LEADERS WIN AGAIN

Hillview and Glebe Rangers Old Boys maintained their 100% records at the weekend albeit in different circumstances.

Hillview hammered Coleraine Olympic while Glebe needed a late winner to take the points against The Taverners.

Mountview also have a 100% record though they have played less games. They comfortably saw off Ballyrashane on Saturday as Balnamore won by the odd goal in five away to Brook Street.

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Berthas took the points in a good game away to Dunaghy while The Villagers beat FC Macosquin and in the remaining game, Finn McCools rattled 12 goals past Windyhall.

The league and its members would like to wish The Villagers Captain Ryan ‘Pokie’ Pollock a speedy recovery after the player suffered a broken ankle in their game at the weekend.

As can be seen from the league table the name of Macosquin Village has been removed from the current season. All fixtures for Macosquin Village have also been removed. Fixtures from the 6th October have now been rescheduled.

Coleraine Olympic 1 Hillview FC 8

Hillview took the lead in the first five minutes. The ball fell to Friel from a corner and the midfielder smashed the ball into the roof of the net. Nevin’s free kick rebounded off McCrudden and into the goal to make it two soon after.

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Their third came from a long throw from McRellis’ which was headed in by Millar from the edge of the box. Nevin missed an opportunity to pick up his second soon after from the penalty spot.

Hillview scored their fourth just into the second half. Evangelista’s whipped ball was headed toward goal by Close. The Hillview striker followed his shot up and when it was saved by the keeper, was there to tap the ball into the empty net.

Millar turned provider for Hillview’s fifth. Bursting from midfield his perfectly weighted pass found Hutchinson and the Hillview captain coolly placed the ball past the Olympic keeper into the corner of the goal.

McGowan’s lifted the ball over the Olympic keeper from the edge of the box to give Hillview their sixth. Olympic picked up a conciliation goal with 20 to go. The ball had made its way through to McDowell in the Hillview goal. Instead of lifting the ball he tried to chip it over Wetherall. The ball hit the Olympic striker and he was able to get to the rebound first to tap in.

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Evangelista scored the goal of the game and Hillview’s seventh with a 35 yard bullet into the corner of the net. With the game drawing to a close, Patterson dinked the ball over the Olympic keeper to make the final score Olympic 1 - Hillview 8. Man of the Match: Lee Nevin (Hillview)

Glebe Rangers Old Boys 3 The Taverners 2

Glebe Old Boys played host to local rivals the Taverners at the Joey Dunlop Centre on Saturday morning.

Making a welcome return to the fold for the Old Boys were Rab McCombe, Paul Holmes, Colin McBride and recent capture Alan McBride whilst the Taverners were severely depleted and took to the field with only 10 men.

With a man advantage the Old Boys were on top throughout the first half but were only able to manage the one goal as the Taverners defended manfully. The one goal came when Madison headed a Holmes cross over Adams. Madison also had a shot cleared off the line by Kinnaird who marshalled his defence superbly throughout ably supported by Blair, McMillan and McKenna.

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Despite constant pressure Glebe were unable to add to their tally and they received a setback when McBride suffered a back injury which rendered him a passenger for the rest of the game.

The second half saw goal-scorer Madison turn provider as he set up Ivan Elder who put the Old Boys two up with a fine finish. However rather than let their heads go down this reverse served only to inspire the Taverners and they upped their game totally, so much so that they pulled one back when Workman blasted home after a goal mouth scramble.

With the Glebe in disarray the comeback was complete when Case beat McCombe 10 minutes later.

It was now anybody’s game and Wilmont went close with s free-kick which rattled the woodwork. The same player brought a stunning save from Adams as the Old Boys pushed forward and with six minutes to go they made the breakthrough. Kyle crossed from the left and Elder ghosted in to volley home and give the points to a relieved Glebe team. Man of the Match: Billy McCurdy (Glebe Rangers Old Boys)

Ballyrashane FC 0 Mountview FC 6

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Mountview started this fixture as strong favourites but the early exchanges showed little between the sides.

Ballyrashane had an early free kick which went directly to McAllister and Doherty brought a full stretch save out of Kane with a direct free kick for Mountview.

But Doherty showed composure to make room and put the visitors ahead after 15 minutes. The goal gave Mountview the momentum to push on and Kane was proving to the busier of the keepers with some assured handling.

A pinpoint cross from Martin gave Doherty a great chance to extend the lead but Kane made an excellent point blank stop. The inevitable arrived a few minutes later though, as Doherty squared across goal to give Scottie Fraser the chance to score number two, which he took with ease.

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Ballyrashane continued to struggle with the visitors passing in the second half. A strong run by Hughes after good work by Wills gave Doherty an early chance to score his second but the ball went just over the bar.

Johnny Martin did the same a few minutes later and the pressure was all on Ballyrashane. But with an hour gone, Doherty beat the offside trap, rounded the keeper and scored. Martin was pushing hard for his goal and almost succeeded making number four, but McAllister was there to help out and added the finishing touch for him.

The chances were continually putting the home defence under a lot of pressure but an excellent move involving McAllister and Martin, resulted in a strong header from Ciaran Doherty to claim his perfect hat-trick.

The match concluded with Ballyrashane having a corner, which Mountview defended and broke away quickly with Aidy Calvin bursting through the middle of the park (well something was bursting!) where he calmly rounded the keeper to slot home number six. Man of the Match Ciaran Doherty (Mountview FC)

Brook Street 2 Balnamore FC 3

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Both sides served up an open and entertaining game of football at the Crescent on Saturday. Balnamore started the brighter of the two teams and looked dangerous on the ball as they pressurised the Brook Street defence.

