Park Life: 2008

Team Taranaki  coach James Graham will be looking for his side to make it back-to-back wins in soccer's Central League competition today.

After picking up its first away win of the season beating Stop Out 3-1 in Lower Hutt a week ago, Team Taranaki heads south to play Palmerston North Marist at Memorial Park this afternoon.

"The boys have trained very well this week. I couldn't ask for more commitment or a better attitude from the players," Graham said. "I believe we can go down there and get three points. But we'll have to play to our potential and carry on with our good form from Wellington."

Graham warned that it wouldn't be easy in Palmerston North.

"We won the first-round match 2-1 in New Plymouth and obviously they will be looking to put that right," he said. "They will be up to the challenge and we'll have to match that level of desire, especially in the first half."

Palmerston North Marist, which sits just above Taranaki on the points table, has a number of dangermen in its line-up including National League players Adam Cowan, Josh Smith and Finlay Milne.

Team Taranaki will be without left midfielder Nick Betteridge.

"He's out with concussion," Graham said. "The medical staff have advised him not to play and he won't travel to Palmerston North. But he should be available for our home game against Wellington United on Sunday, July 27."

 Another not travelling with the side is Josh Herlihy, who is unavailable because of work commitments.

Team Taranaki's season is going from strength to strength.

The Central League soccer side made it back-to-back wins on Saturday, upsetting Palmerston North Marist 2-0 in Palmerston North.

"Great, a fantastic result for us," said Team Taranaki coach James Graham yesterday. "They've got some very capable players."

Graham was the first to admit, though, that his side had ridden its luck.

"To be fair, we were a bit lucky. They missed several goals, hitting the posts twice and having another shot just go over the bar."

Both sides created scoring chances in the first half, but neither could capitalise as they went to the break locked 0-0.

"For 20 minutes after the restart, Palmerston North had most of the ball and dominated territory. They had numerous chances but couldn't finish anything. Their striker had one good shot, the ball just flying over the bar," he said.

Graham praised his keeper Mike Reive, who pulled off several good saves. "He kept us in the game and we were able to come back into it in the fourth quarter."

With 15 minutes remaining, Taranaki launched a counter-attack from deep in its own half. The ball was pushed forward to Karl Dolan, who found himself one-on-one with the Palmerston North keeper. The striker made no mistake and scored.

With Taranaki ahead 1-0 against the run of play, Palmerston North pushed forward in search of an equaliser.

Ten minutes later, Taranaki was again on the counter-attack and Dolan again found himself with only the keeper to beat. He calmly slotted the goal to seal the win and the three points.

"We're still third from bottom, but it takes us away from the dreaded bottom spot," Graham said.

"We play Wellington United at New Plymouth on Sunday and there's no reason why we can't make it three wins on end.

"They're just below us on the points table and the boys are playing well."

Palmerston North Marist has given away 12 points to teams ranked below it in the Central League this season.

Marist lost for the second time to Team Taranaki, 2-0, at Memorial Park on Saturday, after also having bowed twice to lowly Wellington United.

Coach Steve Green hopes it fires up his team for the away trip to unbeaten Miramar Rangers next Saturday. Miramar thumped Marist, 6-0 in the first round.

Before that, though, Marist faces North End in the Chinese Cup clash at Massey University at 6.30pm tomorrow night.

Marist had 70 percent of the ball on Saturday, but couldn't finish. From a dozen shots it hit the crossbar once and the post four times and there were two offsides. The Taranaki goalie was beaten, but didn't have to make a save all game.

"The finishing of almost everyone was terrible," said coach Steve Green.

Taranaki, coached by Manawatu's Bob Sova, made only a half-dozen incursions and as Marist pushed up, scored from two of them in the last 10 minutes. Marist missed Fin Milne in defence.

* After a week off, Red Sox coach Dave Harris was relieved his side overcame a poor start against Valeron on Saturday to win, 6-1.

Harris said it took until the last 15 minutes before halftime for Red Sox to settle.

"The last 10 to 15 minutes before halftime we did the business," Harris said. "It wasn't a great start. We were one-goal down, but then we had the good score before halftime and scored three goals."

