PLAY-OFF action in the Cotswold League started on Tuesday evening when wild card duo St David's and Ilmington fought it out to reach the next round.

Ilmington started brilliantly with a goal from Ned Plackett after just five seconds and he went on to complete a hat-trick.

Jess Crockett and Jack Oughton pulled two back for the Saints, who finished the match on top, but couldn't get past Chris Broomfield who was rescued by a post on several occasions.

Shipston and Quinton had finished in the second qualifying places in their respective divisions and their match was much closer than the 4-0 scoreline would indicate.

Two goals from Harry Barnard and single strikes from Joe Patrick, and Jon Burt gave Shipston victory, despite losing players to the penalty box with some regularity.

This latter trend continued in the next round as Charlie Pinfold put Ilmington ahead only for Barnard to equalise.

George Matts managed to sneak the ball under the Shipston goalkeeper and seemed to have wrapped the match up with only five minutes to go.

At this point, however, Joe Patrick rocketed a ball into the top corner of the Ilmington goal, following it with a similar effort with only a couple of minutes to go.

Even then, the drama wasn't over. Another Shipston player headed for the penalty box and a penalty shot was awarded. Sam Thomas, though, made an excellent save, followed by a series of stops from a whole barrage of shots to send his team into the quarter-final.

There, Shipston will meet the winner of the play-off between Temple Guiting and Tredington and the quarter-final winner will join Dormer House, St Catharine's and St James in the semi-finals.

Latest league standings

A Division

P W D L F A Pts

CCS 6 4 2 0 28 8 14

Dormer House 6 4 2 0 24 11 14

St Catharine's 6 4 1 1 17 17 13

Ilmington 6 2 1 3 11 13 7

Blockley 6 2 0 4 12 22 6

Stow 6 1 1 4 10 16 4

Tem Guiting 6 0 1 5 10 25 1

B Division

P W D L F A Pts

CCS 6 6 0 0 36 4 18

St James' 6 5 0 1 18 13 15

Shipston 6 3 1 2 15 11 10

St Mary's 5 2 2 1 8 9 8

Willersey 6 2 2 2 9 12 8

Mickleton 6 1 1 4 12 18 4

Longborough 6 0 0 6 0 30 0

C Division

P W D L F A Pts

CCS 5 4 1 0 19 4 13

Tredington 5 3 1 1 10 7 10

Quinton 5 3 0 2 14 7 9

St David's 5 2 1 2 10 12 7

Bledington 5 1 1 3 7 17 4

Bredon Hill 5 0 0 5 5 18 0

D Division

P W D L F A Pts

CCS 5 5 0 0 31 1 15

Tem Guiting B 5 3 1 1 4 4 10

Ilmington B 5 2 1 2 8 12 7

Bredon Hill B 5 1 1 3 4 8 4

Willersey B 5 1 1 3 3 14 4

Swell 5 1 0 4 3 14 3