Discipline tested in furious match
11.05.2009
ANENDRA SINGH
That was put to the test in the seventh round of the Central League soccer match in Napier yesterday when Napier City Rovers hung on to pip Wairarapa 3-2 after leading 2-nil at halftime.
As both camps attested, the match had all the makings of a box-office hit.
Oddly enough it was the moments that strayed from the script that added some zing to the encounter.
Rovers and ex-All White defender Jonathan Taylor flirted with an early shower through lack of discipline but the visiting goalkeeper and ex-international Sacha Nathu wasn't so lucky.
Taylor copped a yellow card from young referee Gareth Sheehan in the 52nd minute for persistently arguing with the whistle-blower and the line referees, Jordan Williams and Hayden Tutbury, over their offside decisions.
But Nathu upstaged Taylor 10 minutes later when he lost the plot through alleged provocation in an incident that again featured Taylor. The gloveman plucked the ball from above Taylor's head after Rovers skipper Stu Wilson floated in a freekick from 40m out following a crude tackle from Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay United rightback James Oxtoby.
The keeper slapped Taylor behind the head and the referee saw red.
A livid Wairarapa coach Phil Kinzley was blunt in the assessment of his troops' demise: ``The keeper cost us all three goals.'
Kinzley, who didn't want to go into details amid allegations of abuse from Taylor, said he had warned Nathu about provocation in any game, considering he already had had four yellow cards this season.
``He was stupid to react to that and that cost us the game,' he said, disclosing they didn't have a reserve keeper and had to inject substitute player Aaron Spierling to don the gloves while pulling out left wing Kota Maeno who had only run on at halftime.
However, the visitors' problems were compounded with about 15 minutes left on the clock when leftback Carl Shailer came off second best following a contentious clash as he lay on the ground clutching his lower back.
``Carl's dislocated his hip and even (Rovers coach) Matt (Chandler) said that was a foul but the ref didn't,' Keinzley lamented.
Even before Shailer could be taken off the park on a stretcher as he crawled off the playing area to the sideline, the medics were calling for a stretcher to cart off Rovers substitute striker Daniel Ball who had minutes earlier replaced a lethargic Andy Pickering.
Ball and lanky defender Marama Thompson clashed in their aerial pursuit to head the ball in from a cornerkick but were left writhing on the ground. Ball, clutching his ankle, had to be carried off while Thompson massaged his head and resumed. Andy Bevin replaced Ball.
Nevertheless, all the drama aside, the game was played in good spirit with the hosts relentless in the first half through a rampant Wilson, striker Andrew Abba, Pickering and Chris McIvor.
Nathu fingertipped a Wilson shot off the crossbar but last season's golden boot didn't miss the mark a minute from a freekick 22m out. He curled the ball over the wall to the top right-hand corner as Nathu failed to respond.
Five minutes later centre-mid McIvor caught everyone napping with a shot from 28m out to increase the lead.
Coach Chandler said: ``Chris McIvor's goal was great to see and it rolled back the years.'
The furious pace of Rovers up front kept Wairarapa in check and giant Fijian international centreback Waisake Sabutu concceded a freekick for a crude tackle on Pickering in the 15th minute on the top edge of the 18m box.
This time Nathu rose to the occasion, diving and parrying the ball on the far right of the upright from Wilson curler around the wall.
Wairarapa lacked patience in the first spell, not constructing play from the back and quite often taking wrong options when players out wide were screaming for the ball.
Wairarapa's Bay franchise striker, Seule Soromon, was left to score from miracle balls. It didn't help that the Vanuatu international consistently tripped on the Rovers' offside traps.
Whatever Kinzley said to the players at the breather, the visitors upped the tempo.
Several minutes into the second spell, Taylor hacked down Wairarapa skipper Pita Rabo in the 18m box to concede a penalty kick. Soromon narrowed the lead to 2-1.
In the 59th minute a clearance kick from rightback Oxtoby found Soromon but Thompson raked it away. Wilson's freekick in the 63rd minute led to Nathu's mind explosion with Taylor and Abba made it 3-1.
In the 75th minute Oxtoby ran down the line, lost the ball but won it back before laying it back to Fijian right wing Saki Valevou, who floated it up to Sabutu.
Rovers keeper Shaun Peta rose high but lost his grip on the ball. Sabutu crisply pushed it in to narrow the margin to 3-2.
Reiterating the importance of growing as a team to a 90-minute outfit, Chandler said the Rovers would be an entertaining side this season.
