Central League Round 4

Central League Round 4

Wellington Phoenix FC target Costa Barbarouses stole the show in another eye catching display as Olympic defeated Team Taranaki at Newtown Park on Sunday.  The young forward, who was recently voted one of the ten best footballers outside the A-League by Australian FourFourTwo magazine, scored twice to inspire the Greeks to a 3-1 victory.  Olympic will be glad to have got all three points with a youthful Taranaki side putting in a spirited display.  Barbarouses opened the scoring after twenty scrappy minutes, curling home beautifully from the left hand side of the box after picking up a failed clearance.  Both the instinctive finish and the quality displayed suggest he is ready for an under 20 slot with the Phoenix.  Taranaki were successful in crowding the midfield with Nick Betteridge and 17 year old Tyson Brandt never allowing Raf de Gregorio and Simon George to settle into the passing game that highlights the talent they have on offer.  Although much of the visitors� attack was too direct, isolating Leighton Deardon up front, the Olympic backline did suffer a few jitters.  However, a second goal just before half time to Anton de Gregorio, converting a cross from the right on the second attempt, appeared to have settled the match as a contest.

But Team Taranaki stepped up its efforts in the second half and made better use of possession.  Hiroshi Tomonari began to support Deardon up front and deservedly brought Taranaki back into the game earning a penalty which Craig Graham converted.  With the game stretched chances began to come at both ends.  Barbarouses broke clean on goal after an error by Graham and was brought to ground by keeper Jeff Yates as he went past him.  How referee Paul Smith failed to show him red is anyone�s guess as the nearest defender was fifteen yards away.  Yates however, picked himself up and brilliantly saved Raf de Gregorio�s penalty.  Andrew Toomath in the Olympic goal made his only noteworthy save of the afternoon soon after, tipping over after Shaun Easthope�s misjudged header nearly snuck under the cross bar.  But young Barbarouses got his second in the dying moments cutting across the top of the box and unleashing a great finish at the near post.  Taranaki competed well physically but the gulf in quality in the final third was reflected in the score.

Lower Hutt and Miramar played out an entertaining two all draw at Centennial Park.  Lower Hutt started very brightly, and deservedly took the lead when Costa Rican Roy Clark scored a penalty after handball by George Whiting.  Miramar then settled into their passing game, and created and missed a number of chances, with both Tim Butterfield and Matt Keene blazing over the bar from 12 yards, with only the keeper to beat.  Just before half-time, Hutt broke away and scored when a Clark shot from distance was deflected past Sacha Nathu. 

 

The second half mirrored the first, with Miramar stringing passes together but unable to break down a resolute Hutt team looking to break quickly.  With an increasingly desperate Miramar seeming to run out of ideas leading into the last 20 minutes, Allan Chote broke down the left and chipped the keeper to bring the game back to life.  A second goal 5 minutes later by substitute Keiichi Nguyen, after good work by Graham Little in his last game before the birth of his first child, set up a grandstand finish.  With 5 minutes remaining Tim Butterfield stabbed home after a goal mouth scramble to score what he thought was the winner, but it was controversially ruled out for offside despite the linesman�s flag staying down. 

 

Wests took advantage of a first half red card to Alec McDonald to score three goals in ten minutes against Stop Out.  A more even second half saw Wayne Rooker reply for the Hutt side and parity was restored in the second period when Adam Birch received his marching orders with ten to go.  However, the match finished 4-1 to Wests with Ben Feld and Mario Comparini both grabbing doubles.

Wellington United paid the penalty for a poor first half losing two nil to Marist in Palmerston.  Marist opened the scoring early through Scott Robson after some slack United defending and were again punished at the end of the half when Brent Argyle fired in a brilliant free kick.  United improved in the second half and chances fell to both Eddie Mason and Kieran Cunningham, but 2-0 was the final score.

In Napier, the home side ran out 4-1 winners over the disappointing Gisborne City who had key player Robert Gill sent off in the first half.  Gill was flagged for offside after an apparent equaliser and after words with the referee, was sent for an early shower.  But Napier were good value for their victory playing some of their best football in several years.  Graham Fyfe scored two goals and while Leon Birnie scored twice, he also hit the woodwork on another two occasions.  Ryan O�Neill got the visitors only goal.

                                                                                                    

Great write up, love it, keep it coming. I hope you dont mind but im posting the articles on the Olympic website, www.olympicafc.org.nz , with full credit going to yellowfever.

why is there no news about the half time show at Miramar?

what happenned at half time?!

Cheers.

SOCCER: Rovers make sweet, sexy soccer

23.04.2007

HAMISH BIDWELL

In three seasons of covering the New Zealand Football Championship and now a third Central League, it's hard to remember any team playing better at Park Island than Napier City Rovers did in the first half of their 4-1 win over Gisborne City yesterday.

It was the kind of performance that almost had you forgetting you were there as a journalist. You weren't there working. You were sitting there like a fan and marvelling at the sublime football Rovers were playing.

The movement off the ball, the vision, the one-touch passing. This was the beautiful game at it's most attractive.

When Hawke's Bay United coach Jonathan Gould poked his nose into the press box and said "I've got your headline: Sexy Football is back," it was very difficult to argue.

Graham Fyfe bagged a couple of goals. Leon Birnie did too and probably should've had four, after twice hitting the woodwork. Willie Stanger fluffed two one-on-ones, Hamish Price blasted a great chance over and Robbie Hunter hit the bar with a long range effort. This was a team, seemingly, creating chances at will.

But, and there's always a but with SportToday, an incident in the sixth minute did have a significant bearing on the outcome.

Fyfe had just scored his first goal a minute earlier, when Gisborne striker Robert Gill took advantage of some sleepy defending to level the scores at 1-all. Amazingly, assistant referee Roger Sinclair ruled that Gill had snuck offside. Referee David Burling duly ruled the goal out, at which point Gill uttered one or two magic words and was shown a red card.

Rovers were fantastic, no two ways about it. But it could have been a very different match had Gisborne's first goal stood and Gill not gotten an early shower.

But the fact remains that Rovers secured the three points and served notice that Bluewater Stadium will not be a happy hunting ground for visiting teams.

"That was the aim. No-one's going to come here and get an easy game," said Rovers coach Matt Chandler.

"I think the guys are starting to understand the game I'm trying to play and when to pass, when to drop, when to play to feet and when to take the space.

"This was an exceptional performance today and I thought Perry Cotton was outstanding and so were some of the younger lads.

"Our (diamond) shape is suiting us and upsetting the opposition."

Chandler actually did well to single Cotton out. From this end, he was just one member of a team all playing at previously unseen levels.

I find this post funny as the two all draw between Lower Hutt and and Miramar was not two all because the AR didn't put the flag up for the offside.

"With 5 minutes remaining Tim Butterfield stabbed home after a goal mouth scramble to score what he thought was the winner, but it was controversially ruled out for offside despite the linesman�s flag staying down"

The AR did have the flag up for offside and after discussion, it was disallowed.

Lets get the facts straight from the get go....

Pretty sure this one's done and dusted son...