The breakthrough came in the ninth minute, David McDowell collected the ball found space and done enough to lob the ball over the keeper into the net for Balnanmore’s first.

Brook Street came close with a couple of efforts only to be denied by the cross bar, however Mark Dinsmore levelled things soon after with a low drive.

Balnamore’s second goal came ten minutes later, Sean Hogg was too strong for his marker broke through and fired past McAllister in goal. After the break Balnamore only had to wait a minute for their third, a string of passes down the right flank opened up the Coleraine side’s defence and Sean Hogg netted his second of the day with a strike into the top corner.

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The visitors had chances to kill off the game but Mc Allister was having a good day in the Brook Street goal to deny them.

James Tosh then latched onto a long ball to score for Brook Street and narrow the deficit to one. The last half hour was end to end stuff as both sides saw good chances missed, but Balnamore held on to take the points in what was a open, flowing game. Man of the Match: Sean Hogg (Balnamore)

The Villagers 3 FC Macosquin 0

The home side had a point to prove after a poor start to the season and the visitors were on a revenge mission following their defeat to The Villagers in the LMA League in July. The Villagers came out flying and some neat football was played with only half chances coming MacFarlane crossed for Wilson but a fine interception from Cooke denied them.

Tosh made a superb save to from a header from his team-mate shortly afterwards, the FC Macosquin defender in question must owe him a piny for that! FC Macosquin never got a chance to threaten in the first half as The Villagers midfield pairing of Friel and Mervyn Hutchinson controlled things and Davie Pollock and big horse Trevor Hutchinson were solid in defence.

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On 37 minutes the deadlock was finally broken when Ryan Pollock crossed to MacFarlane who headed down for Wilson who showed great composure to slot past Tosh, this was how it remained at half time.

The second half started with FC Macosquin upping the tempo and almost equalising when Lee Biggart’s strike was brilliantly diverted wide by Ryan Pollock. On 62 mins it was 2-0 when Stuart Parke won the ball played to Mervyn Hutchinson who played to MacFarlane who beat a defender before unleasing a fercious strike into the top corner.

After that The Villagers defence coped well with Macosquin pressure which yielded a couple of half chances that came to nothing.

On 81 minutes it was game over when Ryan Shirlow played a delightful ball to Wilson, following quick thinking from Friel, and he finished it.

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The Villagers had a couple more chances to score notably young Kennedy, who was unlucky with his effort.

A great win that could turn round The Villagers season in their new kit kindly supplied by their sponsors. On a more sombre note Ryan Pollock the club captain of the villagers, at the time of writing is in hospital with a suspected broken ankle due to an awkward landing, we would like to wish him well and hopefully he is back playing soon. Man of the Match: David Pollock (The Villagers)

Dunaghy Old Boys 2 Berthas FC 3

This game was a tail of two halves, Berthas dominating the first half with the home side having most of the play in the second half.

The away team were playing some lovely stuff in the with Pollock and Laverty particularly threatening. Berthas had the first shot on goal with Graham skipped past two tackles only to see his rasping drive pushed wide by the Dunaghy keeper.

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The Caldwell missed a great chance to put his team in the lead when Laverty done his man on the right before delivering an inch perfect cross onto the head of his strike partner but the big striker headed wide. Dunaghy were struggling to string their passes together and found Berthas a tough nut to crack.

The away team finally took the lead when McLaughlin picked out a beautiful pass to find Pollock on the right and he controlled before finding the far corner with the outside of his boot. They then quickly grabbed their second when McGarvey found Pollock who had his shot saved but Laverty was on hand to place the ball into the back of the net.

Berthas were well on top before a massive set back in the 35 minute when keeper Elder was sent off. Berthas made a reshuffle and surprisingly added to their lead just before the break. Hesitation at the back by Dunaghy gave Pollock a chance, his first shot was saved but he was able to hammer home the rebound.

Dunaghy came out for the second half having made a number of subs and their went on to score pretty quickly when Blair capitalised on hesitation at the back to lob the ball into the net. Dunaghy pushed for more with sub keeper Cochrane making saves from Blair and Dunlop before the latter when agonising close with a curling left footer.

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Berthas however had a couple of half chances with MacAulay’s belter from distance forcing a top save. Dunaghy finally grabbed their second with Dunlop’s excellent reverse pass found Moore, who done the rest from six yards. Dunaghy pushed for the equaliser but Berthas battled hard to hold them out and take the three points. Man of the Match: Richard Pollock (Berthas FC)

Finn McCools 12 FC Windyhall 1

Finns started this game brighter when they score two quick goals from J Parke. Later Parke got on the score sheet again with his third. Finns took control scoring another five in the first half making it eight.

Windyhall got a goal from the spot to end the half. Second half the game started slowly with Windyhall getting a couple of injuries. It was Finns again who scored another with Andy Mcafee getting his hat-trick. Finns went on to score another three making it twelve one. Windyhall played this game to the end giving everything. Man of the Match: Andy McAfee (Finn McCools).

Fixtures 15 September

Balnamore FC v West Bann Athletic Fulton Park

Bertha’s FC v Coleraine Olympic Castlerock

FC Macosquin v Brook Street Rugby Avenue 2

Hazelbank v Finn McCool’s Rugby Avenue 1

Mountview FC v Villagers FC Rugby Avenue 3

Taverners FC v Ballyrashane Riada 2

Windyhall FC v Glebe Rangers Old Boys Rugby Avenue 4

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