Old Madrid FC dented the Championship hopes of the Wolues FC and Lion Heart FC got the better of the Rebels FC in a five goal thriller as the BVI Fooball Association National League continued over the weekend, with games at the National Stadium venue in East End / Long Look and the Virgin Gorda Recreation Ground.
First up in an action packed schedule was the Wolues v Old Madrid clash which was the last game in hand for the Wolues as they looked to chase down the table topping Islanders, who were once again idle, and it looked like business as usual with Ian Chambers firing his team into a 29th minute lead.
However, as Old Madrid’s Kenrick Grant noted, “we always seem to give them a lot of problems and I can only recall them beating us once or twice over the years. They were all over us to begin with and took a deserved lead,” continued Grant. “We got our act together in the second half and began to string together some passes through midfield, got the ball out wide and caused them problems with crosses.”
Old Madrid equalized in the 54th minute through a long range effort from an ex Islander, Nano Ottley and the winner came in the 64th when Fitzroy Daley, another former Islander, ran through the Wolues defense and slotted home, making the final score 2-1.
“It was a competitive match played in good spirits,” concluded Grant. “We were solid in defense and worked very hard to come away with all three points. We pride ourselves on beating the Wolues on many occasions and they will just have to come back another time!”
On Sunday, Lion Heart FC came from a goal down twice to beat the Rebels FC 3-2, with the winner coming from the boot of Akeem Salmon in the 69th minute. Denvin Jones had put the Rebels 1-0 up in the 19th minute before Rohan Sweeney equalized in the 24th. Early in the second half (47th), Velish Rohan restored the Rebels’ advantage, but Janel Ferdinand leveled things up just a minute later.
“It was a great game and both teams played well,” commented Lenon Audain of the Rebels. “But in the end the better team on the day won.”
Playing in front of their home crowd, the Sugar Boys FC came from a goal down to beat One Caribbean FC 4-1, as Leonardo Davis cancelled out Romano Peters’ 8th minute opener right on the stroke of half time. From then on it was all Sugar Boys with further goals coming from Davis (66th) and Jorge Gonzalez (74th, 80th).
VG Utd also had a comfortable win at “home”, beating One Love FC 2-0 with Devante Samuels (15th) and Marknique Williams (26th) making sure of the victory in the first half.
Next Saturday, November 28, at 4pm, One Love FC face One Caribbean at the National Stadium and on Sunday, November 29, the Islanders FC clash with the Wolues FC also at the National Stadium at 4pm, knowing a win will guarantee them the title.
The games over on the Virgin Gorda Recreation Ground on Sunday, November 29 include Old Madrid FC playing the Panthers FC at 5.45pm followed by Lion Heart FC against VG Utd at 8pm.
