Wolves 3 Flanagan’s Onions 1

Wolves booked themselves a spot in the Shield quarter-finals with a victory over Flanagan’s Onions at PHC Field yesterday.

First-half goals from Lamelle Paynter and Zeko Rubaine put Wolves in a comfortable position, much to the delight of player-coach Vincent Minors.

“I was really pleased with the team’s performance in the first half,” he said. “The work rate was high and we were knocking the ball around pretty well, which allowed us to create chances and score some goals.

“Today, we decided to move Paynter into a forward’s position, to get a little more movement in the top third of the pitch. The move worked out pretty well for us, as his link-up play was effective and he was able to score a couple goals as well.”

Both teams showed attacking intent from the outset, with early chances coming at both ends. Phoka Makakobe forced a save from Gatwoine Minors, the Wolves goalkeeper, when he cut in from the left and hit a firm shot from the edge of the box. At the other end, Lejaun Matthews raced off his line to smother a Russ Ford effort and then had his defender to thank for clearing the rebound effort from Paynter off the line.

Wolves would not be denied in the seventeenth-minute, however, when Rubaine was first to react to a loose ball in the box and buried his effort from close range into the roof of the net. Moments later, Marcus Ming almost doubled the lead when his shot came off the upright after cutting in from the left flank.

Onions would then have a couple of chances to equalise on the counterattack, but were unable to find the correct finish when in good positions.

The misses proved costly, as Paynter scored twice in ten minutes to effectively put the game out of reach. The first came in the 35th minute, when he was able to get in front of his man to glance in a header at the near post from a left-sided free kick.

On the stroke of half-time, Paynter was then on hand to head home a Tamori Tucker cross after some neat build-up.

Onions made changes at the break, in an attempt to get themselves back in the match. Their efforts shifted the momentum slightly and they were able to pull one back in the 75th minute, when Jahvon Morgan poked home a free kick from close range.

SCORERS

Wolves

Rubaine 17, Paynter 35, 45

Flanagan’s Onions

Morgan 75

TEAMS

Wolves: (4-4-2): G Minors — J Minors, H Burrows, V Minors, J Douglas (sub: C Holdipp, 69min) — R Ford, A Steven, T Tucker, M Ming — Z Rubaine (sub: K Brangman, 60), L Paynter. Substitutes not used: M Mello, N Smith, L Brangman, T Robinson, D Sterling. Booked: Paynter.

Flanagans Onions: (4-3-3): L Matthews — C Berkeley (sub: M Laws, 45), C Alexander, C Rego, D Simmons — C Burns (sub: J Morgan, 60), A Rocker, D Lehner — P Smith (sub: M Field, 75), T Smith, P Makakobe. Substitutes not used: S Swan. Booked: Rego, Morgan, Smith.

Referee: A Augustus.