Zion FC sensationally re-opened the title race with a crushing 6-2 victory over leaders Deer Park Rangers. Tempers frayed at times in a commited encounter leaving the Rangers ungracious in defeat.
Zion had previously never beaten Deer Park who pipped them to the title last season. A cautious approach could easily be forgiven from both sides as they were both aware of the threat of their counterparts. Steve Winter was on fire in the opening stages as Deer Park started confidently. Three fine saves kept them out and allowed Zion to counter. Brett Joyce opened the scoring when Tommy Powell's weighted pass was finished accurately into the bottom right corner by the South African. Powell then doubled the lead, latching onto David Jones' pass and completely fooling the keeper with a shimmy that set up the open goal which he found. Zion were started to break forward and cut open the Rangers defence at will and after a great team move Powell found Dan Shotton who tapped home to rub salt into the wounds. Frustration set in for Rangers who whinged unrelentingly at their opponents and the referee for a physical approach. Tackles were occasionally miss timed by both sides and the game was definately competitive however, the current champions seemed to desire special treatment which to the referee's credit was not forthcoming. This did however mean that rash tackles from Deer Park started to come in. Zion rode them and then sparked further frustration when Shotton profited from some more incisive passing to pass the ball home after good work from Powell. 4-0 was no less than Zion deserved at half time with Deer Park's ego's clearly aggitated.
A particularly aggressive Rangers player caused something of a mother meeting as he was clearly not able to control himself kicking out at every opportunity, but after that episode the football took presidence. Deer Park struck with two goals that rangled the fans nerves, however, Steve Winter again produced some fine saves to keep the score managable, and when Jones made it 5-2 with some neat footwork and an efficient finish the game was won. Shotton grabbed his hat-trick moments later as he profited from an unorthodox one-two with the unaware Jones to tap home. The tempers had calmed as the rawness of inferiority eased for Deer Park. The whistle was greeted by cheers from the fans and no doubt those neutrals at home as well, who can now look forward to a far more interesting title showdown with just three points in it now.
Deer Park Rangers were unhappy at Zion's tactics and one player spoke out during a press conference after the match, "Zion just seem to foul all the time, they came through the back instead of going for the ball and don't really play fair." Pundits in the Sky Sports box at Stanley Deason laughed off such hypocracy as they have heard time and time again complaints about Deer Park's over-physical approach and many believe that Zion can't be critisised in the same manner. Tommy Powell also laughed off the comments when he spoke with Sky Sports, "We beat them by cutting them open all game long, not by hacking, statistically we foul the least in this league so it's laughable what they have said. We will stand up and be counted but to label us dirty is sheerly their reluctance to admit they were second best tonight. We were quality all over the pitch and they couldn't deal with that." Man of the match Dan Shotton was delighted with the result and didn't hide that when he spoke with reporters, "The changing room is buzzing, we were great tonight and now the title race is back on. We have them rattled now that's for sure from the comments they have been making. We are three points behind but we have the momentum and they have some tricky games ahead, so we will see what happens." Zion next face Scarletfusion as they look to heap further pressure onto their title rivals.
