mohammed and some fine defending by man of the match Callum Charlton.

Ahsan Farooq put the result beyond doubt in the 72nd minute with a good run from the left side and a powerful shot into the top corner to make it 4-0.

Then on 80 minutes a lovely pass by substitute Khurram Shazad sent Pervez clear, and he finished from tight angle to make it 5-0.

King Cross moved above FC Casa in the table with a 4-3 away win.

Jarrett Rickman was the main thorn in Matthew Bagshaw’s side as he grabbed a brace and man of the match, whilst Andrew Hodson-Walker and debutant Dave Benson made it four for the visitors.

Sean McManamin, Levi Brown and Jamie Marshall were on the scoresheet for the Rastrick High School based side, but it wasn’t enough to see them gather any points

In Division One, Cock and Bottle were the big winners of the day with a 6-1 thrashing of Barum Top.

There was a 5-1 win for Halifax Hammers Reserves against Halifax Rangers with goals from Suhail Bashir (2), Awais Ashfaq (2) and Wajid Nawaz, while Old Pond beat Halifax Amateurs 5-4.

Brad Rufus fired a 14 minute hat-trick to put Pond into a commanding lead, before player-manager Paul Taylor and Hayden Lewis also found the net to put them 5-0 up within the first 30 minutes.

But Amateurs nearly produced an incredible comeback, with Alex O’Keefe netting a hat-trick of his own before Ben Helliwell made it 5-4.