St George’s 0

Flanagan’s Onions 2

Flanagan’s Onions earned three precious points on the road to keep their hopes of avoiding relegation alive.

With Southampton Rangers holding champions Dandy Town to a draw, that result coupled by a St George’s victory would have been enough to send Onions down into the First Division.

However, Onions proved equal to the task to come away with a well-deserved victory from their clash at Wellington Oval yesterday.

The result has blown the fight for survival wide open, and only three points separates seventh-placed North Village from bottom club St George’s heading into the last week of the season.

St George’s had no one else to blame but themselves for yesterday’s loss against Onions in an affair that at times was hard on the eyes.

The home side had plenty of good looks at goal but lacked the cutting edge to cause Stephen Gould, the Onions goalkeeper, any real trouble.

Good defending by the visiting side limited St George’s to trying their luck from distance and on the rare occasion when they did get behind Onions’ last line of defence, they hit a brick wall in Gould.

St George’s’ frustrations were perhaps best summed up when Zeko Burgess, the goalkeeper, received a red card for foul and abusive behaviour after the final whistle had blown.

Onions were by far the better team and goals either side of the break from Markez Laws, the full back, and Peter Robey, the midfielder, gave the visiting side the outcome their solid performance deserved while doing their hopes of retaining their Premier Division status no harm.

Playing with the wind at their backs, Onions threw numbers forward in search of a breakthrough which they nearly achieved when Greg Muir, the centre back, and Keston Lewis, the striker, both went close with headers.

Evidently St George’s did not heed the warning and they paid the price as a low drive from Laws snaked its way through a phalanx of legs and nestled inside of Burgess’s far post.

The home team were fortunate not to have fallen further behind when Burgess repelled Lewis’s effort from point blank range, and the goalkeeper was also called upon to deny Lewis early in the second half, saving a fierce drive from an angle.

With the wind at their backs in the second-half, St George’s began to apply pressure, Macai Simmons, the midfielder, blasted a free kick into the wall and Kontai Burton headed just wide of the post as the home side sought a way back in the game.

However, just when it seemed as the pendulum had swung in St George’s favour, Robey drilled Darren Doolin’s cross in at the far post after being afforded too much time and space in the box.

St George’s nearly responded immediately through Romiko Smith who dragged a shot wide on the break.

Gould was also forced to race off his line to thwart Jarreau Hayward as the defender-turned-striker raced to get onto Ernest Signor’s low cross in the box, and the goalkeeper then positioned himself well to save Burton’s header from a free kick.

Simmons hit another free kick just over the bar as St George’s enjoyed a period of sustained pressure.

But it was Onions who came close to adding a third when Burgess saved Vince Minors’s angled shot before the goalkeeper’s afternoon went from bad to worst when he was red carded after the game was already over.

The result leaves Onions in ninth place, one point from safety with an inferior goal difference than the two teams above them, while bottom team St George’s are a further two points adrift.

Onions take on title contenders Dandy Town at Goose Gosling Field in their final game of the season on Sunday, April 5.

St George’s face Robin Hood in their last game, also on April 5.