YHM 0 HB 1

YHM 0 HB 1

A paltry turn-out at the FMG stadium wasn't unexpected as this friendly was never going to be one of the greats. But the few fans that did turn out (as well as a small group of Hawkes bay supporters) saw an average game, one that was unlikely to be anywhere near the standard required come the start of the season. Hawkes bay scored midway through the first half with a low close-range shot that left the otherwise excellent James Pamment with no chance.
Pamment was a vocal presence throughout the match and produced a fine save to deny Hawkes bay a second goal in the second half by diving high to his right.
The performance of the midfield was perhaps one of the only good things to take away from this match. Sandbrook and Robinson showed that they will continue to be one of the NZFC's best central midfield by combining well and carving out many of our few chances. Yuki Tomamatsu was also a stand-out player on the left side of midfeild and worked hard throughout the match despite being smaller than most of the opposition defenders.
The giant Osea Vakatalesau was a constant aerial threat and went close twice during the match, but seemed to be alone up front and had to often drop deep to get any time on the ball which showed up the poor link up play between the midfield and strikers, however one would hope that support striker Gustavo Saralegui will be able to solve this issue in time for the start of the season.
Not a great performance but don't take it as a sign of things to come!

thanks willyb - some good info there.

Yeah I went to  the game I thought the defence by Manawatu was poor and seemed a few paces slower than Hawkes Bay. The midfield looked good especially when going forward to attack.  The attack  I thought didnt look very slick and often seem to take wrong options. Set pieces were disappointing. If Manawatu want to be competive this year they will need to improve greatly on todays game which I think they will. A few more games together and the defence will sort themselves out the attackers may need a bit longer. 

Good result for hawakes bay, its just lucky that it is pre season for manawatu because the results arent that big of a deal... feedback2007-10-28 20:15:35

lineup

Pamment
Yackon, Robson, Adams (unsure), someone else.
Tomomatsu, Robinson, Sandbrook, Finau, Roydhouse (unsure)
Vakatalesau

Saralegui, Richardson, Quansah (nowhere near as bad as what people are saying on here) came on as subs.

They didn't give us much of an idea (read any) as to who was playing but thats about how much we worked out.

No idea who scored but it wasn't off a set piece so probably a striker or mid.

Where Utting was is one of the big questions though as he was expected to play one half with Pamment playing the other...
WillyB2007-10-28 21:27:48

Any Hawkes Bay supporters able to give insight into our performance/lineup etc? Cheers WillyB for the analysis.

according to the paper, nieres played, finau didnt

Trent watson at the back instead of adams.

still not sure about any of the lineup

Apparently HBU played what is likely to be close to their starting lineup in the first half and then swapped most of the lineup in the second- making it much more second string. I hear their second half seemed to be more structured than the first strangely- but if it was the reserves getting a run then they did well to keep a clean sheet.

i saw no sign of brockie. messam was up front i think, and thats as far as my knowledge of HBU goes. Oddly they changed kits in the second half as well.

Jarrod Smith got the goal in the first half according to the Hawkes Bay paper and HB lined up in first half: O'Brien, Jenkins, Peverley, Parkin, Hogg, Birnie, Fyfe, Cudd, Brockie, Messam, Smith... Article didnt say much about the game really...

A guy from Hawkes bay got shown a red card in the second half but got subbed off for someone else instead when it happened...

That was prob arranged before the game started pre-season most teams would rather play 11 vs 11. Finau diffently didnt play and I am sure Richardson started and  pretty sure I saw Cowan playing and I think Nieres started as well