I see another retraction given PL wrote this a few days ago� Go to Petone Memorial, not painted like a Puma�, and watch Fozzie�s Blues efficiently turn over Rossco�s Oranjes 3-1. Le Hugo to get the one by nutmegging Jimbo� when Jimbo� tries to Cruyff turn him seventeen times inside his own 6 yard box. [QUOTE=Park Life]Petone had all the play but struggled to fashion too much in the way of shots on goal. Not a great deal in the way of quality came in from the flanks, leaving Whitmarsh and McLay with very little to work with.
Whitmarsh had little to work with because he wasn�t playing. Serving his suspension. [QUOTE=Park Life]Petone's dominance continued and they won themselves a penalty which got blasted high over the bar. Justice there as the offence was for shirt pulling at a corner ,something that goes on at every single corner in every single game at the top level.
Petone Continue Relentlessly As They Dispatch United
Park Life is over the moon about this one considering we picked the score, but not the scorer.[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]
Ref claimed it was for holding, yet he couldn�t identify which player gave away the penalty. Fair to say most people (including a couple of petone players) couldn't quite understand this decision.
2ndBest2008-07-10 14:05:59Team Taranaki will be looking to clear the competition relegation zone when taking on Stop Out in a Central League football match in Lower Hutt this afternoon.
The Lower Hutt city side is anchored on the bottom of the table with four points, six fewer than Taranaki, which is one place up the competition ladder.
Taranaki head coach James Graham said today's encounter is a must-win match in order to avoid the risk of relegation to a lower league.
Taranaki can take plenty of confidence into today's game after holding top-of-the-table Miramar Rangers to 1-0 at home last Sunday.
"If we take the same attitude, same commitment into the game as we did last week, hopefully we will have too much quality for Stop Out," Graham said.
Three points from today's match will relieve the pressure and take Taranaki well clear of Stop Out and the relegation danger zone.
The Lower Hutt side has managed just one win from 12 matches in the competition so far, but showed sharp improvement when drawing 3-3 against fourth-placed Olympic last weekend.
Graham said the injection of three new imports could be responsible for the improvement.
"Obviously, the new players they have signed have added value to the team."
Taranaki midfielders Nathan Hill and Tyson Brandt have been laid low with the flu this week and a call on their availability to travel was to be made last night.
Team Taranaki has seven round-robin matches, including today's, remaining in the competition.
TEAM TARANAKI: Mike Reive, Andrew Thomson, Stephen Kibby, Ritchie Burkitt, Tyson Brandt, Nick Rush, John Sigurdsson, Matt Sigurdsson, Nick Betteridge, Michael Somers, Nathan Hill, James Greive (captain), Josh Herlihy, Scott Smith, Karl Dolan, Brad Hicking, Matthew Kelbrick, Karl Dolan, Leighton Dearden; Coaches James Graham/Bob Sova.
Miramar vs. Wests has been cancelled, as centennial is supposedly in unplayable condition
They haven�t updated the table on cap soccer website, so this is what it should read (excuse any possible mistakes )
Pitbull2008-07-12 17:09:20Founder
Incredible stamina. No shame. Yellow Fever.
They haven�t updated the table on cap soccer website, so this is what it should read (excuse any possible mistakes )
We're Forever Causing Trouble
And Micky been away for the last month! Dno
Team Taranaki registered its fourth win of the football season and first on the road when easing past Stop Out 3-1 in Lower Hutt on Saturday.
The success lifted Taranaki closer to being assured of safety for next season.
Taranaki head coach James Graham was "over the moon" with his side's comfortable victory in the Central League.
"We achieved another short-term goal, winning on the road for the first time, so I can tick that box off now," he said. "The next (goal) is to beat one of the top four to secure our spot in the league next year."
With five rounds left to play, Graham said Stop Out now needed to win four games to go ahead of Taranaki and Wellington United on the ladder and avoid the relegation-promotion match.
"And that's with us not winning another game, and I'm quite sure we'll win another one or two along the way."
Taranaki started Saturday's match strongly and was rewarded 15 minutes into the game when defender Nick Rush scored from a corner kick.
The amber and blacks held their 1-0 lead to the halftime break.
Taranaki went 2-0 up just after the re-start when midfielder Michael Somers went down the right hand side, crossing the ball low and hard to find striker Matt Kelbrick, who slammed the ball past the Stop Out keeper.
Torrential rain started falling midway through the second half, making the field waterlogged.
But Taranaki took its chance to seal the win and nailed a third goal 15 minutes before fulltime when striker Josh Herlihy scored with a fine individual effort, requiring several touches inside the box to get the ball out of the water and over the line.
Stop Out gained some consolation four minutes from time when the ball bounced favourably for captain Garry McDermott, who made it 3-1.
