Richard Bryan, Freelance Writer

Mid-season finalist New Green returned to the top of the Captain's Bakery Manchester Major League with a 1-0 win over Georges Valley in last weekend's 11th round.

New Green, who will host Barbican in next Tuesday's start of the COK National Knockout Competition, had also grabbed the highlight the previous weekend, hammering Greenvale 6-1, the largest margin of victory all season.

Georges Valley had held the league lead for the last three weeks, but stumbled as New Green again proved their Achilles heel after beating them in the mid-season final.

Georges Valley have in fact dropped to third owing to the emergence of Kendal who had a 2-1 win over Mandeville United.

However, the going continues to be very close with a point separating the top two, and third and fourth place (Downs) sharing the same points, albeit different goal statistics.

Utter disappointment

Further back is Porus (15 pts) and Mile Gully (14 pts), who shared an exciting 2-2 draw. Sheldon Doyley scored first for Porus in the 16th minute only for Andre Reid to fire in an equaliser four minutes later. Mile Gully would later stun the homeside with a strike by McKandy Gayle on the edge of half-time, but Porus saved utter disappointment for its many fans equalising in the 55th minute.

Quite noticeable is the steady improvement of Downs in the standings following a hot-tempered 2-1 win at home over Greenvale. The game was very competitive but Greenvale, who had taken the lead through Andrade Hines in the 13th minute, were quite annoyed at some of the referee's decisions. Following the match, some of the team members had to be restrained as they were reportedly abusive to the officials after the match.

In this weekend's 12th round to be played on Sunday, New Green hosts Downs at Hanbury in the feature match; Mile Gully play Kendal; Greenvale host Georges Valley and Mandeville United face Porus at deCarteret College playing field.