Michael Crisford scored two goals, St Peter's schoolboy Dwayne Blatt played impressively in the second half, while the back four also had a solid game.

* Palmerston North Boys' High School's 1st XI beat Wanganui City, 2-0, at Skoglund Park.

Dane Cleaver scored with a header from a corner, 25 minutes into the game. The schoolboys led 1-0 at halftime and weathered attacks from Wanganui during the first 20 minutes of the second half. James Taylor scored to seal the win with a good strike from the end of the box with 20 minutes left.

Coach Steve Burnley said missed opportunities cost Wanganui. Boys' High's play was not without mistakes either. Marcus Ebsworth missed a chance early in the game after a one-on-one against the Wanganui goalie.

Josh Chettleburgh, Graham Craven and Matthew Smith attended a New Zealand secondary schools trial at Feilding last week.

Boy's High's Corey Chettleburgh has been playing for Wellington's Western Suburbs in the Central League.

Nelson Suburbs is one win away from reaching the final of the Chatham Cup after a dramatic come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Western Suburbs at Saxton Field on Sunday.

The match seemed destined to go to a penalty shootout until substitute forward Hamish Allan sent the home crowd into raptures with just two minutes of extra time remaining.

It was the least Nelson deserved after turning around a disappointing first-half display to largely dominate the remainder of the game.

The home team could have finished off the match in the regulation 90 minutes had Joses Nawo's spectacular second-half performance reaped more than just one goal.

In a 25-minute burst after halftime, Nawo had no fewer than six shots either kept out by Western Suburbs goalkeeper Jake Gleeson or narrowly miss the target.

It was a dramatic turnaround for Nelson, which had struggled to keep up with Wests, last season's beaten finalist, in the first half.

The visitors, currently lying seventh in the Central League, were playing the kind of crisp passing game that has been a feature of Nelson's play this season.

They were also adept at shutting down Nelson's midfield, causing the home side to resort to hopeful long balls that often left Nawo, Kidston Billy and Sam Ayres isolated.

Much of Wests' play revolved around veteran forward Rupert Ryan, whose deft touch and understanding with fellow front man John Niyonsaba created many problems for Nelson's defence.

It was Ryan who helped to set up and score Wests' opener, but not without a stroke of luck.

The ball appeared to strike Ryan's hand before he played a long ball from the left across the face of the box.

Nelson goalkeeper Brent Fletcher rushed out to clear the ball but barged into an opposition attacker. Referee Bryce Goodall had no hesitation pointing to the spot, and Ryan sent Fletcher the wrong way to bury the ball in the bottom left-hand corner.

Soon afterwards, Wests nearly doubled its lead, but Roddy Brown could not keep his shot down after a dangerous cross from Dave Johnston.

Both sides had half-chances to score before the break, with Ayers in particular looking impressive, but Wests was looking by far the more comfortable team.

The second half was a different story, however.

Nelson co-coach Brendan Crichton denied giving his side a halftime rev-up, but whatever was said in the shed during the break obviously worked, as Nelson was a different team in the second half.

It only took three minutes for the hosts to draw level, with Frazer Maebule flicking on to Nawo, who easily wrong-footed Gleeson to score.

Just over 10 minutes later, Nawo had a glorious opportunity to double his tally, after the out-of-sorts Billy made his one telling contribution to the match - a delightful flick that had his fellow Solomon Islander again one-on-one with Gleeson. But this time, Nawo blasted the ball over the bar.

The game was far from a one-man show, however, with Simon Alder and Joel Wiechern making valuable contributions, and Nelson's defensive line keeping Ryan at bay.

Both sides had periods of dominance in the remainder of the half but the greasy conditions made controlling the ball difficult.

With two minutes remaining in regulation time, Jonathan Rowe had a chance to win the match for the Wellingtonians, but Fletcher made up for his earlier blunder with a fabulous save from point-blank range.

The two periods of extra time failed to reach any great heights in terms of skill, largely due to both teams appearing exhausted, and penalties seemed inevitable.

With time nearly up, however, Ayres latched on to a long ball and got a shot on goal that Gleeson could only knock back into the path of the advancing Allan, who made no mistake from just inside the box.

