The parity in the VMSL Premier league was never more apparent than in the Premier “B” Division this past weekend where only the bottom two teams were able to register wins. United ended up tying their home game with Firefighters 1-1 and while the initial reaction with the result was a disappointment when the rest of the results became known, the reality of the situation was that United ended up increasing their lead to a two point margin over the 2nd and 3rd placed teams with our lads holding a game in hand advantage over both teams.

Surrey started brightly on the Cloverdale Turf and dominated the early play but squandered some good opportunities before opening the scoring at the 25th minute when some alert thinking by Niall Thompson saw his quickly taken 20yard free-kick shot nestle perfectly into the corner of the net before anyone was able to get set-up. In the second half Firefighters came out aggressively and took the game to Surrey and tied up the game at the 60th minute when Surrey’s attempted clearance hit one of their own defenders and broke loose for Firefighter forward Chris Jarvie to pounce on and beat Drew Smiley with a low left foot shot from fifteen yards. The visitors enjoyed a lot of possession throughout the second half but could not turn that advantage into any further clear-cut chances. United, on the other hand did look very dangerous on the counter-attack and Cam Wilson’s speed and trickery was a constant threat. United thought they had notched the winner in the 80th minute when Thompson broke loose and clipped a low shot past the advancing keeper but the effort hit the post and was miraculously scooped off the line by a defender in order to preserve a share of the points for the visitors.

The division one game between the same two teams followed at 8.00pm on the same evening on the Cloverdale Turf but by this time the temperature had dropped to zero and the field was shrouded in fog. Notwithstanding, the marginal conditions the referee declared the field playable and the top two teams in the Cat Division One “B” squared off in what proved to be a highly entertaining affair. The win for United opened up an eight point lead atop the divisional standings over their nearest challengers Firefighters and Metro-Ford Wolves.

The division two mens team kept up their title challenge with a 2-1 away over Club Ireland in Richmond to move into a tie for second spot. After a fairly even first half United seized the initiative just before the interval at the 42nd minute when Dale Kahri lashed home from close range after the home team had failed to clear a Jordan Gibbs corner-kick. United increased the lead at the 77th minute when Chris Roots successfully converted a penalty shot that was awarded after the Club Ireland keeper had brought down United’s Stephen Way in the penalty area. Club Ireland reduced the deficit in the 83rd minute to produce a frantic final few moments but the United defence stood firm under pressure to hold on to the win and the three points.

In Under 21 and Masters action both our teams, having early morning kick-offs on Sunday, fell victims to the heavy overnight frost and had their respective games cancelled due to frozen fields.

On the ladies front our Womens premier team and their opponent waited forty five minutes for the frost to thaw on the field for their home game against Poco Premier at Cloverdale Athletic Park on Sunday morning. The wait eventually proved to be worthwhile with our Ladies running out the winners by an eventual 4-1 margin. Poco threw down the challenge early in the game by opened the scoring in the fifth minute. This provoked the right response from United who after generating some close calls tied the game up in the fifteenth minute when Toby McDonald rose above a crowd of players to head home Kate Qually’s corner-kick. The score-line remained tied right up to the interval with United doing most of the attacking and Poco showing some determined defence with their keeper producing a number of fine saves. Five minutes after the restart United scored the winning goal which was a simple piece of soccer executed with precision. Geri Donnelly gained possession just inside her half and played a fine ball down the left for Martina Holan-Franko to run onto, outpace the defence and then square a perfect pass for Natalie Halcro to hammer a fierce right foot shot into the net. Holan-Franko then increased the United lead notching her 8th goal of the season scoring with a header from another Qually corner-kick. Two minutes before the end of the game Halcro added her second goal of the game and her 7th goal of the season finishing off some fine set-up play involving Qually again and Megan Blaker. The win kept United in first place in the division with a seven point margin over UBC and a twelve point margin over Coquitlam. UBC has two games in hand on our ladies and Coquitlam has three games in hand.

Our Ladies Under 21 team game was postponed but they still maintain their first place in the standings by a three point margin and also now have a game in hand over their closest challenger.

The ladies division one team were disappointed to lose 4-1 at home to top of the table Langley after taking the lead on a magnificent 30 yard strike by ace midfielder Jen Allan. Langley tied up the game before the half time interval and then overpowered United with three second half goals to earn their victory.

Whilst there were again several good performances we have selected Natalie Halcro (two goals for ladies premier) as this week’s Player of The Week for her outstanding offensive play which helped keep her team on top of the division. Each Weekly Winner will have their name entered into a random draw for the monthly prize of for Dinner for Two.