MATCH REPORT

Weekly Roundup: March 4th & 5th

By Marion F Dent
Press Associates

Player of the Week
Doug Muirhead

Masters

In division one action, on Saturday afternoon at Cloverdale Athletic Park the United reserve team who were depleted by injuries comprised a mixture of premier, youth and division two players and took on and beat an under strength Indo-Akal line-up 2-0 to maintain their first place position in the standings.

The men's division two team had a bye this weekend.

The men's masters team successfully extended their win streak to 17games with a comfortable 4-0 victory over GEU at Cloverdale Athletic Park on Sunday morning. United notched a pair of goals in each half with midfielder Kelly Bey opening the scoring midway through the opening frame which saw United add their second ten minutes later when Doug Muirhead converted a first half penalty shot. United continued their recent trend of missing numerous chances to increase their lead before Muirhead added his second goal of the game with a two hopper from twenty five yards and then veteran Ian Farquhar rounded out the scoring with a similar effort late in the game.

The men's premier team, missing five starters, took on and beat WFC Rangers 3-1 in Imperial Cup action at Cloverdale Athletic Park on Sunday to advance to the semi-finals. The top of the table first division team, WFC Rangers, which boasts a roster full of veteran VMSL premier all stars, played well and despite losing their veteran keeper Mike Wickens early in the game with an ankle sprain in the twentieth minute they kept the outcome of the game in doubt until the final twenty minutes of play. United had a number of chances to score in the first half and could have taken the lead after fifteen minutes but somehow a very determined last ditch sliding tackle by a WFC defender blocked Shawn Blakeway's close range shot. United full back Gareth Wilkshire saw his twenty yard goal-bound blast richochet off another defender's head for a corner and Surrey youngster Harpreet Khakh saw his fabulous twenty five yard strike thunder off the cross-bar and rebound to safety. The experienced WFC team who were satisfied with being tied at the half were then elated when they took the lead at the fifty eight minute mark with a great headed goal that had some of the spectators contemplating the possibility of a major upset. However, despite this adversity, United showed some excellent poise, maintained their composure and continued their purposeful play. After a period of constant pressure, United deservedly equalized in the 65 th minute when Khakh took a pass from Cam Wilson and fired a low shot from eighteen yards into the bottom corner of the net. From that point forward, Surrey's extra fitness and pace became a major factor and they took the lead ten minutes later when substitute Niall Thompson combined with midfielder Ryan Hopp who scored with a low shot from twelve yards.

 

Imperial Cup Quarterfinal






Surrey Premier vs WFC Rangers
March 5, 2006
Cloverdale Athletic Park
Click for multiphoto slideshow

Surrey continued to push forward for the balance of the game but failed to score on a number of odd man rushes in the remaining fifteen minutes except for their insurance marker in the 80 th minute when Shawn Blakeway followed up to tap the ball over the goal-line after Wilkshire's speculative lob shot had deceived the substitute keeper.

In Ladies action both our ladies premier team and our ladies Division One "C" both had byes in the round robin phases of their respective cup competitions. Our Division One ladies "B" played on Saturday but lost to Kerrisdale and the loss now confines them to the consolation phase of the cup competition.

Doug Muirhead who scored two goals in the master's 4-0 victory was awarded this week's Player of the Week Award. Each Weekly Winner will have their name entered into a random draw for the monthly prize of for Dinner for Two .

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