Crichton said that despite the first-half scare, Nelson's second-half performance made his team a worthy winner.

"I'm just ecstatic. I'm elated for the team and the players."

Crichton would not be drawn on whether he believed Nelson could go on and claim its first Chatham Cup, but captain Mike Bothwell was a little more forthcoming.

"Going on that game, I do now."

He said the win was a massive accomplishment given the skill of the opposition, and Nelson had won because the players wanted it more and were prepared to do anything to win.

"Everyone is knackered."

Shhh ... Terry O'Neill won't know it until he reads this story today, but Petone were spying on Napier City Rovers at the weekend.

``Aah, that explains why the Petone lads were watching our game at the park on Saturday,' Lower Hutt City manager Graham Watson told SportToday yesterday after his side broke Rovers' hearts with an injury-time goal to pip them 5-4 in the pulsating Central League encounter in the capital city.

Petone, sitting four points above Rovers in second place, are not about to deny their snooping either.

Club stalwart Barry Pickering was there with his lads to watch his nephew, Rovers' new striker Andy Pickering, setting up two goals for Graham Fyfe and Greig Henslee and scoring one himself.

Rovers, on the other hand, play second-placed Petone (who Lower Hutt beat a fortnight ago) who travel to Bluewater Stadium, Napier, this Saturday.

Saturday's game was always going to be a baptism of fire for stand-in coach O'Neill.

Stepping in for regular coach Malcolm Wilson, who is visiting his mother in England for a month, means O'Neill will have to draw on his wealth of experience to ensure Rovers' season doesn't fizzle out.

Hosts Lower Hutt had to move the match from Bell Park to Frazer Park after the referee deemed the water-logged pitch unfit.

Prolific goal scorer Stuart Wilson drew blood in only the 2nd minute, but was ruled offside.

Stung into action, the hosts struck in the 12th minute with striker Gerson Valle before Wilson equalised eight minutes later.

Midfielder/striker Sam Blackburn and Luis Corrales capitalised on some Rovers' defensive errors to take a 3-1 lead at halftime. ``Everyone was looking at everyone else at halftime and I said `come on boys we're all in this together',' O'Neill said. The pep talk worked _ within 20 minutes of the second spell the visitors led 4-3. The equaliser came from Corrales with 10 minutes remaining before Blackburn's heartbreaker that saw him dribble the ball through four defenders. Barry Pickering hailed his nephew's input and was hoping the player would recover from his corked thigh to play his son and Petone midfielder, Michael, 19, at Bluewater Stadium. What did Petone learn? ``We know Napier won't roll over and we can't rest on our laurels even though we are two goals ahead,' Barry Pickering said

Marist has found it easier beating the top sides than the lower sides.

Miramar has a one-point lead, but has three games in hand. Its goal- scoring is headed by former All White Jeremy Brockie with 10 goals.

In the first-round game, Brockie cut Marist to pieces with his surging runs and knack of getting on the end of crosses to score.

At least Marist now has a striker with a few goals, Gustavo Saralegui. But Marist is still struggling to find a partner for him with midfielder Josh Smith's four goals next best.

In-form Team Taranaki will be chasing its third straight win when taking on Wellington United in a Central League soccer match at New Plymouth's Yarrow Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

On the back of a satisfying win against Lower Hutt side Stop Out and then upsetting Palmerston North Marist on the road in the last two rounds, Team Taranaki is back on home turf for the first time in three weeks.

And the team is "fizzing" at the chance to extend its winning sequence.

Taranaki has picked up 16 competition points with five wins and a draw from 13 games in the league so far this season.

That's four more points than Wellington United has from 14 matches.

But that doesn't truly reflect the capital city side's record.

Back in May, United thrashed Taranaki 4-0 in Wellington and the performance still haunts Taranaki head coach James Graham and the team.

"That was back in the early days when we weren't taking our chances in front of goal and obviously all the boys are looking forward to putting things right this time round," Graham said yesterday.

The wet weather this week has closed sports grounds for training, forcing the Taranaki squad indoors to train.

