MATCH REPORT

Weekly Roundup - April 11th

By Marion F Dent

Press Associates

VMSL PREMIER DIVISION CHAMPIONS 2003-2004

	Player of the Week Drew Smiley VMSL Premier VMSL Premier Division Playoff Surrey Premier 3-2 Westside April 10, Cloverdale

Surrey United beat rivals Westside Rinos 3-2 in front of the home town fans for the second time in two week’s but this time United were able to clinch the League Championship title for the second time in the past three years. In fact only Surrey and Westside have won the league championship over the past five seasons. The game started cautiously with both sides seemingly somewhat apprehensive but the game took on a more cut and thrust approach from the minute Westside took the lead when Marcus Felterer coolly tucked away a penalty kick which was awarded following a rather innocent looking challenge from Dave Hleucka on Westside striker Alex Percy. Surrey battled hard and were back on level terms within five minutes when Shawn Blakeway headed down a Craig Dalrymple free-kick for Mike Evans to head past Mike Wickens.

The second half was a great affair with plenty of chances at either end as both teams went for the victory. Westside again took the lead at the sixty fifth minute mark when Ned Stoyanovic made the most of some poor marking by the home team and headed a well flighted Mike Mosher free-kick to the far post into the net despite the desperate attempt by Drew Smiley to pull off a miracle save. United responded by bringing on Joe Deacon as a substitute and it paid immediate dividends when within five minutes he dribbled past two players and hammered a low shot from twenty yards into the corner of the net past Wicken’s outstretched fingertips. The game went back and forth with plenty of action at either end and United had to thank Smiley for keeping the scores level with a couple of great saves at the feet of the Westside forwards. Then with fifteen minutes remaining United got the game winner when youngster Sean Kelly seized the moment when he caught Wicken off his line with a chip shot that the keeper could only partially save as it looped over his head and into the net. The goal set the stage for some frantic final action with Westside throwing everything forward and Smiley came up big again for United who themselves had a great chance to ice the victory but Gareth Wilkshire failed to score on a great opportunity following an outnumbered break. The final whistle could not come soon enough for the Surrey squad who had shown great resilience in not only bouncing back from last week’s Imperial Cup defeat but also it should be remembered had to twice come back from being a goal down against Westside a perennial championship contender.

Drew Smiley was in outstanding form for the premier championship game and is this week’s player of the week. Each Weekly Winner will have their name entered into a random draw for the month for Dinner for Two.