Macosquin cause upset of the weekend

Ian McClelland's men had been in decent form this season but weren't expected to beat Hillview, but that they did in a 2-1 victory at Rugby Avenue.

Glebe Rangers Old Boys and Riverside kept up the pace at the top of the table after both recorded comfortable victories. Hazelbank and Berthas FC both had good wins against Dunaghy and Finn McCools respectively while Macosquin Village hit Ballyrashane for six without reply.

The Villagers cantered to a win against Somerset while Mountview scraped past Coleraine Olympic.

In the remaining games, Balnamore took the points by the odd goal in nine after a thriller at home to The Taverners.

The draw for the preliminary and first round of the Shield Competition has been made with a few interesting ties up for decision. In the preliminary round Dunaghy Old Boys should have too much for Ballyrashane but two of the top four meet in the other with Glebe Rangers Old Boys travelling to Coleraine to face Hillview in a contest that could go either way.

These two games plus a couple of first round games with be played this Saturday (16) with the remaining first round games to be played on Saturday 30 October.

Young Macosquin Village striker Ryan Moffat currently leads the chase for the N&N Trophies Sponsored Golden Boot after his five-goal haul at the weekend took him to 15 for the season.

He is closely followed by Ian Christie on 14 goals and James Steele on 13 goals.

As always, keep up to date with the latest HTWL news at www.htwl.leaguerepublic.com

FC Macosquin 2 Hillview1

A real blood and thunder affair at Rugby Avenue on Saturday between a Hillview side who have been unbeaten this season and a Macosquin team who were also on a good run of form.

FC Macosquin put their financial constraints behind them and the players on the pitch showed that the off-field takeover talks was not going to put them off their football!

In all honestly the football was not pretty to watch as both sides decided to throw the rule book out the window and get stuck into each other from the first whistle demonstrating just why Saturday is alright for fighting.

This resulted in the ref flashing more colours than a traffic light. FC Macosquin got off to a great start when McGahon thought he was dancing on ice as he waltzed past the Hillview defence to cross to Ian McClelland who decide to use his backside instead of his head to calmly loop the ball over the Hillview keeper.

Mountview pushed for the equaliser and leveled things just before half time when after a frantic scramble inside the box Nathan Black reacted quickly when the ball bobbled in front of him and from one yard out he curled the ball into the corner of the net with the outside of his left toe.

After a very physical first half Hillview introduced DD McClelland in the second half and despite have more bandages round his legs than an Egyptian mummy he started to pull the strings in the match and the swing of play started to go Hillview's way. Hillview were unlucky not to go in front when after an excellent cross by McClelland landed on the head of Black he would consider himself very unfortunate to miss an open goal from two yards out.

Macosquin were definitely under pressure at the back and some fine goalkeeping by young Paddy Connolly was keeping them in the game so manager McCambridge decided on a formation change and the introduction of another striker from the bench.

This change paid dividends as soon after Liam McGuinness broke free for Macosquin and he drilled the ball past the Hillview keeper with such ferocity that it was lucky the net held the ball in place or their could have been casualties on the adjacent football pitch.

McGuinness started doing his celebratory jig, the rest of the team started hugging and kissing until they realised how stupid their exuberant celebrations looked and that there was still 10 minutes of the match remaining.

Hillview pushed hard for the last minute equaliser but Creswell and Robinson held things tight at the back for Macosquin until the final whistle. Having started the season favourites for the drop FC have now won three of their last four games and are pushing for a play off position. They're not Brazil, they're Macosquin. Man of the Match: Ian McClelland (FC Macosquin)

Glebe Rangers Old Boys 4 West Bann Athletic 0

Glebe maintained their winning ways with this victory over West Bann at the Joey Dunlop Centre on Saturday morning.

Jason Wilmont and Sticky Steele both notched a brace in what was a hard-fought encounter against the young Coleraine outfit. Glebe pressed for most of the first half with man of the match Ian Bellingham constantly probing from the back and constantly joining in attacking forays on the left flank.

However it was from a slick passing move on the opposite side that Wilmont opened the scoring after a McCracken cross. The same player increased Glebe's lead shortly afterwards, administering a neat finish after his initial effort had been blocked, and half time arrived with the Old Boys two up.

The second half proved to be a dour affair with both sides canceling each other out and finding it difficult to get any rhythm going. West Bann almost pulled one back when the ball hit the post after a mix-up in the home defence but Steele showed his predatory instinct when latching on to a long clearance from Allen and lobbing Tosh.

Steele repeated the dose, again finding the net with a lob, to complete the scoring. West Bann continued to push until the end but failed to pull one back despite a great volleyed effort from Pancott. Man of the Match: Ian Bellingham (Glebe Rangers Old Boys)

Brook Street 1 Riverside Athletic 3

The visitors fell a goal behind when Mark Dinsmore netted after only eight minutes to give Brook St an early advantage.

The hosts continued to have the upper hand until Ricky Hanna finally converted for Riverside on thirty-five minutes to leave the game level at the break.

Riverside began the second half better and eased ahead almost immediately when Kyle White scored his first of the season. Although playing much better than they did in the first half Riverside were finding the going tough against a physical and determined opposition, with the game fragmented by a series of free kicks.

