HUTCHINSON TILES: Weather plays havoc with fixtures

Only two games beat the Friday night snow with Hazelbank taking advantage of the inactivity elsewhere to move top of the pile with a good 4-2 victory at home to The Taverners.

The other game played was a battle at the bottom of the table with Coleraine Olympic and Brook Street battling it out for a two-all draw.

All being well, this Saturday sees the quarterfinals of the Hutchinson Tiles Knockout Cup take place.

At Ballysally, Macosquin Village take on Hazelbank.

Hazelbank on paper should be favourites but Davy McNeill’s men have proved many times this season that they are more than capable of living with the big boys and will fancy their chances of progression here.

At Rugby Avenue, Dunaghy Old Boys travel to meet Mountview while Berthas FC are away to Somerset.

Mountview should see off the challenge of the Ballymoney men but the other tie could go all the way, with only three points separating the two teams in the league.

The remaining tie sees youth travel to meet experience as West Bann Athletic visit Ballymoney to meet The Taverners. Again, this game could go either way with Rick McNabbs men probably just the slight favourites here.

There are also four league fixtures up for decision.

The next delegates meeting will be held in the Railway Arms on Monday 1st March at 7pm. Transfer and registration of players has now closed for the remainder of the season.

Hazelbank 4 The Taverners 2

Harry Love opened the scoring within the first five minutes, beating Steven Crawford from 20 yards, after he latched onto a poor clearance from Kelly.

James Diver levelled it for the home side within 2 minutes, his effort similar to Love’s, again from distance.

Dallas in the Taverner’s goal got his hands to it but it carried too much pace for him to prevent it from going in. Colin McBride put The Taverners in front on 20 minutes against the run of play, bad defending again from Hazelbank, a deflection off Robinson fell into McBride’s path who made no mistake from 20 yards through a group of players.

Straight from the centre Sheppard levelled it converting McClarty’s cross. Ciaran Wilson put the home side in front when Dallas dropped the ball in front of the striker who made no mistake and drilled into the empty net.

Sean Smith put the home side further in front from the spot, after McNabb brought down Wilson for the penalty, 4 - 2 at the break.

The second half was a real scrappy affair, Hazelbank missing a bagful of chances, with some really poor finishing while The Taverners were restricted to a few snap shots from distance as they offered little in attack.

No more goals were scored and Hazelbank took the 3 points that moved them to the top of the league. Man of the Match: Billy McCurdy (The Taverners)

Coleraine Olympic 2 Brook Street 2

Olympic had the better of the early exchanges in this closely contested game, however, it was Brook Street who took the lead on 14 minutes when McDonald scored with a well-placed free kick from the edge of the box.

Olympic pressed forward and were rewarded on 34 minutes when a sweeping pass from the left back was collected by Tosh on the right wing and his early cross was met by the unmarked Vauls who finished off the move with a crisp volley at the back post. Olympic were now on top but failed to add to their tally despite forcing several corners in quick succession.

The second half saw a resurgent Brook Street on top with Olympic having to defend and following a scramble in the box, McVey got the final touch to put Brook Street ahead again.

The lead however did not last long with Morrow getting on the end of a precise pass from Sweeney and finishing from 10 yards. Both teams now went in search of a winner but this proved elusive and the game finished all square. Man of the Match: Alan Nevin (Coleraine Olympic)

Fixtures for Saturday 27 February

Knockout Cup

Macosquin Village v Hazelbank Ballysally 2

Mountview F.C v Dunaghy Old Boy's Rugby Avenue 3

Somerset v Bertha's F.C Rugby Avenue 2

Taverners F.C v West Bann Athletic Riada 2

Hutchinson Tiles Winter League

Brook Street v Ballyrashane Coronation F.C Crescent 3

Coleraine Olympic v Riverside Athletic Rugby Avenue 1

F.C Macosquin v Balnamore F.C Castlerock

Finn McCool's v Villagers F.C Bushmills

N&N Trophies Sponsored Golden Boot

Gary MillerSomerset33

Colin McClarty Hazelbank 24

Colin McFarlane Villagers F.C 22

Andrew Cochrane Bertha's F.C 21

Andrei Graur Taverners 20