Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Oak FC edged past the Dilmun Club 3-2 with star striker Adil Glia scoring a hat-trick in the GulfWeekly eight-a-side Expat League, at the British School of Bahrain ground in Hamala, writes Mai Al Khatib.
In other matches, table-toppers Bayer Neverlsuen thrashed Saar Eagles 5-1, St. Christopher's School beat the Royal Riffa 'Wee Monty' 4-1, while the British Club defeated the Arabian Celts with a similar scoreline.
Dilmun played very well in the first 15 minutes and came across some good chances but two defensive lapses allowed Oak to take a 2-0 lead before halftime. In the second half, Dilmun bounced back with two goals - the first a cheeky lob from Craig Guire and the second resulted directly from a free kick 20 yards out by captain David Lordie, his fifth of the tournament.
Oak then had to replace their keeper after a challenge against Dilmun's Eamon Egan left the keeper with a nasty gash on his head. The club had enough chances for victory but fine goalkeeping by Oak's substitute keeper kept them at bay.
With only a couple of minutes to go Oak snatched victory with Glia's well taken volley from a corner.
The next game was a thrilling match-up. The build up to this game was huge as the table-toppers Bayer Neverlsuen and Saar Eagles were going head to head.
It started off at a frantic pace with Bayer's Owen Coll giving Saar's Michael Dismore a hard time sprinting past him to create chances. It was like watching Gareth Bale against Maicon.
The game settled down with some great passing from Bayer using the whole width of the pitch. With Bayer knocking on the door, Coll picked up the ball and unleashed a shot to the far corner of the goal, leaving the keeper standing. Seconds later Bayer's Chris Tricker played in a low cross which was slotted home by Dave Good to make it 2-0.
Saar went into half-time at 2-1 with Dan Nieymer scoring from a corner.
The second session started at the same pace as the first half - frantic. Add to that, Bayer's towering 6ft 5in centre half, Pete Foley, was winning everything in the air and, as the game went on, he got better and better. Bayer's Nathan Williams made it 3-1 with a header which was fumbled by Eagles Steve 'The Cat' Gibbons. Tricker and Coll were causing all sorts of issues for the Saar defence and with Foley and Jeremy Ingham at the back there were no issues for Bayer.
Bayer's Dave Allison had a long range effort - Roberto Carlos style - going just over. Tricker then squared the ball across for Martin Robinson to slot into the net on the run and the former heaped more woes on Saar when he turned to put the ball into the net to make the final score 5-1
The fixture that followed saw the teachers from St Christopher's School beat the Royal Riffa 'Wee Monty' 4-1. Scot Lee had put one in the net for the Monty's. The teachers dominated the game.
Later, the British Club defeated the Arabian Celts 4-1. Raj Pahuja, British Club manager, said: "We were disciplined and organised in this game and each member of the team gave 100 per cent.
"Sanjeev Pathak, our striker, got a superb hat-trick and midfielder Scott Lambert grabbed our other goal. Our keeper, Steve 'safe hands' Hanahoe, played extremely well making some excellent saves."
The league continues after the Eid break with a match on Monday featuring the British Club against St. Christopher School and Royal Riffa 'Wee Monty' taking on the Arabian Celts.
