Earlswood Town have carried on from where they left off last season with an excellent start to make it 20 matches without defeat since early April.
But boss Tom Reynolds, who saw Louis Jones plunder a winner in the sixth minute of added time in a fine comeback to beat Inkberrow 3-2 over the bank holiday weekend, admits it has been far from easy to keep the Earls up near the top of Capelli Sport MFL Division Two.
“It’s tough,” he admitted. “The league is so competitive. Out of the eight games we’ve played, three have been decided in added time.
“All credit to the group, they never know when the game’s done. The pride they show in playing for Earlswood is amazing.
“It’s crazy to think that we’ve had a quarter of the season already and I’m sure there will be plenty more twists and turns.”
The Earls trail the only other unbeaten side Birmingham United on goal difference with the Castle Vale-based leaders matching their early season record of six wins and two draws.
Chris Ward leads the way with five goals including one in the 2-1 win at Paget Rangers over the bank holiday weekend.
Hampton currently lie third helped by back-to-back wins to round off August – a 3-1 victory at home to Bolehall Swifts followed by a 2-0 victory at Coventry Colliery with leading scorer Cameron Ford netting in both games.
Cadbury Athletic finished runners-up behind champions Northfield Town last season and have made a strong start again this term, losing just one of their opening eight matches and rounding off August with a resounding 7-0 win at home to Fairfield Villa when Myles Brooks and substitute Adam Bourne bagged a brace apiece.
At the other end of the table, Coventrians head into September still searching for their first win, their only point coming against Inkberrow who are another of the early season strugglers with just one win to their name. The same applies to Wake Green Amateur and Bolehall Swifts, although two goals from Sam Price wrapped up three points for Bolehall in a 3-1 victory over Inkberrow on Bank Holiday Monday.
Fifth-placed Kenilworth Sporting go into the new month as the division’s leading scorers with hotshot Joe Blowers scoring six of his side’s 23 goals.
AFC Solihull and Coventry Colliery sit just outside the top five. Leading scorer Shaune Allen hit a hat-trick as Solihull rounded off August with 4-0 defeat of Paget Rangers – their third win on the bounce – while Tyrone Wilson has already netted six times for Colliery.
Paget Rangers have had a mixed start with four wins and three defeats from their opening eight games, Ross Barnett is leading the way for Central Ajax with four goals and they are level on nine points alongside Nuneaton Griff and Coventry Alvis. Griff will be hoping to end a three-game losing run as they head into September while Alvis will be hoping to build on back-to-back wins against Coventrians and Fairfield Villa.
Fairfield Villa will be another side pleased to see the back of August. After starting with two wins they are now six without a victory culminating in that seven-goal loss to Cadbury.
