The most eye catching result in the Heineken Sunday League round of 16 at the weekend was Luca Zaino’s 3-1 defeat of Harry’s at the Ed Bush stadium.
Luca bossed the game from the onset and took a deserved lead at half-time when center-half Ian Commins used his height advantage to head home after 12 minutes.
After the break, Harry’s managed to equalize through a Tim Evans shot after 56 minutes, but Luca retook the lead from a hotly disputed penalty kick when Delano Mitchell went tumbling in the box from a Jeff Thornton sliding tackle.
Luca’s player-coach Federico Destro scored from the spot. Luca went 3-1 up three minutes later when striker Mike Stroh’s looping shot was caught in the wind and sailed perfectly under the cross bar.
Despite dominating their game against bottom-of-the-table Fidel Old Boys, league leaders Fidel Wanderers failed to pick up all three points for only the third time this season as they were held to a 1-1 draw at the TE McField Annex.
The Wanderers gifted Old Boys the lead on 11 minutes with a blundered back pass to their keeper that was snapped up by striker Ryan Nugent.
Midway through the half and the Wanderers were presented with a golden opportunity from a penalty but this was hit past the post.
After the break, Wanderers set up almost one-way traffic towards their opponent’s goal – and the pressure finally told six minutes after the restart when Shennon Hanna hit home from close range.
Thereafter, the Old Boys goal led something of a charmed life with Wanderers hitting the bar twice and fluffing easy chances. At the end it was the Old Boys who were smiling from the draw.
CML Claymores moved up to second in the table with a 3-1 victory against Shellaz at Ed Bush.
The game burst into life immediately with Shellaz taking the lead with the quickest goal of the season when Craig Carridice hit a thunderbolt directly from the kick-off for a goal-of-the-season contender.
CML had the best possible response with an equalizer three minutes later from a close range tap in from Luciano De Rise, his eighth of the season.
The goal swung the momentum back to CML who thereafter controlled the game. Into the second-half, CML playmaker James Cooper scored a cracker for the third week running – this time a terrific shot from 25 yards.
CML made it 3-1 five minutes from time when Baron Solomon ran onto a ball over the top of a square Shellaz defense, out-muscled his marker and slotted home.
The final game of the weekend was at the TE McField Annex where Maples Revolution beat Boca Juniors 3-0.
Boca’s keeper, Felix Manzanares gifted Maples the lead in the last minute of the first-half when he attempted to punch the ball clear at a corner kick, but only succeeded in putting it into his own net.
A second own goal was set up from Maples’ Dennis Lee who whipped in a dangerous cross and Boca’s defender Ronny McLaughlin was unlucky to see his attempted clearance fly past his own keeper. The two own goals sandwiched a wonderful solo effort from Maples’ midfielder Colm Flanagan who won the ball in midfield, rode a couple of challenges and chipped the ball past the out rushing keeper. This was a welcome return to winning ways for the Revolution who had become score draw experts in recent weeks.
This weekend, it’s back to cup business with the first leg of the CML Cup. At the TE McField Annex, it is a rematch of last season’s final when holders Fidel Wanderers face Harry’s and at Ed Bush, the two in-form teams in the league, CML Claymores and Luca Zaino play.
There is also one rearranged league fixture at the Annex when Old Boys face the Revolution.
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