Saints go marching

St Martin's 3, Sylvans 1

SYLVANS' title chances took a dent last night as they suffered their second league defeat of the season away to St Martin's. Under Martyn de Garis, the westerners have been the surprise package this campaign, beating the much-fancied North along the way to sit second in the table. Their previous loss was to Vale Rec.

Saints' win sees them leapfrog Sylvans into second.

'There's a long way to go and I'm sure other teams will slip up as well,' said de Garis.

'If Saints keep playing like that I'm sure they'll also take points off other teams. The first half we looked like a team that hasn't played for six weeks and then in the second half we started playing.

'But you can't take anything away from St Martin's. They worked really hard and shut us down.

'When we did play, we played like a half decent side.'

The match was dead until the 35th minute when Sylvans and island captain Matt Warren unleashed a thunderbolt from 40 yards out that Alex Hockey, in goal for Saints, did well to touch onto the bar and to safety. You will not see a sweeter strike.

The next attack, five minutes later, belonged to Saints and it resulted in a goal for Ross Yeates, who connected with a low stinger that nestled into the bottom corner.

Into the second half and Saints applied some sustained pressure and Nick Edmunds doubled the lead with a diving header inches off the turf 10 minutes after the break.

Sylvans' new signing Danny Felbabel came on after the hour mark as the red-and-whites started to get into things.

Danny Watts, possibly inspired by his captain's first half effort, let go with his own stunning shot from outside the area to claw one back.

The match then started to get a bit feisty with Sylvans' Jason Blampied lucky not to receive a red card for a scuffle with James Gavey.

Due to the stoppages for cautions and injuries, Matt Walsh let play run on for 12 minutes after normal time.

Saints' third came in the 98th minute when Yeates tapped in following Paul de Garis' save from a close range shot.

'I'm pleased with the effort but there were times when we could have played better football,' said Saints boss Colin Fallaize.

'But I'm delighted with that. I thought we deserved it.'