MATCH REPORT

Weekly Roundup - March 13th & 14th

By Marion F Dent
Press Associates

	Player of the Week Kelly Bey Men's Masters VMSL Premier Surrey Premier 4-1 Columbus FC March 13, Cloverdale Click here for a multiphoto slideshow

The weekend saw only three of our seven teams in action but they all enjoyed emphatic home victories at Cloverdale Athletic Park.

United’s mens premier team starting off the weekend on the right note by registering a 4-1 win over Columbus in league action and the three points coupled with a loss for the divisional leaders will produce a much closer finish to the divisional race than most people were expecting a couple of weeks ago. On Saturday, at Cloverdale Athletic Park, a very vibrant and committed Surrey United team hosted a rather disorganized Columbus FC in a match that obviously meant much more to the home side than to the visitors. Columbus, in fact, started the game with only 10 players and Surrey made them pay before their 11th man appeared on the scene! United took the early lead when Shawn Blakeway's shot bounced off both posts before falling onto the feet of Corey Janzen who proceeded to score one of the easiest goals of his life as he tapped in the rebound from close range. Columbus when restored to 11 men looked dangerous in attack and generated a couple of good scoring chances before they fell further behind after 30 minutes when Surrey's Clayton Dobbin hammered a low left foot shot into the corner of the net from twenty yards. Three minutes before the half United sealed the game when the diminutive midfielder Rob Wilson scored with a header from a long throw-in by striker Dave Hleucka.

In the second half United missed a couple of breakaways and Gareth Wilkshire hit the post twice before Columbus nabbed a late consolation goal in the 88th minute when league leading scorer Alex Elliott forced the ball home from close range. United's Wilkshire rounded out the scoring in injury time converting from the spot shot after being upended in the penalty area.

In division two action United beat Vancouver Lobbans 5-1 in league play at Cloverdale Athletic Park on Sunday. The home side got off to a great start when martin Kelly opened the scoring after only two minutes side- footing home a low cross from Dale Kahri. Both teams battled away in a fairly even contest until United broke the game wide open with two quick goals in the last five minutes of the first half. In the fortieth minute Ezra Fenwick clipped home a close range effort following some good set-up play between Avi Yakub and Bjorn Wejr. Three minutes later the same two players combined once again to provide a chance for Matt Orsono who converted the opportunity with a clinical finish from twelve yards out. The late first half blast demoralized the visitors and in the second half United dominated large portions of the game adding further goals from Ezra Fenwick and a twenty yard cracker from Rohit Kooner before surrendering a late consolation goal to the visitors to ruin keeper Kevin Woronchuk’s shut-out bid.

The mens masters team beat fourth placed Haney 7-0 in a league game at Cloverdale Athletic Park on Sunday after the two teams had battled hard to a scoreless first half. The emphatic win hardly seemed possible after United’s lacklustre first half. However, some stern words from the teams’ 17 coaches produced an amazing turnaround and a seven goal second half scoring spree. Five minutes after the interval Randy Carmichael nabbed what stood up as the game winner with a glorious left foot drive from twenty five yards reminding everyone of his halcyon days in the premier league. United striker Murray Howes fired home the second goal five minutes later after Kelly Bey had done the spade-work and set up the close range opportunity. The goal seemed to break the backs of the visitors as United started to spray the ball around the park creating goal scoring chances at will. Steve Reid set up player of the game Kelly Bey with two great chances and Bey duly accepted the responsibility by tucking the chances away like the seasoned veteran he has become. Howes added his second thanks to some fine work by Dave Ellenwood. In the latter stages of the game United got two further goals from Bill Muirhead and George Paille to complete the scoring.

Kelly Bey who had an outstanding game for the Master’s team netting two goals in the process 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.