Lismore Thistles and Alstonville produced one the best games this season as round 6 of the Southern Cross Credit Union Women’s Premier League brought these two mid table sides together.

In a see sawing affair Alstonville showed plenty of character to secure the points and get their season back on track after an inconsistent start. The home side were without a number of their experienced players with Kim Wraight, Elise McCarthy Carmen Franks and Ebony Gordon all missing.

With only the bare Villa eleven to confront them Thistles took the momentum early scoring through Shelley Watts and Kristy Hanley. In a positive sign for coach PJ Smith the red and black girls stepped up a gear and banged in three goals in reply to take the match.

Goals to Jessica Woolfe, Candice Schmolling and player of the match Alex Haigh helped Alstonville to a 3 - 2 win which sets them up nicely for this weekends game against second placed Richmond Rovers.

Rovers had little trouble in disposing of Italo Stars 3 - 0 under lights at Barrow Lane. Goals to Morrisey, McNall and Parker finished off the plucky Stars with Teonie Rushton working hard for the home side. Rovers duo of McNall and McNamara were voted best on field in a well deserved win.

Stars will be hoping for some respite this week when they take on fellow strugglers Burringbar who with only ten players could not hold out the juggernaut which is Lennox Head.

The Sharks through a solid commitment from players and coaching staff continue to set the standard in this league and last weekend was no different with a brace to Sophie Towner and goals to Amanda Brett and Chelsea Coleman putting them in a commanding position.

Last years champions will be away to Thistles this weekend and will be hoping to turn on a comprehensive performance before they travel to Coffs Harbour to represent the Zone in the Northern Champions Cup on 7th June.

Alstonville have surged ahead in the promotion race from the Newton Denny Chapelle Championship opening up a six point gap over the trailing pack following another dominant display over the weekend.

Villa went into the fixture against bottom of the table Banora Point a s firm favourites and the result looked a formality. But Banora showed considerable resilience scoring against the league leaders before the “villains” cruised to victory with a 4 - 1 win.

South Lismore surged back into title contention after battling away against an in form Woodburn to grab a 4 - 1 win. Goals to Michael Wade, Leigh Simpson, Josh O’Driscoll and 16 year old Corey Walker guaranteed the 3 points for the Celtics with Scott Williams scoring for the Wolves.

Coach Gavin Scott summed up the afternoon “we were outplayed and out muscled and the lads failed to take this opportunity to stay in touch with Alstonville, overall a disappointing result.”

Uki on the other hand continue to surprise everyone with another solid win over Burringbar. Derby days on the Tweed are few and far between this season and Uki were desperate to make sure they took the bragging rights and the valuable 3 points on offer especially away from home.

A brace to John McCarthy proved the difference in a tough match. Uki coach Joe Scholl said “we deserved the result with a controlled and positive performance but Burringbar surprised us, they worked hard and looked dangerous at times. They will improve as the season progresses and many a side may trip up here at the Bandits den.”

The bus trip to Casino did no favours for the Seawolves with the Cobras grabbing a 4 - 0 win to hold on to fourth position on the table. Goals were spread around the team with Butwell, Summers, Casey and veteran Stewart Coughran all involved. For the Seawolves it was all too much and they seem to be struggling in there first season in the Championship.

Looking ahead to the weekend there are a number of excellent games being served up which could reshape the table with the league leaders Alstonville and Woodburn battling it out at Crawford Park and third and fourth placed sides Souths and Casino meeting at Colley Park.

Uki could be the beneficiaries if results from the two top of the table clashes go their way as they host bottom of the table Banora Point while the Tweeds other two sides Seawolves and Burringbar will be looking to grab the three points and put some much needed distance between themselves and the cellar.

Italo Stars and Burringbar Bandits grabbed all the glory in round 5 of the Southern Cross Credit Union Women’s Premier League with excellent first up wins.

