The two dominant teams from the past three years faced off at Ko Pong Village with the spoils being shared in a 1-1 draw. DB took the game to Forward and got their noses in front within the first 15 minutes when when Robbie Bacon converted from a corner. Forward soon found themselves down to 10 men after 20 minutes when two yellow cards were dished out by a somewhat card happy ref with both managers confirming this was probably harsh outcome for the lad. Despite having 10 men, Forward put the pressure on DB in the second half and equalised direct from a free kick when Victor Lopez smashed it into the onion bag. At the end of the game Forward found themselves reduced to 9 when an off the ball incident was spotted by the ref but there was no time for DB to take advantage and the spoils were shared.
With Forward only taking a point it provided a an opportunity for The Scottish Stags in 2nd place to gain ground and they did so with a 2-1 victory of HK Krauts - scoring at the death through a James Hill goal. A very evenly contested game saw the teams share a couple of goals in the first half when Alastair Shutt (Scottish) and Patrick Bez (Krauts) sent the sell out Happy Valley crowds wild. Both team created chances in the second half but it was Scottish who nicked it at the death.
Performance of the day went to Spartans who "showed what they can do with a full squad" when they thumped J-Leaguers 5-1. Matching their opponents normal high pressing tempo, the game was effectively over in the first half when Chris Randsford, Christian Balka (2) and the ever youthful James "Woody" Woodhead put Spartans into a 4-0 half time lead. The second half was a more even affair with Casper Toennesen taking the Wanchai boys total to 5 with J-Leaguers getting a consolation via Christopher Toshiya de Laiglesia.
San P's remain routed at the bottom going down to Tropics in a close game 2-1. Coming off the back of three league defeats Tropics were looking to get back to winning ways in this crucial game and took the lead 20 minutes in when James Manning ran onto a through ball and nicked it before colliding with the onrushing keeper with the Tropics man going off injured shortly after. Into the second half and Tropics doubled their advantage when Julien Dresco latched onto a lovely ball over the top from Tom Gibbons, looked up to see the keeper off his line and dinked the ball over into the goal. Bringing on fresh legs, San P's asserted some pressure and Tropics had Legal League legendary keeper Stef Fuchs to thank when he reacted brilliantly to a second shot after the first had crashed the bar. 10 minutes to go San P's converted a pen but they could find a second and the points went to the men in orange.
Mes continued their winning run taking apart Goodfellas in a 5-2 rout with Omar Mayo (3), Rob Barratt and David Quimbayo notching. Fellas scorers coming via Steve Franklin and Rafa Wenk.
USRC took their tally to 7 points with a 2-2 draw against Corinthians who in turn took their league total to 6 points. A close game with both managers feeling the draw was the right result on the basis of the play with Cor's finding the net via Marcus McMillan and Reuben Cramer and USRC Federico Martorell and Charlie Short. In Division 2, the competition remained fierce and we could not find a team with obvious advantage after 6 weeks. Bants thrashed the Old Speckled Men 9-1 to go to the top of the table on superior goal difference. Sam Ameen and Willie Lee both got a brace of goals while Toby Brooks, Alexis Devaud, Phil Au, Lee Hodgson and Jon Irving all delivered a goal each, and among all goals Willie’s one was the pick of the goals, with him bamboozling two defenders to slot home.
New team Vikings continued their strong run after they recorded a 2-0 victory over Young Guns. Golden boot favourite Lars Nielsen again put his name on the scoresheet while Kristian Soe was the other scoring hero for the Vikings.
Samurai Blue beat MBFC 1-0 to prove that their rejuvenation from last poor season was not short-termed. San Chow’s only goal in the game was good enough to put them on joint top with Bants and Vikings.
Elsewhere TWF rebounded from a 2-game-losing-streak after handing Shui Wei FC 0-2 loss. TWF could not break the deadlock until mid of the second half when Raymond Ng slotted home a well placed pass from the left. Fung Chan continued his scoring run and he calmly put his left-footed shot beyond the reach of Shui Wei’s keeper to seal the victory.
Team Shotgun recorded a convincing 3-1 victory over The shooters. Arnold Poon, Tim Leung and Chester Yuen all bang into the net while Yasushi Kakizaki was the scorer of the consolation goal of the Shooters.
On Monday, both KCC teams held off the challenge from the visitors to grab 3 precious points on their home soil. First we see Royals convincingly beat Legal Head 4-2 relying on a brace of goals from Frankie Ferreira and one each from Paul McGunnigle and Luca Merlone, familiar name in the scoring list. “We should have been a bit closer and taken more of our chances,” said Douglas Simmons, manager of Legal Head who had Juan Carlos and Charles Reid score.
Cavaliers were the better team in their close game against Revolution. Stefan Fernandes scored two vital goals which were enough for another home victory. Chris Marshall was the scorer for Revolution, who dropped to 5th after this loss.
