The Uxella League programme was severely hit by the weather this weekend with only a handful of games surviving the atrocious conditions. The three games that did produce action in the First Division all proved to be decisive victories.
In the first encounter, despite playing with only ten men, champions Tiger Old Boys yet again preserved their 100% winning record and extended their lead at the top of the table with a 5-0 away victory over Red Tile in the rain and hailstones at Cossington. One man who was definitely not affected by the conditions was Tigers' Mark Pope who saw fit to score all five of the goals after a 'bare bones' Tile side had first put up a tremendous fight.
In an altogether more one-sided top flight encounter, the seemingly masochistic tendencies of Cobblestones FC were on display again as their collective heads and team spirit never dropped for a moment despite yet another sound thrashing. This time they went down 15-0 at home to Railway Club, in the process extending their league record to sixteen consecutive defeats for the 2004-05 league campaign. Their chief tormentor on this occasion was veteran striker Bob Abrams who racked up no less than eight of Railway's goals while Carl Tucker was also in prolific form with four of his own. Barry Hardwell(2) and John Richards completed the rout and the result means that Railway club go level on points in the table with Pig & Whistle.
Pig themselves surprisingly went down 5-1 to Durleigh, whose form this season could be described as "consistently inconsistent". The three valuable points gained by Durleigh means that they leapfrog Red Tile into sixth place in the table.
In Division Two the battle of the basement boys saw second-from-bottom Woolavington Reserves come away from their trip to third-from-bottom
Eastover Wanderers with an emphatic 8-1 victory. Tom Presley set the agenda with a hat-trick and Gary Head(2), Tim Dean, John Cook and Matt Caddy all weighed in with strikes of their own. Eastover's consolation goal yet again came from Dean Fury who has now racked up six goals in his last five outings. The result ensures that Woolavington Reserves now leapfrog Eastover in the table to go either third bottom or eighth if you subscribe to the "glass is half full" outlook on life.
In the only other game in the second tier Huntspill Crowns ran out 6-2 winners over bottom-of-the-table Cannington who once again were forced to play a game without a full complement of eleven men. The Crowns sealed the points thanks to a hat-trick from Brian Read and further goals from Paul Burrow, Rob Kilduff and Jason Roberts. Cannington put up a stout resistance and also managed a couple of goals of their own through Rob Rowley and Giovanni Cannell.
There is only one result to report from Division Three but it is a significant one as Artillery West Huntspill Boys, who had dropped their first points of the campaign with a draw in their previous game, finally found themselves on the losing side as they surprisingly went down 3-0 at home to a very youthful Sportsman side, whose oldest player on the day was only twenty years old. The visitors goals were scored by Andrew Skidmore, Steve Davis and C. Rossiter and the three points gained by Sportsman means that they are closing in on second-placed Puriton United who are now only a point ahead of them in the table but having played two more games than Sportsman.
(Story First Published: 18.02.05) |
