The top two teams in the Legal League fought out a 1-1 draw at the weekend in a result that all but guarantees Forward claiming back the title from their opponents. Discovery Bay found themselves 5 points adrift at the start of the day and having played a game more needed the 3 points to have any chance of defending their title and came out strong in the first half creating multiple chances but not finding the net. There was a response in the 2nd from Forward who pinned DB back but the Disco Bay boys defended well with the points shared via goals from Kaffi Harun and Jordon Brown.
Performance of the weekend however would go to Club Tropicana who obliterated San P’s 11-1. Playing on the ridiculously small Happy Valley Pitch 3 the Water Boys lost their fizz after three consecutive wins and found themselves 4-0 within 18 minutes and 5-1 at half time. Tropics continued to run riot in the 2nd half netting a further 6 to make this their biggest win in their history. While the pitch is too small for 11-a-side San P’s was gracious in defeat citing his team just never turned up and the pitch was not to blame – that said it is too small for adults 11-a-side and perhaps a vote needs to be taken at the next AGM if we use these pitches again. Topics scorers: Will Holderness (4), Kyle Wagner (4), Paul Ryding (2) and Yann Meyer with a solo Peter Harrod header the only positive for San P’s.
USRC continued their good run winning and now sit 3rd in the league following a comfortable 2-0 over relegation threatened Corinthians. USRC were 2 up at half time via Charlie Short and a “sublime” Jamie Hooper free kick and also had a goal disallowed for offside while Cors hit the cross bar with a free kick. An improved Corinthians came out in the 2nd half and pressurized USRC and should they have scored one of their chances could have made for an interesting final 20 minutes but a strong of good saves kept them out.
Robbie Scott hit the onion bag twice for HK Scottish but with Jannis Wittmann and a last minute goal from Bastian Braun they had to settle for a point against Krauts which could well prove to be vital in their bid to stay in Division 1. A closely contested first half saw the teams go in level 0-0 at half time but Krauts pounced early in the 2nd half when a Jannis shot them into the lead. Stags however dusted themselves down and a free kick and pen from Robbie saw them take a 2-1 lead before the Krauts talisman Braun secured a point for ze Germans.
J-Leaguers ran out 4-2 winners with a brace from Shochi Arai x2, Sho Kaseyama x2 cancelling out Spartans scorers Warren Tilley and Shane Burdekin. It was however a frustrating day for the Wanchai Warriors as the game was cut short by 5 minutes with a number of time wasting and fouling from their opponents meaning the game had no flow and with a missed pen and a shot hitting the post it was another day where they felt they should have got more out of the game.
In the other game Goodfellas scored a narrow 2-1 win against Mes at Kowloon Tsai Park. Mes scored from Liam Kelly before Goodfellas Isaac Pyrillis and Louis Man scored the two goals to seal the victory.
In Division 2, Bants continued their strong run chasing for their first title after overcoming the challenge from KCC Royals on their home soil. Victor Johansson scored a brace while Lee Hodgeson, Kenny Lam and Stefano Sorrentino all hammered once to nail down a 5-1 victory. Dan Jacques scored the consolation goal for KCC in this physical and tough battle.
Another title contenders Soho Spartans made no mistake during the weekend too and they stayed firmed at second with two points adrift. Golden boot favorite Li Youngsen reported duty with a brace while Nick Dashti and Robbie Lunn also got a goal each in their 4-1 win over Team Shotgun, who had Hin Mok score their only goal.
Revolution retained their title hope after they recorded a hard-fought 2-0 victory over KCC Cavaliers to come 3rd in the table. Jacky Zhang and Tim Rechter both put their name on the score sheet.
In Division 3, after the slip by leaders Young Guns, the chase for title is now open up again. The shooters were the team to pull out a surprising 3-0 victory over the leaders with Hiroshi Uehara finding the net twice and Takayuki Ohno once. Having said that, Young Guns still have a 2-point-lead with one game in hand.
Legal Head did not let their strong run stop last week when they beat bottom team MBFC 5-2 to move up to the second of the table. MBFC had a good start when they opened the scoring with a well-placed goal past the keeper off the post. LH equalized with an own goal from MBFC and then Charles Reid scored a great breakaway goal by slotting past the advancing keeper to settle the LH nerves. Limbu Versaj scored after some good interplay to cruise to a 3-1 lead, only to see MBFC come back with their own well-taken breakaway goal by rounding the goal keeper. It then came the goal of the season by Josh Mak who scored directly from the kick-off spot, with some MBFC players still celebrating their goal moments agao! Limbu Versaj scored his second of the day from the penalty spot to wrap the game up. Pang Chao and Mao Qiyu were the scorers of MBFC.
Old Speckled Men continued their recent invincible form when they hammered 5 past BOCs. Playmaker Amro Abbas together with Arun Majkia scored twice while Steve Harrington also got a goal under his name. Their celebration mood was however a bit hit by the sent-off of their player Ally Kelly.
TWF still could not find ways to break their losing streak when they fell down to 2-5 in front of Shui Wei FC. Actually they had a good start when Hang Ng took the lead for them with some excellent solo effort. Shui Wei then geared up the pressure and they hammered twice in first half to once come to a 2-1 victory, only with Hang Ng scoring his second to break even before the interval. Second half was totally dominated by Shui Wei and they continued to exploit the sloppy TWF defence to score 3 more to lift themselves to the 3rd place. Goals for Shui Wei were delivered by William Ferdinand (2), Luke Facer (2) and Mike Stafford (1).