"They trained outstanding and the team's fizzing so hopefully we can take that into the game on Sunday."

Graham is expecting a close encounter and has a full strength line-up at his disposal for the game.

He said United will be looking to claw its way up the points ladder and keep clear of the promotion-relegation zone.

"They will obviously be looking to catch us up on the ladder and we are wanting to so we can expect a tough game."

This week Taranaki has a match sponsor, Accent on Curtains, in what is a first for the organisation.

Kickoff has been brought forward to 1pm on the No2 stadium ground.

Team Taranaki: Mike Reive, Elvin Hunt, Andrew Thomson, Stephen Kibby, Ritchie Burkitt, Matt Sigurdsson, Nick Rush, John Sigurdsson, Tyson Brandt, Matthew Kelbrick, Jared McElhannan, James Greive (capt), Josh Herlihy, Michael Somers, Nick Betteridge, Nathan Hill, Karl Dolan.

Miramar                        2          2          Palmerston North

Own Goal                                              Gustavo Saralegui

Gerard Brown                                        Nick Roydhouse

Brown scored in 93rd minute 

Lower Hutt 2-0 Olympic at half time in Kapiti

Lower Hutt 2-2 Olympic late into 2nd half time in Kapiti

Game over Lower Hutt 2-2 Olympic

Team Taranaki's mid-season revival in the Central League Football competition suffered a setback when Wellington United scored a last-gasp goal to secure a 3-2 victory at Yarrow Stadium yesterday.

The goal in the 89th minute came against the run of play after the home side had levelled the score at 2-2 through an 80th minute penalty taken by Nathan Hill.

A long goal kick by United keeper Dale Warburton was latched onto by the Wellington front men and caught the Taranaki defence napping.

United's substitute striker Joe Corcoran took his opportunity well and slammed the ball past Team Taranaki keeper Michael Reive from 10m out to give his side the win.

"We threw that one away," was how Taranaki head coach James Graham appropriately summed up the result.

"It's disappointing. It's one targeted to take three points."

A draw would have been a fair reflection of how the game went with Taranaki having started strongly, dominating possession and creating lots of opportunities.

United fought its way into the game late in the first spell and the second half was an intense and evenly contested battle. United's smothering defence worked well, cutting down Team Taranaki's scoring opportunities in the second spell.

"We lacked a little bit of creativity at times going forward from my point of view and they (United) frustrated us a little and that counted," Graham said.

Taranaki struck first, scoring in the 16th minute following a superb cross from out on the right flank from James Greive. It fell nicely in front of goal for Tyson Brandt, who nudged it home from short range.

Ten minutes later United levelled when Reive attempted to fist the ball away from in front of goal but couldn't get any distance on the clearance and United forward Andy Johnstone was there to put the ball away.

The score remained 1-1 at the halftime break after a nasty head clash involving Taranaki forward Nathan Hill and United's Paul Muggeridge stopped the game. Both players were sent to the blood bin and returned to the field after receiving attention.

Taranaki has five games remaining in this season's league and sits third from the bottom of the table ahead of United and Stop Out after yesterday's game.

Taranaki is away to Lower Hutt in the next round on Saturday while the next home game is against Petone on Sunday, August 10.

MARK DWYER / Taranaki Daily News

Team Taranaki forward Nathan Hill (left) and Wellington United's Ed Peryman race for the ball in their Central League Football match in New Plymouth yesterday afternoon.

Remaining fixtures for potential winners Top 5 Clashes

Certainly not a one horse race, or even a two horse race.

                    PLD  PTS

PETONE       14   28      Olympic � Wests � Miramar � Taranaki (a)

MIRAMAR     11   27      Wgtn � LH � LH � Olympic � Wests � SO � Petone

LH                 13   21     Taranaki (h) � Miramar � Miramar � Wgtn � SO

OLYMPIC     13    21     Petone � Napier � Miramar � Wests - Wgtn

NAPIER        14    21     Wests � Olympic � SO � Taranaki (a)

Are Wests now starting to stack their seconds to avoid the drop?

Kristy Whalen's excitement may have been premature but the Petone fan's sentiments or elation were crystal clear.

