Park Life: 2008

You're Not Funny Any More

Wests and Hutt grind out draw

The big game of the big league this weekend was Western Suburbs playing Lower Hutt at Endeavour Park.

This Round 4 match up was the game of the season to date played in scorching conditions at a picturesque Endeavour Park.

Lower Hutt ushered back a stack of Team Wellington players - reportedly in defiance of a request from Stuie Jacobs that players who had been playing for TW recently have a couple of weeks off � including Stevie G, Luis "OK" Coralles, Ginger Ronaldo and Peter Howe while Wests saw the return of Tim Schaeffers and Sam Peters to shore up their defence.
 
Both sides started with identical 4-3-3 formations.  Wests looking to hit Hutt on the counter with the pacey Ben Feld as striker.

Hutt started brightly and held the majority of possession often looking to get Coralles and Gulley in behind the Wests defence. Wests defended stoutly however and forced Hutt to play through their central midfield players; nullifying their main weaponry.

Having soaked up early pressure it was Wests who broke the deadlock when the impressive Roddy Brown leapt up salmon style to outjump Phil Patterson and give Wests the lead on 18 minutes.

Soon after a purple patch of fine passing Wests saw two good chances go by as Feld failed to head home after some fine approach work.

Hutt became increasingly frustrated despite having the greater share of possession with Schaffers doing a textbook man marking job on Hutt dangerman Pedro 5 Goals. 

But on 37 minutes Hutt got just reward their fine first half football when Stevie G got in behind the Wests defence and cut back well for Ginger Ronaldo to stab home the equaliser at his second attempt.

Halftime came and the scores were locked at one each.
 
Hutt began the second half as they had ended the first. Concerted pressure forcing Wests to drop both wide attackers deep leaving Feld isolated upfront.

Blackburn pounced on a stray Wests pass to set up Coralles who took his finish well and gave Lower Hutt a 72nd minute lead.

At this stage Hutt looked in complete control and it was now Wests who had to gamble. They pressed Hutt higher in search of an equaliser and suddenly the game had changed.

Hutt found themselves often giving the ball away under pressure and magnificent midfielder Brown was causing huge problems with his playmaking. 

When Dan Bassett handled in his own box Wests had a lifeline with a penalty.

It wasn't easy for them however.  Dave Johnson's spot kick brilliantly saved by Nick van Hattum who has stamped his mark as a credible Central League keeper since leaving Premier League Karori at the end of last season.

Hutt's euphoria at the save was short lived however as from the resulting corner Smith scrambled home an equaliser on 85 minutes to send the match to 2-2.

And that was how it stayed.
 
Wests will definitely see this as a point gained with squad numbers set to improve in forthcoming weeks.

Hutt earned their first point off Wests since 2005 but will be disappointed to have not converted this prime opportunity to grab all three from their arch rivals.

Handbags at 10 Paces as Petone see off United

This game always promised to be interesting and it didn't disappoint.

Both sides lined up a 4-4-2 on an immaculate day at a pristine Newtown Park that showed no ill effects of having had 22 old fellas run round on it earlier in the day.

Scanning the team sheets looking for something scandalous to write about Park Life couldn't help but notice that there were a number of names he recognised in the Petone squad and only one or two in that of Ross Durant's Wellington United. 

No scandal so far though � that was to come later on.

The approach of both sides was almost identical.  Petone opted for a holding midfielder in floppy-mulletted Rowan McCullough while the Oranje played a flat midfield four.  Petone pressed more in the midfield third on defence while United looked to fill space and smother attacks a bit deeper.  But otherwise it was very even as these two sides, destined for the middle of the Big Travel table, knocked it about and looked for an edge.

As the half wore on McCullough was increasingly able to find time and space around the half way as United left him alone to drop off.  This gave Petone a comfortable outlet from the back and they began to run everything through him.

Petone looked to attack directly through Whitmarsh and the zippy Dicky McLay but United's back four had the measure of them and it was through wide men Benn (with two Ns) Dawson and Mikey Pickering that they fashioned many of their chances.

United were also finding the odd opportunity out wide as Luke Jones and Steve Dornan worked around their men.  The delivery of the final ball was lacking though and Jim Bannatyne wasn't troubled.

At the other end Petone were starting to fire though and McLay, Pickering and Dawson all had opportunities.  Dale Warburton looked very sharp in goal for the Oranje and made a succession of fine saves to keep the score nil all at the break.  An even scoreline belying the fact that Petone had dominated more and more as the clock ran down.

The second half belonged to Petone though.

The Petone defence was too well organised, more physical and the midfield closed down their opposites quickly giving United no time to build anything meaningful.

