The former picking up an excellent away win against Balnamore while The Villagers scored five in their game with Brook Street. Glebe Rangers Old Boys are odds on favourites for the league title, but they face a tough examination this saturday against last year’s winners Mountview FC. Hopefully the fixtures beat the weather and the league will return to normal this weekend. To keep up to date with all the happenings in the league, log on to www.htwl.leaguerepublic.com Balnamore FC 0 Berthas FC 4 These two teams battled out a tough draw early on in the season and with only five defeats between them and both having good defensive records it looked on paper that it would be another close encounter. It was Berthas who should have taken the lead 10 seconds into the game, from the kick off the ball was played back to Andy MacAulay who controlled before picking out Ricky Pollock with a beauty of a long ball, the winger controlled and with the keeper out of position, just had to poke the ball into an empty but he miscued and James Elder had time to scramble back and make the save. Five minutes later it was Balnamore who should have went into the lead when Hogg’s through ball found Brent Watton, but the young winger’s shot was well saved by Johny Elder in the Berthas goal. The game was pretty even for the next half hour or so with chances at a premium until Berthas took the lead. Lee Biggart chased a ball into the corner, beat two men before squaring for Pollock who controlled and this time found the back of the net with his right foot. In the second half it was Balnamore who had the first decent chance when a corner was only half cleared, the ball falling to Armstrong, he picked out the unmarked Joe Connor, but the big man put his header past the post. Berthas suffered a body blow soon after with Hanna receiving his marching orders and Balnamore must surely have been favourites now to take the points. However, Berthas had other ideas and looked even more dangerous with 10 men and grabbed number two when McLaughlin beat his man down the left, and squared the ball across goal to Lee McIlreavy who threw an audacious dummy, fooling the Balnamore defence allowing Pollock to arrive and lash home his second of the game. Berthas grabbed a third when Biggart capitalised on a mistake, ran clean through and finished past Elder. McLaughlin then got his teams fourth scoring directly from a corner. Balnamore kept pushing forward with strikes from John McDowell and Tweed failing to trouble Elder and by then, with both teams making subs, the fizz had gone out of the game. It was an excellent win for Berthas considering the circumstances with both teams looking to Cup semi finals in the coming weeks. Man of the Match: Ricky Pollock (Berthas FC) The Villagers 5 Brook Street 2 The Villagers gained revenge for a 5-1 drubbing from Brook Street back in August, on a day as far from August weather wise as you could imagine. Brook Street took the lead against the run of play on 11 minutes when Hill chipped the ball over home keeper Jason Best and into the net. It was 1-1 on 19 minutes when Shirlow played MacFarlane through who squared for Wilson who finished the move with a nutmeg on the Brook Street keeper. The villagers kept pressing and Lee Pedan made it 2-1 after a scramble in the box and Pedan was alert enough to smash in the loose ball after Wilson had hit the bar. In the second half the tropical conditions continued and it made for a scrappy match. MacFarlane passed to Wilson, who was unlucky, MacFarlane then hit a scissor kick that hit the post from 18 yards from Pollock’s pass. It was 3-1 soon after when Wilson beat two defenders and the unfortunate Friel. Then as Brook Street went down to ten men due to injury, it was 3-2 when Cutmores passback was ‘fresh air-kicked’ by Best, who has been in great form all season, and he handed Brook Street a lifeline and his team-mate an own goal! Shortly afterwards it was 4-2 and game over when Trevor Hutchinson ran through before squaring to Lee Wilson for a tap-in. Wilson capped a fine performance soon after with a excellent strike into the top corner from 25 yards for his fourth of the game. It finished 5-2 and the scoreline was about right on a horrible day for a game of football. Man of the Match: Peter Morrow (Brook Street)