The points were just about assured eight minutes from time when Workman, on as a replacement for the battling McNabb, showed good strength to hold off a couple of defenders and bundle the ball home. Man of the match: Paul Coyles (Riverside Athletic)

Hazelbank 2 Dunaghy Old Boys 0

A very close first half, only a hand full of half chances for both teams, McClarty going close with a far post header but the excellent Ricky Docherty made the save. Ian Christie had the best chance for Dunaghy with Joe Patton setting him free on the left but James Diver managed to put pressure on him pushing him away from goal. Christie got the shot away but Steven Crawford made a great one handed save at the front post.

All square at the break. Hazelbank started the second half strong, forcing Dunaghy onto the back foot, a Nigel Sheppard corner swung in with Dave McClean out jumping every one only to see his goal bound effort handled on the line by Arnie Blair. The referee had no choice but to award the penalty and show red to Blair. Colin McClarty made no mistake from spot smashing in an unstoppable effort. McClarty doubled the advantage on 65 minutes, collecting McClean's lay off to shoot home past Docherty.

Hazelbank saw out the remainder of the game, full credit to Dunaghy with 10 men they put up strong resistance, Ian Christie their most threatening player, but was limited to only half chances by a well organised Hazelbank defence. Man of the Match: Colin McClarty (Hazelbank)

The Villagers 5 Somerset 1

The home team started off the stronger with captain Ryan Pollock putting them into the lead when he scored a cracker from all of 35 yards.

As the match progressed The Villagers were the more dominant but just failed to increase their lead. The second half was similar to the first and not long in the home team deservedly increased their lead when Hamilton Gamble finished well after latching onto Rab Friel's pass.

The same player then scored his second and his teams third soon after. Substitute Ryan Shirlow put his team well in command when he danced through the away team defence to slot home.

Somerset battled bravely but their misery was complete when they scored an own goal.

They however did get a consolation goal with two minutes left on the clock. Man of the Match: Richard Pollock (The Villagers)

Balnamore 5 The Taverners 4

Both teams entered this game under pressure with recent results and injuries; nevertheless three points were up for grabs.

Taverners were the team who had much of the play early on creating chances and troubling the Balnamore defence. This pressure paid off when halfway through the first half they took the lead with a Neil Thompson strike after Balnamore failed on two occasions to clear.

The visitors looked dangerous on attack as the home team struggled to get into rhythm, but done well to keep the score as it was until half time. Balnamore emerged from the break with more urgency and more fluency in their play and it wasn't long until they levelled the score.

Philip Hanna done well down the right, putting a through ball to Madison who in turn found Sean Hogg who fired past the stretching Taverners keeper. But this game was far from over, within three minutes Niall O'Kane put Taverners two-one up, finishing a ball sent straight down the middle.

A few minutes later in reply Balnamore leveled again, Nicky Tweed floated a free kick into the visitors area and Willie Corr the smallest man on the pitch rose like a giant to head past Kinnaird in goal, Corr celebrated his goal like a true pro.

Taverners got number three when a Balnamore set piece was squandered and a long ball from Colin Platt found O'Kane again who made no mistake.

This was followed by another goal by David Louden who had the simplest of tap ins after a mix up in the home team's defence. Balnamore were down but not out, quickly they attacked.

Willie "Messi" Corr collected the ball and after riding three tackles was hauled to the ground inside the penalty area, Nicky Tweed stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way with the resulting penalty.

It was now all the home team, Hanna again received the ball down the right, turned and delivered a great cross which found its way to an athletic Josie Kelly who volleyed into the net from an acute angle. A great goal to make it all square. Taverners were shocked, they had a man dismissed following a second yellow and looked shaky.

They also had a couple of late chances which they spurned, which meant Balnamore had the last say in this game, Ryan Mooney fed Madison the ball, who then side stepped a Taverners defender and watched as his shot went past the stranded Kinnaird in goals to win it at the death for the home team amid wild celebrations. Man of the Match: Ryan Mooney (Balnamore)

Coleraine Olympic 2 Mountview FC 3

Finn McCools 1 Berthas FC 5

Macosquin Village 6 Ballyrashane FC 0

Fixtures for Saturday 16 October

League

Berthas FC v The Villagers Castlerock

Finn McCool's v Coleraine Olympic

Hazelbank v F.C Macosquin Rugby Avenue 3

Riverside Athletic v Somerset Fulton Park

Taverners F.C v Brook Street Riada 2

Shield

Dunaghy Old Boy's v Ballyrashane Dunaghy

Hillview F.C v Glebe Rangers Old Boys Crescent 3

Macosquin Village v Mountview F.C Ballysally 2

West Bann Athletic v Balnamore F.C Rugby Avenue 1

N&N Trophies Golden Boot

Player Team Goals

Ryan Moffat Macosquin Village 15

Ian Christie Dunaghy Old Boy's 14

James Steele Glebe Rangers Old Boys 13

Gary Millar Somerset 11

Darren Stewart Macosquin Village 11

* Berthas Football Club held a Night at the Races in Berthas Bar, Castlerock to raise club funds recently.

There was a good turn out and a fun night was had by all. The management of Berthas FC would like to thank the following who each sponsored a race:

- Exorna Kitchens, Coleraine

- The Ice House, Portsewart

- Berthas Bar' Castlerock

- The Village Butchers, Castlerock

- Julie's Kitchen, Limavady

- RH Joinery, Coleraine

- CamCait DIY Kitchens, Dungiven

- The Tavern Restaurant Articlave and sister restaurant The Bulls Eye Grill and Wine Bar, Coleraine.