Rush was named man of the match for Taranaki and he, along with left back Andrew Thomson and central defender Jared McElhannan, provided solid defence.
Team Taranaki is now third from the bottom of the Central League table with 13 points, ahead of Wellington United (12) and Stop Out (4).
Taranaki's next game is against Palmerston North Marist in Palmerston North on Saturday.
SOCCER - CENTRAL LEAGUE: Defence can yield points if team right
14.07.2008
ANENDRA SINGH
Call it boring, uninspiring or what you like but a good defence can win soccer matches.
Italy's World Cup win in 1982 is perhaps the best example that springs to mind. Striker Paolo Rossi, often labelled a ghost on the field that year, was the hat-trick hero as teammates frustrated favourites Brazil 3-2 with an entire team defence in the quarterfinals. Even the prowess of Zico, Socrates and Falcao wasn't enough as the Azurri juggernaut steamrolled their way to World Cup glory.
In Saturday's Central League match at the Bluewater Stadium, Napier, you sort of got the impression Wellington United were trying to emulate that feat.
Suffice it to say they were no Azurri, and striker Luke Jones was no Rossi in their 2-1 loss to hosts Napier City Rovers.
Frustratingly for the Park Island faithful, the scoreline should have been more like 6-1 but for some hesitancy in finishing off balls in the vicinity of the 18m box and some goalkeeping brilliance from Dale Warburton.
Rovers coach Malcolm Wilson, who will be in England to visit his mother for the next month, told SportToday that despite the Berlin Wall mentality from the visitors it was good to see his troops with a spring in their step.
``It was frustrating because you have to do all the thinking,' said Wilson, who will be back in time for the last game of the league. Seasoned coach Terry O'Neill will be at the helm in the interim.
Wellington coach Ross Durant, whose side slipped to second last on the table, said they were always going to play defensively because of the unavailability of several regular players. He fielded reserve grade players in their place.
However, Durant was scathing of referee's assistant Ben Chisolm who, in the 32nd minute, adjudged keeper Warburton to have moved off his line to block Stu Wilson's penalty kick for a hand ball. Wilson scored from an identical shot in his second attempt.
``We don't need that sort of thing, really. We didn't have things go our way with the officials [ex-HB ref Jamie Cross and Bay assistant Jordan Williams] but I suppose that's what you say when you lose,' he said.
Enough said. The officials, despite a couple of yellow cards for abusive language and crude tackles, were inconspicuous. Wellington's only gripe in the penalty issue could have been that defender Andy Christensen did not handle the ball intentionally - it was ball to hand - but a jaded Durant failed to make a case of that.
Wellington were pretty abysmal and only Rovers' hesitancy to execute crisp shots from the 18m box and sheer luck prevented abject humiliation for the visitors.
Devoid of wingers every time they got possession in counterattacks meant Wellington were relying on Jones to do the impossible.
Four minutes after Wilson's penalty, Jones scored the equaliser in a rare occasion when the wingers spread the width of the field. Richard Gray from the right flank surprisingly found Jones unmarked 8m in front of the goal, raising the question of how tight and tested is Rovers' defence.
Graham Fyfe was outstanding again in curling crosses mostly from the left flank, once clipping the crossbar with the keeper well and truly beaten.
It was the last of nine corners in the 77th minute of the second half that yielded the winner. Fyfe curled the corner to the near post and Regan Cameron rose to nod it in but keeper Warburton was equal to the occasion. Midfielder Chris Davies pounced on the loose ball but defender Andy Johnstone got in the way and then Warburton again parried Wilson's ensuing shot before Andy Pickering crisply placed it in the bottom left corner.
Third-placed Rovers travel to Wellington this Saturday to play Lower Hutt City who are one place behind them but upset second-placed Petone 4-1 on Saturday, giving Napier a sniff at the runners-up spot.
Fuck this stupid game
Striker Gustavo Saralegui showed he could be the missing link for YoungHeart Manawatu this season, after a stunning hat-trick for Marist yesterday.
It has taken a season for Palmerston North Marist's Uruguayan imports to hit their straps.
But Saralegui has been one of the reasons Marist has had four consecutive wins in the Central League after it thumped third-placed Wellington Olympic 4-0 at Newtown Park yesterday.
If Saralegui can stay fit and bring his renewed vigour to YoungHeart, as well as a Gonzalo Nieres return, fans might see a return to two seasons ago when Manawatu converted its chances through Benjamin Totori.
Saralegui struggled to make an impression for Marist last season and seldom made it on to the pitch for YoungHeart last season. But now fully fit and able to talk to his teammates, Saralegui has proven a handful for opposition defences.
Marist coach Steve Green was loathe to single out players after his team's comprehensive win over Olympic, but did say Saralegui and defender Pablo Yackson were in great form.
"They do understand the language more but they're both fully fit and enjoying playing regularly," Green said.
