The weekend of December 6th started and ended with the Men’s premier team who tied 1-1 with Khalsa on Friday 5th and beat SFU Clan 2-1 on Wednesday 10th.

On the Friday United’s injury riddled side was further hampered by suspensions to Gareth Wilkshire and Jackson Reeve and was also without the services of Clayton Dobbin and Cory Janzen due to work commitments. That presented a lot of opportunities for some of our younger players to fill the void and in the circumstances they responded very well. United started brightly enough with Todd Stauber and youngsters Vinny Stewart and Reshad Etminan dominating the play in the middle of the park. Sean Crocker came the closest to scoring in the goalless first half when a low shot from a free-kick found the side netting. United had an ideal start to the second half when good forward pressure produced a schoolboy error in the heart of the Khalsa defence when a complete breakdown between the goalkeeper and the defender produced the classic own goal. Unfortunately, for United the goal seemed to stir the Khalsa players and they came forward in waves forcing United back on the defensive and deservedly tied up the game in the 75th minute. Only some great goalkeeping by Drew Smiley and great defence by Martin Schaefer, Pete Hjorth and Luke Ash kept the opponents from grabbing a winner. United did almost steal all the points in the dying minutes when Hjorth’s powerful header form Stauber’s cross was some how beaten out on the goal-line by the Khalsa keeper.

For the Wednesday night game, United lost the services of Hjorth to injury but did welcome back Janzen, Dobbin, Wilkshire and Reeve. United started purposefully and their early dominance was rewarded when Dave Hleucka headed home a great left wing cross from Trevor Rosencrans to open the scoring at the twenty minute mark. The two almost hooked up again five minutes later but this time Hleucka’s valiant lunge was inches away from getting the vital touch to the low cross. Clan had two great chances to tie-up the game in the first half but on both occasions were thwarted by two great saves from United netminder Drew Smiley. United increased their lead midway through the second frame when substitute Sean Kelly linked up well with Trevor Rosencrans who broke past the defence and clipped a low right foot shot into the net. United, similar to last Friday saw their veterans tire somewhat and Clan took advantage and applied plenty of pressure which eventually paid off when they scored in the 78th minute off a free-kick. Clan created some anxious moments for United in the remaining time by some no nonsense defence saw United hang on to earn the vital three points.

In Men’s Division One action on Saturday against Khalsa United produced an ultra casual performance that saw them surrender three leads before grabbing an injury time winner to beat Khalsa 4-3. United opened the scoring after fifteen minutes when defender Jackson Reeve clipped home a low corner kick from Sean Kelly. Kelly then increased United’s lead with an individual effort that saw him cut in from the goal-line and beat the keeper with a low right foot shot to the near post. Khalsa cut the lead shortly before the half cashing in on some slack marking in the Surrey defence. In the second half United dominated play but poor finishing saw them squander numerous opportunities and hit the woodwork on three occasions. Jackson Reeve appeared to have registered the game winner when his headed goal restored a two goal lead for United. However, Khalsa then replied with two quick goals. There first was a goal by the striker who clearly handled the ball before turning quickly and lashing the ball into the net. Minutes later Khalsa were awarded a penalty after United’s Ray Christensen was harshly adjudged to have brought down a player inside the penalty box and Khalsa successfully converted the spot-kick. With virtually no time left on the clock United were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area and quick thinking by Lee Grant sent matt Osborne racing down the right whose low cross was fired into the net by Ben Pisch to seal the points for United who on the day should and could have scored ten goals if they had finished their chances.

In Division Two action the men weren’t quite as fortunate as they lost 2-1 to fellow title challengers WFC Rangers in Vancouver. After fairly even play for most of the first half United surrendered a late goal just before the interval and then just after the restart the home team increased their lead by adding a second goal. United’s team has a lot of pride and they fought back tremendously hard and reduced the deficit when Chris Roots fired home a Trevor Tagieff cross. United were hell bent on finding the equalizer but despite plenty of pressure they were thwarted by some good goalkeeping and dogged defending and were unable to level the scores.

In Mens Under 21 action on Sunday at Cloverdale Athletic Park United cruised to a comfortable 4-0 win over Croatia. Surrey opened the scoring after only ten minutes when Seth Campana’s strong challenge on the keeper following Matt Osborne’s low cross saw the ball squirt to Adam Blois who tapped the ball into the unguarded net. Five minutes later United added a second when Evan Howard rose magnificently to head home Sean Kelly’s perfectly flighted free-kick.
In the second half United got another goal from Howard and one from Kelly to secure the 4-0 win in a game where United did well to avoid much of the unpleasantness that the opponents were dishing out in an attempt to intimidate our younger players.

The Men’s Masters team were only just able to extend their win streak to 11 games by beating a much improved Delta Metro team 1-0 in Delta.

In ladies action the premier team beat local rivals SBBA 2-0 at Cloverdale Athletic Park in a game where the margin of victory would have been much greater apart from some woeful finishing and some great goalkeeping by the very active SBBA keeper. United pressed right from the kick-off and virtually camped in the SBBA half for most of the early frame. United’s only goal of the half came after 20 minutes when Martina Holan’s low left foot cross eluded the away team defence and found the unmarked Diana Artuso who slotted the ball into the corner of the net form twelve yards out. The second half followed the pattern of the first and SBBA could only muster one troubling shot in the entire game but it did look as though it would produce a goal; that is until United keeper Wendy Hawthorne produced an acrobatic over the head save to deny the visitors. It would prove to be a pivotal moment in the game as two minutes later Martina Holan’s speculative twenty-five yard shot eluded the outstretched fingertips of the SBBA keeper and found it’s way into the back of the net to wrap up the points for United.

In ladies division one action Surrey United traveled three blocks down the road to play SBBA Kaos but were missing leading scorer Kaitlen Clarke for the game. However, two first half goals coupled with a second successive shut-out by keeper Kim Bull carried United to it’s second successive victory and their sixth of the season. United opened the scoring at the ten minute mark when Ellen Materer volleyed home a Katherine Fast corner kick past two defenders and into the open side of the net. United grabbed the insurance marker when good combination play between Joanna Binnie and Nicloe Gertsen set up new signing Erin Slack who steered the pass underneath the charging keeper and into the net.

United premier keeper Drew Smiley’s two great performances earns him this week’s player of the week award. Each Weekly Winner will have their name entered into a random draw for the month for Dinner for Two.