CSK Wanderers kept themselves in pole position for the title as they laboured to a 1-0 victory over Webby's Wonderers. Alex Ternouth scored the decisive goal as CSK extended their lead at the summit of the Premier League.
CSK started brilliantly with some incisive passing and great movement off the ball. David Jones and then Alex Ternouth had efforts narrowly miss the target. Then came the early goal they were searching for. Lewis Turpin passed played the ball neatly into the path of Alex Ternouth who tucked the ball home with consumate ease. The goal should have added confidence to the Wanderers early domination, instead it seemed to mute them as an attacking force. Little in the way of chances or penetration came their way and Webby's Wonderers were allowed to keep within touching distance. Steve Winter made a comfortable save or two as CSK finished the first half in tame fashion.
An improvement didn't come in the second half and CSK were largely camped in their own half against clearly inferior opposition. Had the opponents shown any sort of quality in front of goal or with their final pass the game could have been very different. As it happened CSK rode their luck, and Steve Winter made a couple of decent saves to keep them out. On the break CSK looked dangerous, but a sloppy pass, or a mis-control ultimately scuppered any chance of an extension to their fragile lead. The Wanderers held on for their lead and grabbed three points that may move them too far ahead of their rivals to be caught this season.
Commentators had mentioned Steve Winter's kicking with suspicion during the match, and that suspicion led to accusations from the News Of The World after the match. It became apparent that Arab businessman Sheik Omar Mohammed had won a substantial amount of money on a bizarre bet. The oil tycoon placed a bet on Steve Winter kicking the ball directly to touch 13 times. A recording of a conversation between Steve Winter's alleged representative and a member of Sheik Mohammed's family was posted on youtube with Winter set to receive £500,000 if he kicked the ball out those 13 times. He did just that, and as a result the F.A have announced that they will look into the allegations of corruption on Steve Winter's part, but stated that the recording could be a fake and that they will investigate the situation fully before charging or suspending any individual. Winter was advised against speaking with the media, but he has since released a statement denying any wrong-doing in the episode. Lewis Turpin did speak with reporters after the match and he refused to speak about the allegations against his player/manager, "I think it would be best if we spoke about the game tonight. It wasn't pretty but we got the three points and that puts us in a great position to win this league. We need to improve but winning when you aren't at your best is a sign of champions and so we can only be happy about the win." CSK will be hoping to grab another three points next week against Talibanfica.
