JEWSON SOCCER: The Jewson League has received two applications from clubs wishing to join the First Division next season.If they are both accepted – and there is no reason to believe any club will withdraw from the league –it would enlarge the division to 21 clubs and make it just one less than the Premier Division.

By Elvin King

THE Jewson League has received two applications from clubs wishing to join the First Division next season.

If they are both accepted – and there is no reason to believe any club will withdraw from the league –it would enlarge the division to 21 clubs and make it just one less than the Premier Division.

Long Melford have coveted a move up from the Kent Blaxill Border League for some while and have had floodlights for a number of years.

After a number of campaigns in the doldrums they have finished runners-up to AFC Sudbury Reserves in the Premier Division and are therefore eligible for a move up the ladder.

Godmanchester are the other club to have made an application. Visits have already been made to both grounds and final inspections will shortly take place.

Both applications will be referred to the Jewson League joint liaison committee and the league's management committee later this month.

Once the First Division reaches its full strength then promotion and relegation should become an annual occurrence between the Jewson League and its feeder leagues.

This will freshen up what critics call a nothing league. Some clubs are criticised for happily getting by in rather stagnant waters. They may soon have to shake themselves up or face the danger of being washed aside.

THE leading goalscorer charts make interesting reading in the Jewson League. AFC Sudbury's Sam Banya tops the charts in the Premier Division with 39 goals. In the First Division the top marksman is Benny Murray from Histon Reserves with 27.

The following have hit the target most for locally-based sides:

Jewson League: Felixstowe and Walton United: R Fuller 14, N Barker 7; Ipswich Wanderers: A Howell 22, K Hetherington 9; Stowmarket Town: C Yeomans 22, S Jopling 21; Woodbridge Town: A Coote 22, S Head 7.

First Division: Hadleigh United: A Cracknell 10, B Willingham 6; Leiston: J Chenery 24, I Fryer 14; Needham Market: M Wake 18, A Rickwood 12; Whitton United: T Layton 8, S Gayfer 7.