On Saturday evening, Douglas Athletic held a quiz at the British Legion, earlier that day the Springfield Road club found another winning answer in JCK Division Two.
An incredible season, which has posed lots of questions of the Pinks, continued with a 3-0 win over Douglas and District making Paul Henry Gold Cup qualification a realistic target for the former strugglers.
This bid will be further enhanced with the news that combination captain Neil Akkulugadu has taken on the first team manager’s role full time – a move welcomed by the players.
Both sides made a number of raids within the opposing halves at the beginning of this enouncter at Springfield Road.
D&D made an early impression, when Rob Jones flashed a free-kick just wide before Kyle Berry was forced to clear off the line after Jon Conroy dinked the ball over Athletic netminder Matthew Quirk.
However, the hosts soon began to find their feet.
Josh Green struck a venomous shot that D and D goalkeeper Darren Armstrong superbly saved.
Green then fired an effort that bounced off the post, before Chris Bower made a telling interception.
It was third time lucky for the Pinks’ number seven, Horton weaving his way through the District defence.
His initial shot was blocked, the second attempt was parried by Armstrong before Green was at hand to slot home an easy chance.
The hosts continued to push forward.
Danny O’Hare’s corner was met by James Aire’s near-post run whose resulting effort was cleared off the line by Jamie Delaney.
Moments later another flag-kick found an Athletic head, and another goal-line clearance was made.
The visitors made a confident start after the oranges, but it was Athletic who scored next.
Horton played it wide to the right, Dave Clark’s cross found the head of O’Hare who guided home his effort at the far post.
D&D’s chances of getting something from this fixture were diminished after they were reduced to 10 players.
Armstrong clipped Horton and the Pinks’ striker fell in the penalty area.
The D&D net-minder had to walk.
Kevin Doyle came off the subs’ bench to don the gloves, the substitute guessing correctly to deny O’Hare’s resulting spot-kick.
Athletic quickly made amends as they netted their third from the resulting flag-kick.
Ste Cowan’s cross was flicked on at the near post for Horton to score using his nose.
However, it was the adage of 10 players playing better than 11 as D&D fought to the end.
Kosta Lazarov and Daniel Clegg both went close for the Noble’s Park side but they couldn’t make the breakthrough as the Pinks moved up to fifth at the final whistle.
Team Check
Douglas Athletic: Matthew Quirk, Matthew Harrison, Kyle Berry (Gregg Kneen 70m), Ste Cowan (James Ford 60m), James Aire, Stuart Monks, Josh Green (Mark Hargreaves 82m), Dave Clark, Scott Davies, James Horton, Danny O’Hare
D&D: Darren Armstrong, Luke Steward, Jamie Delaney, Ben Skelton, Chris Bowers (Kosta Lazarov 67m), Jamie Spicer, Andrew Gosnell (Daniel Clegg 60), Rob Jones, Richard Brant, Jon Conroy, Stephen Horner (Kevin Doyle 65m)
Referee: Chris Dycher
Bookings: Davies (Athletic), Gosnell, Delaney (D&D). Sent off: Armstrong (D&D)
Match rating: HHHHH