By Logan Marsh

The Douglas United Dragons have overturned a two-goal deficit to beat Atherton on a chilly Tablelands night on Friday.

After a scoreless first half in which Douglas shaded possession and chances Atherton grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, scoring twice in the opening ten minutes of the half to have the Dragons’ backs against the wall. However there is plenty of character in this side and it was to the fore again as they dug deep to finally prevail 3-2 in what turned out to be a fairly testy encounter.

The early signs were good for the Dragons with Luke Seaton and Stan Jakovljevic linking well down the right, creating a couple of half chances and a handful of corners. While the Dragons were controlling the game, Atherton certainly had their moments, showing they were always going to be a threat. Indeed the longer it stayed at 0-0 the more threatening they became. Douglas were still creating chances at the other end with the best of this falling to player/coach Nick Tither who, unfortunately, had a horrendous air swing that resulting in a scab being removed from his knee and a trip to the Iron Bar wearing the Dragon Onesie!!

The second half saw the Dragons off the pass initially while Atherton hit the ground running. A poor pass across the backline allowed Atherton to take the lead and moments later they were two ahead through a very well worked, if slightly questionable goal. The build up play was outstanding but there were definitely question marks over whether the goal scorer was onside when the cross was delivered.

This was the shot in the arm that the Dragons needed as they spent the rest of the game very much on the front foot. Douglas United are enjoying something of a purple patch this season in terms of penalties this season after years of battling to get any and the trend continued when Matty Smith was fouled in the area. Smith dusted himself off to score from the spot and breath life into the Dragons cause. Next to be bundled over in the area was Tom Seaton and again Smith stepped up to calmly slot home his eighth goal of the campaign.

This set up a grandstand finish although at this stage it looked like only the Dragons would go on and win the match. And so it proved to be the case as Tom Seaton capped a fine match by sliding in under a challenge to slot the ball past the advancing keeper and give the Dragons the lead for the first time in the match. There was still time for a couple of scares with the Dragons giving away a couple of fouls in and around their penalty area but thankfully Atherton could not capitalise on these and the Dragons hung on to make it seven from seven in the league and open up an eleven point lead at the top of the table.

The Paddys Bar Man of the Match went to Matty Smith who came off the bench to make the difference for the Dragons, scoring or having a hand in all three goals. Next up for the Dragons is a massive test of where they are at with an FNQ Cup game against Leichardt at Barlow Park on Wednesday night. Leichardt are currently second in the Premier League so it will be a real indicator of how good the Dragons really are. Kick off is at 6pm followed by a home game on Friday against Edge Hill with that one kicking off at 8pm.