Concord Rangers appear to have one foot in the final of the Schweppes Essex Senior League's Harry Fisher Memorial Trophy final.

However, Basildon United's bid to join them in the battle for the cup at Barking on May 1 would appear to be fading fast.

Canvey based Concord beat Woodford Town 5-2 at home in the semi-final first leg with Danny Heale reviving memories of yesteryear with a hat-trick.

Danny's father Billy is still something of a folk hero on the local senior soccer scene with his legendary scoring feats in the 1970s and 80s.

Danny netted after 44, 65 and 75 minutes to add to the brace scored by Gary Martin after 30 and 80 minutes.

Ola Akinbolu and Abraham Aninkoaau were on target for Woodford.

Basildon United had home advantage for the first leg of their semi with Burnham Ramblers, but lost 2-0.

Kris Down put Burnham into a fourth minute lead and Steve Dobson got the second two minutes frrom the end. Second leg matches will take place next Saturday.

Southend Manor, already through to the Ancient Order of Foresters League Cup final, kept their outside hopes of the championship alive with a 6-3 win at bottom club Stansted.

Ross Embleton's penalty gave Stansted a shock 1-0 interval lead, but top scorer Ben Barnett grabbed a hat-trick for Manor and singles strikes by Peter Durant, player-manager Mark Jenkins and Paul Taylor saw them home. Stansted added to their tally with another Embleton penalty and an Anthony Colicasidou goal.

In the other league game played, Ilford stayed in the pack chasing leaders Saffron Walden by pulling off a 3-2 home win over Eton Manor.

Walden stay on top with 52 points from 23 games, but Manor (+29) have better goal differences than the two other clubs six points behind the top dogs on 46.

Ilford have a goal difference of +27 and Burnham Ramblers +26.

However, Burnham have two games in hand on Walden, while the other two have only one. Ramblers should move clear into second spot tomorrow night by beating Basildon United at home.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.