The weekend saw only three of our seven teams in action with our men’s under 21 and ladies premier both advancing in their respective cup competitions with convincing wins and our men’s premier team ended up tying after conceding an injury time goal.

The men’s under 21 team opened up the weekend by beating league winners Westside 3-1 in the cup semi-final at Cloverdale Athletic Park. The game between arguably the best two teams in the league proved to be a very entertaining affair. United opened the game strongly and in the first fifteen minutes signaled the warning by flashing two shots just wide of the net. After twenty minutes, United took a deserved lead when striker Sean Kelly ran onto Evan Howard’s headed flick and hammered a low left foot shot into the corner of the net from eighteen yards. United maintained their early pressure but were unable to add any further goals before the interval. In the second half Westside rallied strongly and reversed the first half roles by pushing United back onto the defensive. After defending resolutely United finally cracked at the seventieth minute when they were unable to clear away Westside corner-kick and the visitors scored from close range. Five minutes later only a great save by United keeper Ian Malnis kept the scores level but United weathered the storm and then in the 85th minute Sean Kelly once again pounced on a loose ball at the top of the box and hammered home a glorious left foot shot into the net past the despairing dive of the Westside keeper. With the game back moving back and forth United grabbed the insurance marker in the 89th minute when some quick thinking by Chris Powell saw him hit a quick free-kick into the net after the keeper had handled outside the box. The win sends United, into the final for the second successive year but they will have to wait at least a week to determine their opponent as the other semi-final between Burnaby and Norvan was postponed due to field closure.

United’s premier team hit the road again for league action to visit Indo FC who they tied 1-1 and dropped two more precious points in the divisional championship race. While the result extended the United unbeaten streak to seven games United virtually surrendered their championship hopes by conceding a last minute goal when they allowed the home team goalkeeper to beat them with a one in a million injury time header.

It was a disappointing end to a game which United started brightly dominating the opening thirty minutes and then deservedly taking the lead when centre-back Martin Schaefer’s close range quick shot on the turn hit the back of the net after Indo had failed to clear a United corner-kick. Indo desperately needed a win to enable them to not only retain premiership status but also give them a chance to qualify for the provincials. They rallied strongly and pushed United back on the defensive for most of the second half but it was United who ended up with the best chance to score when Rob Wilson’s first time pass sent Cory Janzen racing clear unchallenged and as he rounded the keeper the netminder deliberately pulled Janzen down to deny an obvious goalscoring opportunity. The referee pointed straight to the spot but refused to enforce the laws of the game by failing to show the keeper the red card. United missed the spotter and then to rub salt into the wounds came the injury time dramatic equalizer from the Indo keeper.

The ladies premier team played their cup quarter-final game against local rivals SBBA at Cloverdale Athletic park on Sunday and emerged with a comfortable 4-0 victory. Straight form the kick-off United took the game to the visitors and squandered several close range scoring opportunities before player of the game Sharon Lehnert opened the scoring at the twentieth minute when she cut in from the right beating two defenders before unleashing a left foot blast that flew into the top corner of the net. Ten minutes later United striker Kate Qually grabbed the insurance marker when on a breakaway she bent the ball around the advancing keeper into the net form twenty five yards. United added two further second half goals when substitute Vanessa Martino and Megan Blaker both finished off close range opportunities.

Sean Kelly who had an outstanding game for the Under 21 team in their semi-final victory 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.