Young trio 'not in control'
11.05.2009
ANENDRA SINGH
A circumspect Chandler felt one ``good' ref with two young assistants would have been more acceptable.
All three officials - referee Gareth Sheehan and assistants Jordan Williams and Hayden Tutbury - are under the age of 22.
Said Chandler: ``For a game played at that passion and speed we need officials who can match that experience.
``I think, at times, they felt a little intimidated by the players.
Keinzley didn't mince words: ``I think the three were so young it was almost taking the piss. They appointed juniors who were clearly just not in control of the game.'
He was at pains to clarify that the game was not dirty and, while his side played the worst first 45 minutes he had seen all season, the Rovers kept their composure to play well.
Hawke's Bay Football Referees chairman Tony Simmonds declined to comment this morning.
2ndBest2009-05-12 08:25:19
Olympic carves up Taranaki
By ROBIN MARTIN - Taranaki Daily News
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/sport/2399954/Olympic-carves-up-Taranaki
Team Taranaki proved the perfect guest at Olympic's 50th anniversary party in Wellington yesterday gifting the home side a 4-0 victory.
Head coach Ian McGrath admitted his Energyworks Taranaki side was completely outplayed in the Central League football clash at Newtown Park.
"For the first time this season, we were carved open and deserved nothing from the match," McGrath said.
"We are naturally all disappointed at the result, but we have to be philosophical about it, take it on the chin and take stock of our own performances."
In typical fashion, Taranaki competed well in the first spell and trailed by a solitary goal at the break.
But a sweetly taken strike it was, according to McGrath. Adam Church flew in off Olympic's left flank to meet a cross and steered it past Mike Reive in the Taranaki goal from the edge of the box.
Nevertheless, with the game on a knife-edge and Taranaki's habit of being hard to put away, McGrath remained optimistic going into the sheds. "At halftime, we didn't feel we were out of the game."
But Olympic striker Mickey Malivak put an end to any thoughts of a comeback, with a rapid-fire second-half hat-trick.
He had the first goal within five minutes of the break. Picking up a ball played in behind the Taranaki defence, Malivak calmly slotted it past Reive. The next two came in quick succession and effectively ended the match as a contest.
"They were superb passages of play, they carved us open and the striker was able to finish both from inside the box," McGrath said.
The Chatham Cup break this weekend couldn't come at a better time for Team Taranaki, with the side needing to regroup for an important home match against struggler Wellington United in a fortnight.
"Clearly we will want to turn things around against Wellington, put in a good performance and get a result," McGrath said.
Team Taranaki 0 Wellington Olympic 4 (A. Church 1, M. Malivak 3).
Its no longer a problem.
Phil Kinzley. 
Incredible stamina. No shame. Yellow Fever.
Founder
Incredible stamina. No shame. Yellow Fever.
Incredible stamina. No shame. Yellow Fever.
Incredible stamina. No shame. Yellow Fever.
Incredible stamina. No shame. Yellow Fever.
Founder
Incredible stamina. No shame. Yellow Fever.
Founder
A dog with a bone :)
A dog with a bone :)
Motivation won't be a problem for either Wairarapa United or Palmerston North Marist in their Central League football match at the Pugh Sports Bowl, Masterton, on Sunday.
With Wairarapa United in eighth place on the points table with 5pts and Palmerston North ninth and last-equal with Wellington United on 3pts the opportunity to lessen their chances of possible relegation later in the season will be very much on their minds.
Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley concedes the three teams listed above, plus Taranaki which have 6pts, are on "shaky ground" and will be placing huge emphasis on improving their situation.
"It's never any fun being at or near the bottom of the table, every game becomes a test match then," he said."There is no easy way out at this level, you have to earn it."
Keinzley is hopeful last Saturday's penalty shootout loss to Capital premier division side Waterside-Karori will, in fact, prove to be a blessing in disguise for his team.
"You always look for positives when you lose and at least we did have the better of that game in terms of territory and possession," he said. "We had enough scoring chances to win by four or five, it was just our finishing which was so poor."
Keinzley isn't fooled, however, by Palmerston North Marist's slow start to the 2009 season, pointing to their draw with highly-rated Miramar Rangers in their latest game being evidence of the sort of form you would normally expect from a team containing the bulk of Manawatu's national football championship squad.
"No doubt they will be embarrassed by where they currently sit on the points table and you can bet they are targeting us as a game they have to win, you can be absolutely sure of that."