"And we're enjoying having them in the team with us."
Green said Sarelegui was very fit and showed extreme pace with two of his goals yesterday being solo efforts.
"Not only is he fast but he's got good skills. For one of the goals he scored against Olympic, he beat three players, then smashed the shot into the corner."
Green also said Yackson was more suited to the central defence.
"He threw his body on the line for us and both he and Gustavo could be important players in the national league team this year."
Manawatu has learned to hold on to a lead after three times this season letting two-goal leads slip.
Ironically, the four sides beaten in the current run are all teams in the top half of the table. "We were two-up at the break and it wasn't over but we continued on as we had in the first spell."
Saralegui notched his hat-trick just after the break, before Adam Cowan, playing up front, scored with a ripper goal from outside the goal area.
SOCCER - CENTRAL LEAGUE: Defence can yield points if team right
Devoid of wingers every time they got possession in counterattacks meant Wellington were relying on Jones to do the impossible.
Four minutes after Wilson's penalty, Jones scored the equaliser in a rare occasion when the wingers spread the width of the field. Richard Gray from the right flank surprisingly found Jones unmarked 8m in front of the goal, raising the question of how tight and tested is Rovers' defence.
Graham Fyfe was outstanding again in curling crosses mostly from the left flank, once clipping the crossbar with the keeper well and truly beaten.
It was the last of nine corners in the 77th minute of the second half that yielded the winner. Fyfe curled the corner to the near post and Regan Cameron rose to nod it in but keeper Warburton was equal to the occasion. Midfielder Chris Davies pounced on the loose ball but defender Andy Johnstone got in the way and then Warburton again parried Wilson's ensuing shot before Andy Pickering crisply placed it in the bottom left corner.
Third-placed Rovers travel to Wellington this Saturday to play Lower Hutt City who are one place behind them but upset second-placed Petone 4-1 on Saturday, giving Napier a sniff at the runners-up spot.
Its no longer a problem.
Palmerston North Marist Too Good For Olympic
Sunday lived up to its name this weekend as the sun came out and shone on a fairly shoddy Newtown Park to welcome the Pope's Own Marist as they made the long bus drive south from Palmy to meet The Bubbles.
As per the last couple of rounds the Bubbles enjoyed the bonus of playing a Sunday, in sunny conditions, <i>and</i> on a surface that actually resembled a football pitch rather than a mud wrestling ring.
However, much like last week, these boons did not help them.
They started strongly but you could see that the Pope's Own were not too fazed, just warming up. They looked more than comfortable coping with the Bubbles' attacks and as the first half wore on you could see them gaining the upper hand.
For those of you, like Park Life, who have been at the last few Olympic games you must find you're asking yourself the same question as we are: what is going on with them?
On this sunny Sunday the confusion began with Raf (Big Travel League's most credentialed midfielder) playing as a lone striker. Odd. Both Adam "Not So Scary These Days" Church and Jimmy "The Mouth" Haidakis, who have done well in the lone striker's role of late, were not used upfront but were instead moved into wide midfield positions. Later The Mouth, Olympic's most consistent attacking player this year, was moved even further back down the pitch, swapping with regular right back Anthony "2 Weeks Off" Neonakis. Weird!
These swithcharoos played their part for sure but Olympic looked, at times, like a school boy team on Sunday, offering a gaping hole between midfield and the back four that both Cowan and Smith ran riot in.
It took 25 minutes for the Pope's to post the first change to the score board: Gustavo Saralegui committing, with fantastic jinkery, both Barry Lewis and Sasha Nathu to diving in before coolly slotting the ball in for a lovely goal.
It wasn't long before Saralegui made it 2-nil. Marist with another cute display of close passing before committing Nathu again and sliding the ball inside the near post.
2 nil it stayed till half time.
The second half started but you wouldn't have been blamed for continuing your conversation as it was a very dull affair. It took some more poor refereeing to shock the game into life, and get Park Life interested again, as the referee and his assistant got together to chat about a clumsy covering challenge by Anthony "2 Weeks Off" Neonakis. A straight red was what they came up with after a brief chin wag leaving everyone in the crowd, Anthony, the opposition players and coaching staff, and the chimpanzees next door completely confused. The ref though was quite chuffed with himself. Olympic also suffered an injury to Nathu (or had he just had enough?) that brought Islander TJ on in between the sticks.
Nothing much changed though. The Greeks were as average with 10 as they had been with 11.
In the last 8 mins the Pope's Own made it 3 and then 4-nil with Gustavo completing his hat-trick and Adam Cowan putting his name on the sheet just to remind everyone that he's the best midfielder in the league today.
Marist making it 3 from 3 as they continue their steady climb up the ladder. Olympic making it really hard to watch.
Lower Hutt Puzzle Petone With Wet Weather Wizardry
The game started the same as last week's for both sides: wet and muddy. Petone Memorial was not only a mud bath but the north-west corner of the field had turned into a small lane pool.
