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ISLEOFMANEXAMINER

www.iomtoday.co.im Tuesday, September 14, 2021

FINALWHISTLE

DefendingchampionsheavilybeatenatGlenRoad CORINTHIANSLEFT REELINGBYLAXEY

PREMIERLEAGUE byDaveNorton

TABLES

Laxey stunnedreigning CanadaLifePremier League championsCorinthianson Saturdayafternoon. The Miners inflicted a first league defeat on the Whites for over a year with an ener- getic performance at Glen Road, taking their chances when itmattered. While the Whites were missing their FC Isle of Man contingent, including Ste- phen Whitley, Sean Doyle, LukeMurray andDan Simp- son, Laxey weremissing key players of their own, namely striker Jordan Cooper and goalkeeper RobSlinger. The latterwas a latewith- drawal through injury but his replacement, club leg- end Dave Corlett, stepped into the number one jersey and produced an excellent performance toplayhis part inanimpressivewinforJohn Palmer’smen. The game was less than 10 minutes old at Glen Road whenthehostsstoleamarch on their opponents. Corinthiansfailedtoclear their lines and young wing- er Aaron Bradley picked up theball on the leftside of the area before curling an effort against the right-hand post which rebounded onto the otherpostbeforenestlingin- to the back of the net for 1-0. Withthevisitorsrocking, the Miners wasted no time in doubling their advantage whentheballbroketoGeorge Burrows in midfield and, withtheCorinthiansdefence backing off, he arrowed a shotpast thedespairingdive of AdamKilley in theWhites goal tomake it 2-0. Thevisitorsnearlypulled one back almost immediate- lywhenConnorGormanand Callum Campbell linked up well down the rightwing, re- sulting in the former curling a shot just wide of Corlett’s goal.

Canada LifePremier League P W D L

GD Pts

RushenUtd 2 6 --------------------------------------------------- Laxey 2 2 0 0 6 6 Ramsey 2 2 0 0 3 6 AyreUtd 2 1 1 0 6 4 D. Royal 1 1 0 0 1 3 DHSOB 2 1 0 1 -3 3 Corinthians 2 0 1 1 -4 1 St George’s 0 0 0 0 0 0 UnionMills 2 0 0 2 -3 0 Marown 1 0 0 1 -3 0 --------------------------------------------------- Peel 2 0 0 2 -3 0 RYCOB 2 0 0 2 -7 0 6 --------------------------------------------------- St John’s 2 2 0 0 6 6 D&D 2 1 1 0 2 4 Malew 1 1 0 0 1 3 Gymns 2 1 0 1 -2 3 D. Athletic 2 0 1 1 -5 1 PulroseUtd 1 0 0 1 -1 0 Governor’s 2 0 0 2 -2 0 Braddan 1 0 0 1 -3 0 Castletown 1 0 0 1 -3 0 Michael Utd 2 0 0 2 -7 0 6 --------------------------------------------------- Ramsey 2 2 0 0 5 6 Peel 2 2 0 0 5 6 AyreUnited 2 1 1 0 1 4 DHSOB 2 1 0 1 1 3 RushenUtd 2 1 0 1 0 3 Corinthians 2 0 1 1 -1 1 Marown 1 0 0 1 -2 0 D. Royal 1 0 0 1 -3 0 RYCOB 2 0 0 2 -5 0 UnionMills 2 0 0 2 -6 0 6 --------------------------------------------------- Onchan 2 2 0 0 6 6 PulroseUtt 2 2 0 0 2 6 Gymnasium 3 2 0 1 1 6 St John’s 2 1 0 1 5 3 Michael Utd 1 1 0 0 5 3 Foxdale 1 1 0 0 4 3 D. Athletic 2 1 0 1 -4 3 Braddan 1 0 0 1 -1 0 D&D 2 0 0 2 -6 0 Governor’s 2 0 0 2 -6 0 Castletown 2 0 0 2 -7 0 Colby 2 0 0 2 -9 0 2 0 0 7 JCKDivisionTwo Onchan Foxdale 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 8 6 6 Canada LifeCombinationOne Laxey 2 2 0 0 5 JCKCombinationTwo Malew 2 2 0 0 10

LaxeydefenderDaveReynolds stoops lowtowinaheader against hisCorinthians counterpart Stewart SmithduringSaturday’sCanadaLifePremier LeagueclashatGlenRoad. Reynoldswas infine formashehelped theMinersbeat thechampions5-1 Photo: GaryWeightman

ley, the striker unselfishly squared a pass back across goal to where Walters was waiting to fire home at the near post for 4-1. The same player nearly made it a quickfire double whensubstituteLukeStrick- ett-Morlingburstcleardown the leftandplayedinWalters insidethearea,butKilleypro- duced a brilliant block to de- ny himfromclose range. But therewasnothing the latter could do to prevent Laxey netting a fifth in the lastminutewithagoalwhich owed so much to Strickett- Morling. The young winger picked uptheball insidehisownhalf following a Corinthians cor- ner and launched a one-man counter-attack, surging up- field before cutting inside, shrugging off a challenge be- fore crossing to Fernandes who took a touch before ri- flingpastKilleytosealamem- orable5-1winfor theMiners.

But the reprieve was only temporary as, less than two minutes later, the Whites found a way back into the game when Gerrard chased a long ball over the Laxey defence and, although Cor- lett got there first and half cleared his lines, the Corin- thians midfielder picked up thepiecesandcurledaclever shot into the net froma tight angle. A scrappy period of play ensued,withtensionsthreat- ening to boil over on more than one occasion as tackles began tofly in. Any hopes of a Corinthi- ans comeback were snuffed out in the 69thminute when Laxeygrabbedtheir fourthof thedaytorestoretheirthree- goal lead. A rare second-half foray forwardbytheMinersproved ruthlessasHarryWaltersdid well tobringdowna longball and tee up Fernandes inside the area. After rounding Kil-

Withhalf-timeapproach- ing, the home side stunned the champions by netting their third of the afternoon to further take control of the contest. And it was a goal of real quality, with full-back Joe Murley delivering a great downfieldpass toRyanGart- land who chested the ball before turning and lifting a superb half-volley from dis- tance over the stranded Kil- ley into theunguardednet to openup a 3-0 lead. Thesecondhalfgotofftoa low-key start, withnotmuch in the way of goalmouth ac- tion as Palmer’s charges continued to thwart Blane Slattery’s visitors. Gradually, Corinthians began to control possession again and very nearly pulled a goal back through an un- likely source when full-back Phil Kelly tried his luck from range, forcingCorletttopalm his swerving shot to safety.

The same player went close again soon after when he broke into the box on the opposite flank, but this time hesenthiseffort intotheside netting. The away side were dealt another blow when the in- fluential Kane Ridings was forced off through injury, to be replaced by Lewis Grif- fiths. Another chance followed forCorinthianswhenthelive- ly Sammy Gelling delivered a teasing ball into the box to DannyGerrardwhoflickedit goalwards from point-blank range but, somehow, Corlett was able to repel his effort when a goal looked certain. Corinthians continued to build up a head of steambut werefrustratedbytheirresil- ient opponents, with Laxey striker Michael Fernandes showcasing his defensive ca- pabilities by making a goal- line clearance at the other end of the pitch.