With Great Southern Soccer Association leaders Albany Caledonian having their senior men’s bye, Polonia closed the gap on the defending champions to a single point after a hard-fought win over Phoenix on Saturday.
Their come-from-behind victory on Saturday was completed in the last 15 minutes of the game as they turned a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 win which leaves them on 18 points after eight games, one behind Calies.
Escher Nash put Polonia in front in only the third minute, but it was all Phoenix after that as Malcolm Van Burgel, Corey Plug and then Cameron Dekker found the net for a 3-1 lead by half-time.
The Polonia resurgence started when Archie Smith made it 3-2 after 52 minutes and a 77th-minute penalty from Caelen Lambe levelled scores at 3-3.
Smith struck again in the 80th minute to put Polonia ahead and the gloss was added in the last minute when Kyle Taylor completed the scoring.
In contrast, Rovers enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 win over Bayswater, striking early to put the game beyond doubt in the first half.
Andreas Bouzinekis, Jason Wenbourne and Jake Swadkins had Rovers 3-0 up by the time 34 minutes had gone.
A late consolation for Bayswater was bagged by Henry Goldsmith in the 89th minute.
In Saturday’s senior women’s competition, Sharks were no match for Caledonians who romped to a 10-1 victory.
Stephanie Grant bagged a hat-trick while Holly Froehnelt and Arianne Devonshire each scored twice.
Their tally was topped up by Kayla Stoney, Milla Trichilo and Emily Lawrence.
Sharks’ markswoman was Erinn Norder who converted with three minutes to go.
Calies lead the ladder by six points from Phoenix, who were 7-0 winners over Polonia.
Third-placed Denmark saw off Rovers 2-0.
Amaya Dobbe top-scored for Phoenix with a hat-trick while Lee Dekker scored twice.
Lumeah Masih and Elise Beaubien were on target for Denmark.
Caledonian and Phoenix were the winners in the men’s reserves’ competition on Saturday.
Reagan Korthuis, with two goals, and strikes from Darren de Vos, Trent Eikelboom, Ziah Dekker, Rowan Terpstra and Cameron Dekker saw Phoenix home 7-1 against Rovers.
Roger Mejia scored for Rovers.
Calies beat Polonia 3-1 with goals from Dylan Cook, Chris Wallace and Ben Harris while Charlie Corson replied for Polonia.
Polonia beat Calies 3-0 in the women’s reserves’ competition while Phoenix saw off Denmark Rezzies by the same score.
Venja Ruggera grabbed a hat-trick for Polonia.
Old Boys, Rovers Vets and Denmark enjoyed wins in the men’s masters’ competition on July 30 while, in the July 29 socials, Polonia and Cross Keys were victorious as Griffins and Denmark drew 0-0.
In the women’s socials on July 31, Mt Barker and Rovers drew 0-0, as did Denmark Dream and Sharks.
Caledonians, Griffins and Bayswater all won.
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