Golden oldies lead Scrabble home

A game of two halves as for the opening 40 minutes or so it was a battle to take the initiative as Scrabble went in search of the opening goal.

Fortune seemed happy to defend and break but on 40 minutes Ben Bowers scored after the ball was pushed through the Fortune defence into the penalty area.

Fortune continued to frustrate the Scrabble side after half-time denying the pacy Scrabble forwards any space but on 60 minutes Madanes - having been denied a few minutes earlier with a wonder strike which flew into the net but was called offside - made it 2-0.

With Fortune now pushing players forward to try and get back in the game they began leaving gaps in the defence and on 65 minutes Edwards made it 3-0 and 10 minutes later young Summerfield,who had taken a battering all morning from the Fortune defence, popped up in the area to make it 4-0.

Fortune pulled back a consolation goal minutes later to make it 4-1.

McLeod, the Scrabble right-back, was pushed forward with under 15 minutes left on the clock and hit a superb looping shop from the left wing to make it 5-1.

And it was left to Edwards to complete the scoring when he latched on to a through ball to round the keeper and make it 6-1 with just minutes left on the clock.

Scrabble manager Ray Abrahams told JC Sport: "Temple Fortune made it very difficult for us today working hard to deny us space and getting a lot of players behind the ball early on, but once we broke through with the first couple of goals the game changed and we were able to exploit the gaps as they came forward.

"There were some big performances out there today and we had to work hard for the three points.

"It's getting interesting at the top now, with Blancos losing for the first time today, and as I've said all season the promotion places will go right to the wire with four teams in contention.

"I'm pleased that we've got a couple of weeks now before our next game as we are carrying knocks and minor injuries to some of the lads and we will have a chance to recover.

"We've got a real buzz around the squad at the moment and the camaraderie within the group is incredible this season and there are a lot of goals in this team from all areas."