By Jay Mwamba

Three wins in seven days – with nary a goal conceded — have defending champs New York Greek-American/Atlas sitting pretty atop the CSL Division One [West] log.

Three wins in seven days – with nary a goal conceded — have defending champs New York Greek-American/Atlas sitting pretty atop the CSL Division One [West] log.

Three wins in seven days – with nary a goal conceded — have defending champs New York Greek-American/Atlas sitting pretty atop the CSL Division One [West] log.

Three wins in seven days – with nary a goal conceded — have defending champs New York Greek-American/Atlas sitting pretty atop the CSL Division One [West] log.

After Josh Trott’s strike sank Central Park Rangers [CPR] 1-0 in their season-opener on Sept. 20, Atlas went on to thrash Polonia 6-0 in midweek.  Last Sunday, the sizzling Greeks hammered Barnstonworth Rovers 4-0 at Cardoza High School to take an early four point lead ahead of promotion side New York Croatia.

Trott, 23, was instrumental in all three wins. He’s effort against CPR aside, he banged in two against the suddenly unhinged Poles and notched another brace against Rovers.

Guy Kpene, Patrick Figueiredo, Ricardo Ordain and veteran Hemir Niebles also connected against Polonia, while new talent Alassani Kabirou hit two against as well.

“We picked up where we left off [last season]. The team is really clicking,” boasted Atlas boss George Mellis.

He’d predicted in pre-season that Atlas would be the team to beat if his players showed up consistently for games. Yet against Rovers, the Greeks only suited up 13 players and were without ex-pro Giovanni Savarese and Niebles.

“We’re a very talented team,” Mellis added.

Rovers coach Stavros Zomopoulos had no arguments about that.

“The Greeks won deservedl y,” he conceded. “They have put together a very good team.”

HERCULEAN EFFORT
Rovers’ reserves, playing with ten men for 70 minutes and nine for the last 15, put up a Herculean effort to hold off their Atlas rivals 2-1.

Lucas Werthein [25th] and Sam Minaya [72nd] scored.

FREEDOM RUN
In the West, Matia Damiani [23rd] Chris Megaloudis [55th] struck as Pancyprian Freedoms dispatched Stal Mielec 2-0 at St. John’s University to claim a share of the lead   with New York Athletic Club [NYAC].

“The game was one-sided and if not for the slick turf the score would have been much greater,” noted Pancyprian’s George Halkidis, whose reserves drew 0-0.

NYAC, meanwhile, pipped promotion side Manhattan Celtic 1-0 on Travers Island. The NYAC reserves went one better, winning 2-0.

POLISH TURMOIL
Stand-in coach Michael Siwiec made an encouraging debut as Polonia overcame a two-goal deficit to tie Croatia 3-3 at McCarren Park.

Siwiec stepped in after the sudden departure of Mariusz Barnak, which was followed by the resignation of manager Roman Gierczak

Coming off the 6-0 shellacking by Atlas, Polonia responded with a spirited effort after  Bo Nikolic [two] and Damir Penava gave Croatia a 3-1 lead.

Lukasz Bielen [32nd] and Rafal Czrniawski [83rd] added to Marcin Kulak’s earlier goal to bail out the home team.

“Lukasz Bielen was the best player for our team and his dedication in this game was second to none. When you watch players like Lukasz and Rafal Stefek there is hope for the future,” said the departing Gierczak.

Polonia’s reserves prevailed 3-0 on goals by Brian Czuj, Marcin Pachowicz and Jarek Mieleszko.

SPLIT DECISION
At Grand Street Field, Central Park Rangers and ten-man Manhattan Kickers tied 0-0 in a proverbial game of two halves.

“This was probably the right result, with our boys having the better of the first half chances, and the Kickers the better of the second,” observed CPR manager Yuval Lion.

“We played fairly well in spite of playing at less then full strength,” said Kickers’ Mike Fitzgerald, who had Bob Linaberry sent off [60th] .

BIG AMOS
Amos Zereoue, the CPR reserves’ former NFL trump card whose gridiron career included stints with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders, scored twice in a
3-0 romp over Kickers’ second unit.

Steve Murray had the other goal.

BHOYS RALLY
Man of the Match Kevin McGinne inspired a second half recovery that preserved the Lansdowne Bhoys reserves’ hundred percent record with a 2-1 decision over Brooklyn Italians 2-1 at Tibbets Brook Park.

With the Bhoys down 1-0, McGinne won a penalty that Carlos Abbate lashed home [60th]. McGinne then volleyed in the winner to make it three wins out of three for first place Lansdowne.

Barry McLoughlin had the Lansdowne first team’s only goal in a 3-1 defeat by Brooklyn.

HOT ROCKS
Shamrock’s early hot form in Division Two continued with a 5-0 pasting of New York Ukrainians on Randalls Island that kept them in second place.

Karl Hughes [two], Sean Riley, Shawn Baron and Sean Kelly tallied for the 2-0-1 [7 pts] Irishmen.

Shamrock’s reserves were also firing on all cylinders in their 4-0 defeat of Ukrainains’ second XI.

Newcomer Bernard Griffith hit a hat trick, while Declan “Deco” Condron got the other goal.

Said Shamrock official Sean Keogh: “I’m blown away with the strength of the squads. They look very good.”

TOP CD
CD Iberia [3-0, 9] top the Division Two table after their latest victory, a 4-0 drubbing of Ridgewood Romac at Icahn Stadium, which was preceded by a 3-3 tie in the reserve match.

