Rovers punish 10-man Abrolhos as Olympic keep the pressure on with win over La Fiamma

Abrolhos have slipped back from the big two of this season as they went down to the top of the table Rovers 3-1 on Saturday.

As Rovers and Olympic have dominated this season Abrolhos have been hot on their heels and are the only team to beat the Rovers this season.

A second win against them would have seen them drawn level with Rovers on points and just one point behind Olympic, setting up a close three-way battle for the end of the season.

They were up early as Riccardo Amazzini put the Vikings in front in the 24th minute, but it didn’t last long as Wesley Fleiser equalized just seven minutes later as the teams headed into half-time 1-1.

But any hope of another Abrolhos upset was dashed 10 minutes into the second half when Regan Shane was shown a straight red card forcing his team to play with 10 men for 35 minutes.

A draw would have still been a good result but the Rovers were not going to miss out on the opportunity now before them with Owain Harrison and Ben Rollett adding two goals in five minutes to put the game to bed.

As Abrolhos dropped back Olympic broke away with a 3-0 win over La Fiamma to keep pressure on the Rovers with just two points separating the top two sides.

In the reserves, La Fiamma drew level with Olympic for second on the ladder after a thrilling 3-2 win over them.

The Reds were 1-0 up at half-time before Jean Mapurisa doubled their advantage less than two minutes into the second half.

But Olympic hit back as Max Winton struck in the 50th minute before Tremendous Emmanuel Ncube tied the game up in the 61st minute.

It looked as if the game was heading towards a draw before Bishal G C hit a 90th-minute winner to steal the win for the Reds with his 10th goal in seven games.

Abrolhos were gifted the win in the other match as Rovers forfeited and they now sit four points clear of Olympic and La Fiamma at the top of the table.