Dene's High Flyers Go Top!

The wind blew, the rain teemed, and the sun shone as Mapledene – looking to go top – Rosary and St Wilfrid’s met in leafy Sheldon on Thursday afternoon.
The curtain raiser saw the hosts take on a St Wilfrid’s side who were unlucky to leave Lea Forest last week with just a single point. In blustery and wet conditions, neither side could stamp their authority on proceedings and efforts on goal were at a premium, leaving the 'keepers at either end redundant. Thus, an attritional affair ended goal-less and left both sides a tad frustrated.
St Wilfrid’s are a tough team to break down as was evidenced in their conceding of just two goals in their first three outings of their maiden ESPSFA League campaign. However, in their subsequent game against fellow guests, Rosary, they found themselves a goal behind early on following a header by a Rosarian centre-back from a well-delivered corner. Rosary were the dominant side in the opening stanza and doubled their lead mid-way through the first when a St Wilf’s defensive mix-up allowed Rosary’s striker to hone in on goal and drill beyond the advancing ‘keeper. Rosary also thumped the bar before the break, but the second half saw Wilf’s take advantage of the wind, and placing Rosary under pressure, set up an exciting last few minutes when they pulled a goal back. Rosary though held on to run out 2-1 winners.
With the weather continuing to vary, Mapledene took to the field looking for three points that would take them top and they began positively against Rosary. They were duly rewarded for their positivity on five minutes when a free-kick from distance thumped the crossbar and a ‘dene attacker was quickest to react and prodded home from a couple of yards out. Rosary struggled to fashion any sort of real opportunity, but they spurned one such chance when their striker scuffed wide from six yards out just before the break. Rosary visibly tired in the second half and with only one substitute, their endeavours in three halves of football began to tell and Mapledene pretty much killed the game as a contest when they scored again with just a third of the game remaining. Rosary’s keeper pushed away an in-swinging corner, but the Sky Blues defence could not complete the clearance which allowed a ‘dene striker to poke into the net. The ‘dene held on to what they had and as Rosary toiled, saw the game out 2-0 and put themselves at the top of the table in the process.
Over in Shard End, Corpus Christi were making light of the weather and their opponents as they defeated both Heathlands (3-0) and Thornton (2-0), with all of their goals coming in the second half of both games including one delightfully dinked finish. In the other game at Heathlands, the home side's misfortune continued as they were out-fought by the Thorns as they sunk to a second successive 3-0 defeat. The six points accrued by Corpus jumps them up the third in te table whilst Thornton are up to fourth, a point behind Corpus but with a game in hand on the Stechford side.