JAPANESE GOAL-FEST
Methodical FC Japan saw off FC Bulgaria 5-0 at Red Hook to climb into joint third position in Division Two.

Takao Nakasuji, Yuya Hamada and defender Kenta Hidaka [off a Hiroaki Tomioka free kick] had Japan 3-0 up at the interval.

On resumption, Takao got his second home after touches by Takehiko Nakamura and Shigeru Aoe, before Yuya Hamada wrapped up the win with another goal as well.

Japan’s reserves won 2-1.

TAYLOR-MADE
Dave Taylor, on the verge of turning 40, scored a hat trick [15th, 70th, 87th] in Kandia’s 4-0 drubbing of rookie side Turkish American at Evander Childs High School.

New signing Damion Roberts [ 25th] was also on target for the Jamaicans, whose reserves triumphed 4-2.

“The amount of possession and dominance we had should have [led to] far more goals against a team that was weak in several areas,” said coach Colin Hemmings.

RED VICTORY
Ilija Zlatar and Robbie Newman scored in the last ten minutes as CPR Reds knocked off Hoboken FC 2-0 at the Metropolitan Oval.

Neal Ventola [66th] canceled out Ugo Solinas’ first half effort to earn the Hoboken reserves a 1-1 draw.

CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS
Skipper Rodrigo Diaz Garbizu’s 35-yard free kick was the difference in EMC’s 1-0 decision over Pythagoras Samos at the Aviator Sports Complex.

Patrick Carlyle and Aaron Vennard — the latter’s first for the club — brought the EMC reserves from two down to tie 2-2.

VVNA SLIP
Promotion side VV Nieuw Amsterdam lost an early top-of-the-table clash in Metro Div. One 4-3 to Korabi on Randalls Island.

Sidney Dzinoreva, Darran Cronshaw and James Carrico connected for VVNA who made a whirlwind start, but Korabi clawed back to clinch victory and join the Dutchmen on the 6-point mark.

“It was a tough way to lose our first game, especially having been up 3-0 at the break. We know this division will punish you for mental mistakes, and today we were caught out at the worst time,” rued C.P. de Vera.

ASTORIA SKID
Also in Metro One, FC Partizani got a late winner from Eros Canaj on Randalls Island to send Sporting Astoria reeling to their second defeat in three matches.

Astoria’s Jorge Monsalve had pegged back Alban Agolli’s go-ahead goal for Partizani before Canaj nicked it with an assist from Pirro Cece.

“Once again we dominated, we had the ball, but never posed a threat,” said
Astoria’s Ed Romero.

At Flushing Meadow, United Aviator clobbered NYPD FC 8-1.

HOME DRY
Perennial strugglers in seasons past, resurgent Homenetmen improved to 3-0 atop
Metro Div. Two with a 6-2 destruction of another NYPD side at Flushing Meadow.

Carlos  Andrade [9th, 16th], Vladimir  Abrahamyan [28th], Vardan Tigranyan [12th], Tigran Nikoghosyan [34th] and George Felice [38th] produced the rout.

BROKEN HEARTS
Newcomers New York Bravehearts proved no match for seasoned CSL campaigners Barnstonworth Rovers who trounced them 4-1 on Randalls Island.

Thomas Obaseki [20th], Gavin Dick [30th, 55th] and David Bernfeld [80th] got the goals.

ALBION LEVELER
Odinga Bascom [80th] canceled out stopper Lucian Ciulla’s first half goal to earn Albion SC a 1-all draw with fellow rookie side Hoboken FC in Over-30 action on Randalls Island.

Said Albion’s Jason Cyrus: “We dominated the game, [the] ball barely left their half. Hit every inch of woodwork [but] failed to convert.”

BATTLING EINTRACHT
SC Eintracht kicked off with just nine men but lost by the odd goal in a five-goal affair with Guyana Veterans ‘A’ at the Parade Ground.

It took the hosts 20 minutes to draw first blood, but 15 minutes later Tommy Strumpf equalized from the penalty spot with Eintracht now up to ten men.

Andreas Reiche [65th] leveled again when Guyana went ahead but Eintracht could only clip the post from a free kick after the Guyanese netted two minutes from time.

OLD BOYS TIE
Andrew Compagno and Magnus Mukoro scored for Barnstonworth Old Boys in a 2-2 tie with Manhattan Kickers.

“A great effort given we had two or three key players missing,” summed up Dave Sheeran.

CPR ONE
Hakan Nizam finished off a Creighton Mershon rebound in Central Park Rangers’ 1-1 stalemate with SC Gjoa in the early morning game on Randalls Island.

CPR also had a cheeky Ernesto Teran back heel cleared off the line.

RTG SQUEAKER
David Pappaceno and goalie Meikle Gardner combined to eke out a 1-0 win for RTG over Argo Silver. The former scored in the first half, while the latter saved a penalty in the 85th minute to secure full points.

WOODCOCK SCORES
Ian Woodcock [25th] was on target in the newly formed Manhattan Celtic Over-30s’ 1-1 draw with Banatul at Pier 40 on Sunday night.

PLAYERS WANTED
Celtic’s Over-30 team, meanwhile, is still looking for new members.  Prospective players are welcome to attend trials on Tuesday nights from 9:30 pm at Pier 40 [Lower Court West] or can contact David Seal at ManhattanCeltic@gmail.com.

BROOKLYN BLANKED
Elsewhere, Pele Masters blanked Brooklyn Italians 2-0 at John Dewey High School.

Freddie Demarco, who usually plays infield, starred between the posts until Pele connected twice in the last ten minutes.