Wins for One Love and the Islanders in BVIFA Premier League

By: Charlie Jackson

The top two teams in the Premiership both had victories on Sunday to further widen the gap between themselves and the chasing pack and are only split by goal difference as both have 14 points.

Playing the Rebels, who were looking for their first points of the campaign, the Islanders fell behind as early as the 2^nd minute when Bryan Smith scored direct from a corner.

However for much of the remainder of the first half and for large portions of the second, the Islanders were dominant in possession and a constant threat to the Rebels goal.

Danny Joseph and Gregory Solomon marshaled the defense well and although the Islanders built up pressure nicely, they couldn’t find away to get clear on goal.

Andy Davis should have equalized when he fired a volley straight at the keeper from 5 yards out, Kahleel Cave was also guilty of a glaring miss and Nano Ottley managed to send a couple of free kicks staright into the defensive wall.

The second half began in much the same way with the Rebels clinging onto their slender advantage, but the Islanders were relentless in attack and Rohan Lennon found himself unmarked on the penalty spot, only to miss his attempted header.

Valdo Andersen and Jamal Sergeant also missed getting their heads to a cross from even closer and at the other end Hilton Matthews robbed Noel Isaac, threaded the ball through to Michael Smith, who with the goal at his mercy, fired over the bar when doubling the Rebels score seemed more likely.

10 minutes later and in the 60^th minute, the miss became even more crucial as Anderson popped up unmarked at the far post to latch onto a Lennon cross and power the ball past Junior Walker to level the scores

Now playing at full throttle and sensing victory the Islanders laid siege to the Rebels goal and scored what turned out to be the winner in the 85^th minute.

Ottley slipped past a challenge at the bye line and his cross was met first time by Lennon who slipped the ball inside the near post.

The win for the Islanders saw them go top of the standings briefly and put some pressure on One Love to maintain their unbeaten start to the season when they faced the Sugar Boys in the nights second game.

However it was the Boyz from Virgin Gorda who bossed the game from virtually start to finish, that is until deep into added time at the end of the second half when Javon Wallace popped up at the left hand post, following a corner from the right, to force home the games only goal.

Terry Nanton pulled the strings from midfield for the Boyz and the defense kept Wallace a virtual bystander for 90 minutes, but they just couldn’t find a way to score.

Akeem Hendrikson had the best of several chances in the first half, but shot weakly at the advancing Craig Sinclair, when clean through on goal. Maxford Pipe and Derol Redhead both missed the target with headers and Odain Reid made a last ditch tackle on Jeunick Mingo after a long throw from Pipe caused minor havoc in the One Love box.

The second half continued in much the same way with Sinclair pulling off a fine save from Redhead and One Love still struggling to get into the game.

A Nanton free kick floated over the bar and Redhead was inches away from getting his head on a cross from Michael Castillo, but as the game entered the last five minutes the game was still deadlocked.

Hendrikson again should have scored  shooting high from 6 yards out following a cross from Mingo that evaded the diving Sinclair, Castillo’s free kick was cleared and a Pipe long throw was nearly converted by Mingo.

The referee signaled for 2 minutes added time and as the crowd was shouting for the final whistle to blow One Love won a corner, Murray swung the ball deep into the box missing all the defenders and landing at the feet of Wallace. The striker who had barely had a chance all game took a touch and fired home to spark wild celebrations.

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