Stars took on the in form Lismore Thistles at Barrow Lane and came away with a solid 2 - 1 win. Goals to Carissa Halliday and Matilda Sochacki set the tone for the match with Thistles Rebecca Adams collecting the consolation goal for the away team.

Burringbar have had a tough start to their Premier League campaign in 2008 losing many key players and have struggled to find rhythm going down to Thistles, Rovers and Lennox Head so far.

The bandits are also notoriously poor on Sundays so with the Mothers Day fixture to contend with as well the Bandits had to dig deep to turn the tables on what is looking as a solid Richmond Rovers outfit.

Two goals to Morgan Lowe and another to Rachel Davis gave the home side the advantage and gave the girls something to share with their mums as they downed Rovers 3 - 2. Rovers grabbing some reward through Mala Roberts and Renee Parker.

Rovers will be hoping to turn around their poor run of form next weekend when they take on rivals Lismore Thistles at home.

Lennox Head continued their dominance over Alstonville with another shutout running in 4 goals with no reply. Chelsea Coleman put in another fine performance coming off the bench to grab a brace along with fine efforts from the dominant Sophie Towner and Abigail Allardyce.

Stars will hope some recent changes to team selection will give them enough to hold out league leaders Lennox Head when they meet on Sunday, but they will have to work extremely hard to halt the steamroller that is the Sharks who already have a comfortable 6 point lead over 2nd placed Thistles.

For Burringbar they will travel down to Alstonville with the hope that the “Villa’s” recent run of poor form will work to their advantage as the two teams meet up for the first time this season.

Premier League newcomers Pottsville Panthers have shown they are fast learners holding on for a two all draw against league leaders Richmond Rovers on the weekend.

The panthers went ahead to a well taken goal by striker Simon Everingham, before Rovers were stung into action. Goals to Troy Matthews and Ian McGregor put the champions back in front, but Bryce Kilney popped up late in the game to secure the point for the northern outfit.

In other Premiership fixtures, Byron had Bruce Morhaus to thank for banging 4 past Stars after the Rams had fallen behind to a Max Latimer penalty to secure a 4-1 win, Lennox also had to pay respects to their in form striker Peter O’Neil who grabbed a hat trick in the Sharks 6-1 thrashing of Thistles, Bangalow were made to fight all the way in securing a 1-0 win over local rivals Ballina, and Goonellabah got their first win of the season with a 2-1 win over bottom of the table Workers FC.

With the table congested and no clear leader yet emerging the coming weekends fixtures could hold the key to grabbing an early advantage.

Football Far North Coast edged past Wide Bay yesterday with three wins from 5 matches in the FQld Rebel Sport Junior Premier League.

FFNC Grade 13 Girls got the day off to a flyer with an emphatic 4 - 1 demolition of  Wide Bay while at the same time the FFNC Grade 12 side was going down to a similar scoreline.

The following fixtures involving the 13’s and 15’s boys went a similar direction leaving the 14’s to salvage a win and take home bragging rights from this first north v south encounter.

The lads didn’t let us down running home 4 - 2 winners to the delight of the FFNC camp.

Overall it was a good performance with outstanding efforts from Georgia Keen and Keanu Sparkes-Young both grabbing a brace.

Well Done everyone. Check out the latest points tables

 This coming weekend we are off to Stanthorpe so check out the travel details here!!

Richmond Rovers and Lennox Head have started the Southern Cross Credit Union WPL in outstanding form winning both of the fixtures to date and setting up a tantalising clash when they meet each other this weekend.

With the chance to gain an early lead on the trailing field both sides will be desperate to win giving the match that extra edge. Lennox fresh from their Tursa Pre-Season success and a midweek win over Alstonville will go into the match full of confidence but slightly legweary.

Rovers had a confidence boosting mid-week win over Burringbar to consign the Bandits to their second straight loss and this should have the girls optomistic of there chances against the Sharks.

In other weekend WPL action Alstonville will play Stars aiming for a morale boosting win while Thistles will hope that Burringbar are not up for the contest and aim to capitalise and take another three points.