Douglas Athletic moved to within a point of Canada Life Premier League leaders St Mary’s with a 5-1 win at home to St John’s on Saturday afternoon.

The Pinks were initially made to work hard by an understrength Saints, but in the end proved too strong for their opponents as they continued their fine start to the 2018-19 season.

Craig Purvis’s hosts raced into an early lead when the unmarked Martin Cowan headed them in front before Will Penhallurick doubled the advantage with a deflected strike.

The writing appeared to be on the wall for St John’s when Paul Whitehead was given his marching orders following a late challenge on DAFC left-back Daniel Pennington, an incident in which Pinks defender Drew Ward perhaps should’ve received a red card as well.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the visitors pulled a goal back right on the stroke of half-time when Liam Sayle turned the ball home from close range.

After a lull in the second half though, it was Athletic who were able to pull away from their Mullen-e-Cloie opponents, Penhallurick grabbing his second of the afternoon with a neat left-footed finish.

The impressive Pennington then got in on the act when he netted directly from a corner, before turning provider late on when his corner was headed home by Cowan to complete a 5-1 win.

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Corinthians survived a huge scare as they came from three goals down to win away at Laxey.

Joe Walters grabbed a brace for Sean Doyle led the Whites comeback with a hat-trick, and he was joined on the scoresheet by a Stephen Whitley brace plus strikes from Connor Gorman and Luke Murray, before the Miners pulled another goal back late on to make it 7-4.

While Corinthians were made to work hard, St George’s, DHSOB and Rushen United all romped to victory against Marown, Castletown and Douglas Royal respectively.

Furo Davies, Johnny Myers, Jay Skelcher-Maxwell and Calum Morrissey were all on the scoresheet to help Geordies seal a 5-1 win over Marown.

Just around corner at Blackberry Lane, Old Boys were in irresistible form as they thrashed Castletown 10-1 to move into the top four, while Rushen claimed their third win of the season with a 9-1 demolition of Douglas Royal at Ballafletcher.

RYCOB continue to set the pace at the top of JCK Division Two as they proved too strong for struggling Colby, winning 6-1 at the Station Fields. Lewis Moran led the way for the northerners with two goals and there were also goals for Martyn Murphy, Dylan Parish, Jason Craine and Steven Grose.

Malew maintained their impressive unbeaten start to the season with a Kieran Krypner-inspired win over Ayre United which keeps them second, while Pulrose United are third after a hard-fought 3-0 win at home to Governor’s Athletic, Marc Priestnal stealing the show with a hat-trick.

Onchan were pushed all the way at home to Union Mills but eventually triumphed by the odd goal in five. The Os raced into a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Tom O’Neill (2) and Connor Dempsey, only for Millers to hit back through strikes from Chris Kelly and Jack Murray to set up a nervy finale.

Foxdale remain three points behind Onchan after they claimed a 4-0 win away at Gymns, Jay Chatwood grabbing a brace while Charlie Harrison and Liam Cannan completed the scoring.

Douglas and District were in ruthless form in front of goal as they scored eight past Michael United at Balleira Road.

Rob McCowliff starred for the Noble’s Park outfit with a hat-trick, while joining him on the scoresheet were Ben Harrison 2, Robert Hay, Daniel Kinley and Daniel Stewart-Clague.

Results from Saturday, October 6:

Canada Life Premier League

Douglas Athletic 5-1 St John’s

DHSOB 10-1 Castletown

Douglas Royal 1-9 Rushen United

Laxey 4-7 Corinthians

St George’s 5-1 Marown

JCK Division Two

Colby 1-6 RYCOB

Gymns 0-4 Foxdale

Malew 3-1 Ayre United

Michael United 2-8 Douglas and District

Onchan 3-2 Union Mills

Pulrose United 3-0 Governor’s Athletic

Canada Life Combination One

Braddan 1-8 St Mary’s

Castletown P-P DHSOB

Corinthians 9-1 Laxey

Marown 0-6 St George’s

Rushen United 9-0 Douglas Royal

St John’s P-P Douglas Athletic

JCK Combination Two

Ayre United 2-9 Malew

Douglas & District 6-1 Michael United

Foxdale 5-2 Gymns

Governor’s Athletic 1-3 Pulrose

RYCOB P-P Colby

Union Mills 3-4 Onchan