Wanchai Spartans and DBFC fired warning shots to the top two teams in division one with resounding wins against Corinthians and Tropics respectively at the valley on Saturday with Sparts winning 7-3 and DB coming out on top 6-2. Sparts were actually behind early on as Ricardo Chesti fired a great lobbed finish, but three quality Ali Thompson corners were finished well by Benoit Douche (2) and Dan Barrie as Cors marking was horrific. An OG made it 3-2 before Spartans pulled away again thanks to Stephen Lynch and Oli Baijings. Cors tried to compete and Chesti bagged another classy strike, this time from 25 yards before Ali Thompson and Jonathan Buckett sealed the landslide win for the Wanchai boys. DBFC were in similar goalscoring from against Club Tropicana and went one up through Fong Chun Yang. Paul Crompton made it two with his wrong foot and went in 2 up at HT. Second half, some lovely football from the young DB lads saw Charlie Higgins and Ethan Squires help themselves to a couple of goals apiece. Tropics had Colin Paisley and then Steph Bastos on the scoresheet with a direct free kick late on to reduce arrears somewhat, but the damage was done.
The top two teams in division one both won again, as Irish Harps overcame Stags 3-0 while USRC beat Soho Spartans 2-0. The Stags were actually the better side for long periods but were unable to score when on top, allowing Harps to take full advantage. Darren McHugh put the Irish one up with a header from an in swinging corner and while Stags fought to equalize, they were undone by Po Sing Lam’s killer instinct early in the second half with a lob from 35 yards. Ronan O’Boyle sealed the win with ten minutes left with a tap in after a great counterattack. USRC Gunners were made to fight all the way to the death to bag all the points against a resilient Sohos, who were just unable to break down the stubborn defence. Giacomo Galina dusted himself down after being felled in the box to score from the spot and a well worked move down the right was finished off by Jonathan Mok towards the end to leave USRC second by a point.
The Revo and Goodfellas fought out a thrilling 3-3 draw on Saturday, with Revs seemingly happier with the point after going 2 nil down due to errors, as Ash Kerr and Steve Franklin took full advantage. However, a strong start in the second half saw two quick fire goals through Chris Field an OG. Fells got one on the break, but a 30-yard free kick bent into the far post by Geoffrey Gardener levelled matters, with neither side able to get the winner despite numerous late opportunities. On Monday night, KCC Cavaliers registered their first win at the expense of J Leaguers in a closely fought game that finished 3-2. George Yang put KCC one up, but Shunske Nishimura had the Japanese level, then in front after two goals from corners. A great free kick from Shreyerar Piracha equalized for the Cavs but Nikhil Narwani scored a penalty and KCC withstood a late J-League onslaught to seal the win. Unfortunetly KCC Cavs had failed to register a player and had the points lost.
In division two, there was a mix up in the pitch bookings so unfortunately, only 3 games out of 5 were able to go ahead. In the first of these, Samurai Blue piled more misery on Mes as they inflicted a 3-1 win, with Blue Sam taking an early lead through Limbu Rishi Hang. Despite knocking on the door, Mes were unable to find a breakthrough and were hit with the sucker punch not once but twice, as Samurai scored two goals on the counter via Ahmed Jemli and Mir Zeshan. Mes consolation goal courtesy of Tom Rogerston was too little too late. Old Speckled Men consolidated third place in the table thanks to a battling 2-1 win against San Pellegrino’s. In a competitive match that had to be played out in darkness such is the deal at Happy Valley as 6 pm approaches, it was goalless at the interval. Ben Thompson opened the scoring after the break after good work from Chagas and Carter, before Philip Meurers doubled the lead with a lovely, flicked finish. Dan Martyn’s late strike set up a nervy finish but OSM nullified any further dangers to take home the spoils. Lastly, Legal Head overcame KCC Royals 3-1 on Monday with the monstrous LH match report yet to come in at the time of writing, though Luca Merlone bagged his sides goal from the penalty spot.
In division three, there was controversy as Stray Dogs recorded a 5-2 win, but after fielding an unregistered player, the DSC ruled that the game be awarded to Dong Feng instead. Dragon Valley gave Barbarians a thumping, though admitted the score line was actually pretty harsh. In an end to end game, Jimmy Zhang scored early, then further goals from Ed Skingle, Dave Reid and a Paul Martin double helped DV up to third in the table with a healthy goal difference to boot. Elsewhere, The Shooters overcame a tough game with BOC’s eventually running out 2-0 winners. There were no goals in a very even first half, but a Yohei Nakao long shot was spilled by the BOC keeper and Ryosuke Hoshino killed any thoughts BOC had of making a comeback. Lastly, Bants put three past HK Zi Jing without reply thanks to an own goal and a Perry Sea brace.