``Hey you Rovers people, did you hear that?' the bubbly Whalen chirped from just outside the press booth of the Napier City Rovers' clubrooms, hanging over the balcony railing as the Blues faithful went through their after-match mug-to-mug ritual.

``Petone are on top of the table because Miramar [Rangers] have drawn [2-all against Palmerston North Marist],' she baited the smarting fans after Petone beat Rovers 3-1 at a saturated Bluewater Stadium on Saturday afternoon in their Central League encounter.

The silence was momentarily deafening before someone prised a mug away from his lips with a feeble attempt at humour.

Whalen's celebrations are premature because Petone, after 14 matches, are on top with 28 points, one ahead of Miramar who still have three matches in hand. Consequently Petone's reign will likely be a brief one but their efforts are commendable because teams often aspire to clamber to the top rung of the ladder, albeit flirtatiously.

Unfortunately, third-placed Rovers had the chance to close the gulf between them and Petone but now find themselves perched precariously, clinging on to their rung with fourth-placed Lower Hutt City, who pipped the Rovers 5-4 the week before.

To Rovers' credit, they kept Petone honest with an even ledger [1-all] at the breather with Napier striker and golden boot leader Stu Wilson finding the back of the net in the third minute after several crisp one-to-one exchanges with Wilson going around ex-international James Bannatyne in goal.

Five minutes later, Petone's inspirational left wing Benn Dawson chipped a free kick over Rovers keeper Graham Healey for the equaliser. Why no one, including the keeper, didn't twitch a muscle to prevent the ball sailing into the net remains a burning question.

``That first goal was a gift. If we make mistakes like that ... to be honest, all three were soft goals. In the third goal, we just gave the ball away,' a despondent stand-in coach Terry O'Neill (left) told SportToday before diplomatically singing Petone's praises.

Regrettably, the hosts were in disarray during the best part of the second spell. They lost their structure and, for some inexplicable reason, kept trying to play the ball down the middle of the slippery pitch.

The Rovers did not have anyone on the wings to stretch out the tight Petone defence, but on the odd occasion that Wilson or Andy Pickering floated out wide, the passes went begging.

Skilful midfielder Graham Fyfe, who traditionally stokes the engine room when it comes to ball distribution, was consistently guilty of lacking peripheral vision.

Regan Cameron hacked down a player in the 11th minute inside the 18m box, and Hawke's Bay referee Roger Sinclair had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. Healey redeemed himself with a dive to the left and palming the ball past the upright from Dawson's kick.

Not surprisingly, Chris Davies picked up the dumb play award with a yellow card in the 86th minute when he grabbed Dawson's shirt, only to have the opposition player lash out at him.

Not done, he made an injudicious charge at Dawson again near a waterlogged corner flag at the hockey stadium end. In the second spell, the players were conspicuous in their thermals as Bannatyne ran across the field and drifted up to the half-way mark to crank up his engine.

In the 51st minute, towering midfielder Paul Whitmarsh dwarfed the Rovers' defence to nod in a corner kick from Dawson.

Petone striker Michael Pickering and midfielder David Lane duffed chances, but substitute Logan Luke's cross from the left flank in the 73rd minute found Dawson, who chanced his foot with a 30m pile-driver that skidded past an outstretched Healey.

What a brilliant match report. Love that language 'teams often aspire to clamber to the top rung of the ladder, albeit flirtatiously' and 'when it comes to ball distribution, was consistently guilty of lacking peripheral vision'. I'm now too intimidated to post one from the Naki. I will say however a good roadie becomes a great roadie when you win, and its good to see the youth of today keeping up traditions.

Loved the descriptive in that match report. Not so sure about some of the factual though - Im pretty sure David Lane = defender, Paul Whitmarsh = striker, Mike Pickering = midfielder (maybe winger) - but entertaining nevertheless

2nd best before we go in2 playoff talk - have they decided weather to carry on with central league next year - or is this rumored 8 team wellington comp going to go ahead??? some would say after recent performances of napier/palmy/taranki and below average seasons of wellington united/western suburbs/stop out that maybe the league isn't at all as bad as we thought at the start of the season.