Nonetheless the game kicked off in front of a good crowd. Lower Hutt's supporters on the far side and Petone's in the club rooms both looking ready to jump the fence and get involved if round two of the knock out fight started at Bell Park kicked off.
However the early exchanges were all football as the game got off to a good pace. Lower Hutt shot out of the blocks: controlling the game in the difficult conditions. Sammy Blackburn and Luis Coralles in particular causing Petone all sorts of trouble as the hunted out, and found, the firm patches in the swamp and ran at pace at the Petone defence.
It took just 25 mins of entertaining football (in terms of the conditions anyway) for Lower Hutt to take the lead. A well worked move down the left saw the ball pulled back to Patterson on the penalty spot. He calmly placed the ball into the bottom corner. 1 nil. This really kicked the game into life and moments later Hutt made the crucial mistake of not working hard after scoring as Petone broke down the right and Jaime Mason gave away a free kick just outside the box. With big Stick on the ball and the wall set the whistle went. Stick struck his low shot through the wall and the misplaced Van Hattum could only watch as it rifled into the corner of his net. 1 � 1. Game on.
Hutt put the foot down and took control, with Luis making a run down the right weaving in and out before picking out Sammy "The Ginger Ronaldo" Blackburn on the back post for an easy tap in to make it 2-1.
5 minutes later it was the same two trouble makers who set the Hutt crowd going crazy. This time The Ginger Ronaldo glided down the right, going around the last defender before, with a pin point ball, picking out Luis on the far post. Luis, who had pealed off and made a mad dash to get to the box in time, finished off one the best moves of this year by leaping through the air like a salmon to header the ball past Jumbo Jimbo. 3 � 1. Game over.
Just after the goal and just before half time that the game looked like taking a turn for the worse as a tackle led to a foul led to a melee. As the frustration looked like coming out as fisticuffs the ref did fantastically well to calm everyone down without brandishing a single card. Good refereeing does live on. Hallelujah!.
3 - 1 the break.
The second half started as the first had finished off with the Petone fans and staff cursing the ref more the longer the game went on. Ginger Ronaldo was running the show and put a home defender on his arse with sheer skill before delivering the ball into the area to an unmarked Pete Howe who forced a fine save from Jimbo.
There were chances at both ends as the Big Travel League's two top keepers (Imraaaay has gone remember) went head to head. Nephew Nic pulled of a top drawer save down low to his left, and smartly tipped the follow up shot round the post with big Stick hovering. A sharp save from the resulting corner was also needed as a cheeky back heal almost snuck past the prone van Hattum.
With 70 minutes up on the clock it was Super Sammy Blackburn who sealed the point, and the man of the match bar tab, with a 60 yard run. Picking up the ball 10 yards inside his own half he beat four players with pace and skill, then cut back inside two more and was cut down. The referee had no choice but to award a penalty and Pedro 5 Goals stepped up to place the ball past the a diving Jumbo Jim.
The Heavens then opened up and the rain pissed down as the game came to an end Hutt ran out deserved winners and for the first time this year not only did Park Life predict the exact score but Hutt put 2 wins back to back.
And that's the end of that I'm afraid. Other results are covered amusingly in the about-to-be-posted Here Comes the Weekend. Stay tuned.
We're Forever Causing Trouble
Marist soccer fans should make the most of the few chances to see Nick Roydhouse and Tim Richardson play at home, says Palmerston North Marist coach Steve Green.
Both Roydhouse and Richardson are leaving New Zealand shortly to take up university scholarships in the United States. Marist play Taranaki at Memorial Park tomorrow, and have just three home games left in the Central League.
"They've [Roydhouse and Richardson] been instrumental in our good run," Green said.
Marist has belatedly found some form. It hasn't conceded a goal in the last two rounds and sits in fifth on the points table with four wins on the trot.
Marist lost to Taranaki 2-1 in the opening round, but Green said with Marist playing "very good football" it should avenge that loss. Uruguayan striker Gustavo Saralegui scored a hat-trick for Marist last weekend.
In the Western Premiership Marist Reserves head to Wanganui's Wembley Park to play Wanganui Athletic.
Marist Reserves coach Simon Lees is desperate for a win to keep his side within reach of Wanganui City and Red Sox on the league standings.
Lees said Marist will need to take the rough pitch and parochial Athletic supporters into account.
In other matches, North End plays Massey University at Skoglund Park. Palmerston North Boys' High School play Wanganui City also at Skoglund Park. The home advantage may help Boys' High to counter Wanganui's physicality.
Red Sox meet Valeron at Skoglund Park. Red Sox has four consecutive wins but Valeron could cause some problems.
In the Central Women's league on Sunday, Massey University women travel to play Lower Hutt City.
