Rangers back on top
Two wins in two days put reigning Commercial A champs Key West Rangers back on top as the championship race hots up still further.
Key West beat Robin Hood by a solitary goal on Thursday and then followed that up with a 5-0 away day thumping of PHC.
Earl Richardson grabbed two while Jamal Scott, Burton Cox and Zane Stowe all tallied as Rangers move a point clear of Dandy Town Roots who have a game in hand.
Roots easily dispensed of Tuff Dogs on Saturday with two goals either side of the half. Tuff Dogs started the game matching the Roots but then fell away after Darron Simons finished off a flowing Roots move that started deep inside their own half. The build-up to Root’s second was even better as the away side stroked the ball around before Simons crossed to Adam Outerbridge who finished. Dogs kept pushing forward to pull back the deficit but left themselves open at the back. After the break Outerbridge scored his second with a powerful header in off the underside of the bar from a Cal Blankendal cross. Blankendal wrapped it up with deflected shot after a mazy run.
BAA, who drew with Tuff Dogs 1-1 in midweek, are third after grinding out 2-0 against North Village Rams in a close game. Only several good saves from BAA keeper John Doran kept the sides level at the break and the second half saw Village start brighter. But a substitution by BAA changed the game when centre half Dave Gibbs moved into attack. Within minutes of the switch Gibbs opened the scoring when he raced onto a through ball to slot home. Gibbs added a second minutes later with an almost identical goal to leave BAA with all three points.
An excellent second-half performance powered MR Onions to a 3-0 win over Robin Hood who started strongly and nearly converted through Brian Fubler in the first five minutes. Onions took the lead early in the second half when Hood failed to deal with an Eoghan O’Dwyer free-kick and Rob Perry followed up with a miss-hit volley into the bottom right-hand corner. Onions extended their lead on the hour after some excellent play by Kian Wookey who beat three defenders on the left and crossed for O’Dwyer to head in. With 15 minutes remaining good work by Perry and Colin Keane left O’Dwyer with only the keeper to beat and the striker completed the scoring with a well-struck shot from the edge of the area.
Lobster Pot and Island XI played each other for the second week running and again shared the points. Five minutes before the break Lobster Pot veteran Colin James finished a solo run by banging home from close range but in the second half Island XI’s Steven Simons equalised after an excellent ball from Teddy Terceira.
Division B leaders St. George’s All-Stars romped to a 8-0 victory over Prospect/Fire in a one sided affair Police Field. The visitors raced to a 3-0 first half lead with goals coming from the veteran Cal Rayner, Kenny Pearman and Jan Cieters. All-Stars domination continued in the second half with two more from Rayner to complete a fine hat-trick and single strikes from Steven Denbrook, Ross Dowling and Charles Wade. The goal of the day came when Ernest McCallan, temporarily switching to outfield from his goaltending duties, made speedy inroads from the right and executed a fine cross in the box that was met emphatically by Dowling to score with a wonderful header.
Somerset Extros are a point behind after beating Devonshire All-Stars 5-1. Anthony (Berka) Burchall grabbed a hat-trick while Mark Grant and Omar Amory also notched while Colin Zuill got All-Stars consolation goal. Valley lie third after beating Boulevard 3-2. Valley went at Boulevard from the off and were two-up through Sean Smith and Jonathan Eve strikes in the first ten minutes. McDonald Simons added another ten minutes later but both Smith and Boulevard player Craig Darrell were dismissed for insulting and abusive language before the break. Boulevard did better in the second half with Michael Pond and Mark Wood firing in but they could not find the equaliser.
Fourth-placed Devonshire Rec Lions went down 4-2 to Vasco while improving Pest Control enjoyed a 10-3 rout of Somerset Bridge. Bridge paid the price for having four players stroll onto the pitch with seconds to spare before the whistle as Pest Control showed no mercy from the off, going one up after ten minutes through striker Nicholas Pedro, and were two in front shortly after with a strike from Troy Crockwell. Nicholas Pedro grabbed his second shortly after, with Bridge getting one back through Timmy Telford before the break to send the teams in 3-1. Pest Control continued to dominate and after some neat, fast forward play went further ahead through Mike O Brien. Bridge struck back through Jerome Richards to make it 4-2 only for their hearts to be broken with a stunning strike from Pedro to wrap up his hat trick in style. The rout continued with two fine strikes from Noel Edness, a second from Troy Crockwell. Bridge claimed another goal from Telford before being put to the sword by Bullett and a fine header from Danny Phillips capped a fine display by handing Peskies a 10-3 scoreline.
