Hawke's Bay United

TG had two good chances then HBU scored against the run of play 1-1

Ended 2-1 to HBU

http://www.hbunited.co.nz/ young keeper is interesting move.

they've signed a young croatian named lekaj.  according to FM he's a right back

left wing/right back, same diff

pacy if nothing else.

HBU vs HBU Youth today at 10:30. Not sure about the venue...

Anyone from Napier (HB) going  ? Can we hope for a match report  ?

HBU - HBUY 8:0...Don't know any details...

halftime in Taupo. 

ACFC-HBU 1:0.

ACFC 80% possession , misssed penalty, but HBU created 2-3 very good chances. Should have scored at least one....

who's playiong for the bay?  no names mentioned on auckland's twitter feed!

Many players I don't actually know. Some are still trialing. 1:0 fulltime. HBU created more chances than ACFC.

TW - HBU 1:0. Played in Ashurst. Good game. 

Sounds like they may not be the push overs that everyone was anticipating them to be. From what i have heard Brett has got a good young side together.

Yeah, they are not too bad actually. I think their oldest player is 24. Created a couple of decent chances against the TW.

hawkes bay have signed canadian attacker troy pennycooke-morgan

ross haviland, ryan tinsley, fin milne, kosuke mimaki, reilly o'meagher, billy scott confirmed

can anyone confirm if leon birnie is also playing?

birnie is assistant coach

I've seen them once at Waitakere and they have a massive nosebleed for performance vs table position. Mind you, a few teams have dropped off markedly this year so I guess if everyone is regressing....

Dire against Wanderers at Michaels Ave.

Must have been the pitch!!

To be perfectly frank, IMO you haven't missed much.   They've only had three games at home - a draw 2-2 with Team Wellington (I thought TW was absolute crap that day), got belted by the Weenix 2-5, and beat a poor Southern side 3-1.

I really think that most of the entertainment comes from the Coach on the sideline.   Yes, cynical I know but hard to get enthusiastic over a team of imports.   I see they have signed a couple more NCR boys so be interesting to see them against Auckland this weekend.

Hi Graeme,

I watched Hawke's Bay v Waibop in Rotorua and had mixed feelings. Ultimately they were the better team, though part of that was because Waibop gifted them a couple of bizarre goals, then completely stopped playing once Craig Wylie was sent off - having earlier looked quite comfortable.

I would politely call them an "excitable" team. Every single free kick against them drew histrionics or "the teapot". They felt aggrieved at every single decision against them. It was an attitude that permeated from the bench, where Angell is no Angel.

In fairness I should at this point declare that I loosely identify myself as an aberrant (critical) Waibop fan. 

I particularly dislike the attitude of HB's Sean Lovemore.  At one stage late in this game his motion carried him off the pitch where he deliberately kicked over a ground hoarding. Couple this with his incessant whingeing and sulking, and you have a player you love to hate.

However in spite of being a bit more arsey than a couple of years back, he is pacy and remains a player capable of swinging a game, and from memory grabbed two of his teams goals. So there you go.

HB could be happy with scoring 4 away from home against a shambolic Waibop (on the day) and they have a few competitive players.

However they don't have a "wow factor". 

I say that, as someone who can recall the wonderful Napier teams of the 90s (think Paul Halford, Harry Clarke, Mark Wroe, Andy Rennie, Harry Clarke, Andy Birchenough, Perry Cotton, Mark Paston, Martin Akers. These days you simply don't get the same sort of trepidation as an opposing fan - even if they do still nick the points. :-)

Aw c'mon Hawke's Bay fans.... isn't anyone out there going to defend the honour of their team and have a pop...

Pretty sad when you can't get one indignant response....

Let's ramp it up..... Sean Lovemore... most misnamed football player in New Zealand, surely?

He's not really one of ours though is he?

I agree with you that Lovemore is a prize Twit Bruce however in the last 18 months, he seems to not be as silly as he was (as much as he still is) and has a nice touch and pace. For his size, he can play back to goal, target man laying off or as an out and out striker so he is a very versatile player. 

I think he would work very well in a TW set up to be honest. Away from some of the Aucklanders that will just create angst and wind up. I think if he had a good mentor and calmed himself, he could be a fantastic talent and go far. He has shades of Ian Hogg about him in that he has talent but is mad. Ian sorted himself somewhat and look what he achieved.

Fair enough Jeff. Though seems you are the closest thing to Hawke's Bay faithful here.... which is weird.

Agree with you NP, no one in the area cares about HBU anymore. The new coach seems like a complete and utter moron as well

Funny how this conversation is mirroring the same trend (out of town players and no local connect) with Team Wellington in the past and now it looks as though Canterbury is going the same way.

You are right about the coach DD - someone tried to tell me his behaviour was because of his passion - I thought it was because he was a nutter.

I think the lack of local players in the side just show the lack of local players that are up to playing at that level. Bruce mentioned a NCR team that won the double in 92, how many of these were 'local' players. Correct me if i'm wrong but one which was Paston who was only on the bench. Yet the support for that team was good, but then again it was a pretty good side

The fact they are as high in the league as they are yet by all accounts are rubbish doesn't say much for the rest of the teams and the league itself.

People had really started to get on the HBU bandwagon in the last few years, crowd numbers the best for years, title challengers, good people around the place. Just a whole lot of people feeling let down now and have got no connection any more. Ruined. 

From what I have seen, unless you have TW or ACFC as one of the sides, you are looking at some bloody ordinary football that is not rising to any great heights. Its all hyperbole 'the competition is the best its ever been'

The only reason why the table is close is cause when someone gets a chance, they trip over their own feet and let the others catch up. It TW had done Waitak in the weekend, they would have had the title I think but they tripped over (the refs) 2 feet.

WeeNix play some okay football as well.  Will be interesting what sort of side they have out in the derby this week.

.