They beat Green Island 5-0 at Logan Park Turf to move to within one point of third-placed Nelson Suburbs in the Southern Football League.
Green Island started brightly with its front three of Harrison McLean, Adam Hewson and Cam Anderson often breaking at pace and beating the defence.
On 11 minutes Hewson scored, but was judged to be marginally offside. The Royals welcomed back Fleming into the starting line-up and, with 30 minutes played, he created a chance but keeper Luke Schaffer-Swan was alert to keep the game scoreless.
In the second half the Royals dominated and opened the scoring in the 54th minute, when Ollie Peterson was tripped in the box and Ryan Fleming scored from the resulting penalty.
Four minutes later it was 2-0 ,when Ben Stanley beat the offside trap, cut inside and made no mistake. A quick interchange of play between Fleming, Stanley and En Watanabe saw a shot deflect for a corner on 65 minutes.
The ball fell to Fleming just inside the penalty box and he laced it sweetly with the outside of his left foot arching over a despairing dive of Schaffer-Swan to make it 3-0.
Watanabe was the creator for the Royals fourth goal. He won possession on the halfway line, broke free and unselfishly passed to Fleming, who side-footed home to claim his hat-trick after 73 minutes.
Watanabe got the final goal of the match on 80 minutes.
Mosgiel earned a point with a 2-2 draw away to Coastal Spirit in Christchurch. Rory Findlay scored an equaliser just before halftime, before again pulling level with a 65th minute equaliser.
Christchurch United beat Cashmere Tech 4-1 on Friday night in the top-of-the-table clash to remain perfect.
Nelson Suburbs were held to a 2-2 draw by Nomads united, while Ferrymead Bays beat Selwyn United 3-0.
In the Southern Women’s Premiership, Mosgiel held on for an hour, before two Queenstown goals gave the Rovers a 2-0 win.
Nicole Arlidge broke the deadlock on 60 minutes, before Keely Osborne made it comfortable in the 73rd minute.
Jasmine Prince took her season tally to 17, with four goals in Roslyn Wakari’s 6-1 win over Northern.
The Royals remained perfect with a 10-0 win over Green Island, Chelsea Whittaker and Rose Morton both scoring braces.
In the ODT Southern Men’s Premiership, the Royals remain top of the table with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at home over Queenstown, thanks to a quick-fire brace from Raven August.
Roslyn-Wakari remains second following a 2-0 victory away to Queens Park, while Wanaka claimed its second win of the season with a 3-0 win at University.
Mosgiel had to work hard away to Northern Hearts, but Finn Cattaway’s late winner sealed a 3-2 victory, while Northern beat Green Island 4-0 yesterday.
- Neville Watson