Their goal came from a misdirected cross that rebounded off the post straight into the path of Neil Barclay who smashed it home. 

Petone a little lucky but no more than they deserved.

United rang the changes in an effort to get back into the game and began to look dangerous on the break - almost fashioning an equaliser.

But all the possession was with the Blues and they were in the end comfortable winners.

Park Life finally got the scandal we were looking for when gentle Mikey Pickering � not known for his bobsledding prowess � put in a late challenge on Richie Gray right in front of the Petone dugout. 

Both players got up with their handbags flapping but it was Petone dad Barry Pickering who really saw the red mist and got involved.

The end result: yellows to the players and banishment for Barry to the dressing rooms.

All a little unsavoury and not a good look but just the sort of juicy titbit that Park Life lives for. 

Miramar Too Strong for Visiting Taranaki

The big surprise of the weekend came at Centennial Park where it took Miramar close to 15 minutes to score against visiting Taranaki.

No Super Brockie for the Mar this week � clearly feeling that his one man destruction of the Greeks earned him a week off � so it was a more familiar Mulvey-Smith forward combo that opened the scoring.  Hulking Graham Mulvey the man with the finish: a routine left foot tap in from a Tommy Smith With An I knock down.

Mulvey turned provider for the next goal when he returned an over-hit corner to the far edge of the box for centre half Shane Medland to head in to give Miramar a comfortable 2-0 half time advantage.

Soldiers often say that being on the frontline is a strange combination of boredom and adrenaline.  Goalkeepers often agree but Simon Shone would have been desperately longing for some action to get his adrenaline going as he stood this one out in goal with nothing to do.

The Mar relaxed in the second half and it wasn't until the hour mark that they scored again.  Chris Peck drifting in a sublime cross that Mulvey hand balled to Smith With An I.  He slotted from the edge of the box to give the Mar the 3-0 lead that would last them to the final whistle.

More of the Same from the Raceway

Many in Wellington have been waiting for the Greeks to self destruct this season.  Some thought that their capitulation to one-man-team-Brockie last week heralded the beginning of it and they were almost right as Olympic were held to 1-1 at the Raceway by relegation hopefuls Stop Out until nearly the 80th minute.

The 4-1 final scoreline belies the closeness of this one and Stop Out will take heart that not only did they keep Olympic scoreless for the first half but also managed, through Captain Ross's strike, to bring the scores level again having gone behind early in the second spell. 

Indeed that goal was almost enough for them to take a point away from the league's third-placed team.

But not quite.

With 10 minutes to and four 15 year olds running around for them Stop Out dropped their bundle big time.

Mickey Malivuk's screaming header from edge of box made it 2-1 and the loud whoosh as the wind fell out of Stop Out's sails could be heard as far away as Centennial Park where it put a smile on the face of relegation-dodging-hopefuls Taranaki.

The third goal followed the only good piece of refereeing from an otherwise minging Jamie Cross as he allowed Anthony Neonakis to play on following a foul on goalscorer Mickey.

Neonakis's first touch was so poor it bamboozled the Stop Out defender but he made up for it by scoring with his second to take the score to 3-1.

Stop Out's misery was compounded by Neonakis late on when he capitalised on a mistake at the back to lob a bobbling ball over Sam Bakker and into the net to make what could have been a 1-1 draw into a 4-1 spanking.

The Olympic resurgence might silence the doubters for another week or two.  They stay third and Stop Out stay somewhere close to the bottom.

Park Life is in two minds about whether to give Stop Out credit for trusting in the youth that they have brought up through the club � O Thani, Luke Hartstonge, Jono Coulter and Justin  Gulley (brother of Lower Hutt's Stevie G) are all 15 and all played against Olympic. 

Either it's great to see a club with a youth policy or disappointing to see a club throwing kids to the wolves when their team is way off the pace.  We can't decide, so we've made it the subject of a Yellow Fever poll.  You tell us!

Wilson Hat Trick Gets Draw from Marist

It wouldn't be Park Life if we'd been thorough and diligent.  True to form we have missed covering a match this weekend and even truer to form it is the match with the most goals.

Having spent our budget on pies and pastries we couldn't travel to Palmy to cover this one but the 3-3 draw between the Pope's Own Marist and Rovers leaves Rovers 5th in the Big Travel League and denies Marist their first win.  They stay third to bottom but two points and a few goals clear of next to last Taranaki.

Marist will have few worries about falling into the drop zone thought.  It's already stitched up by the Derby and Bolton of the Big Travel League � Stop Out and Taranaki. 

One of the Petone supporters was being a head-case basically. Abusing any WU supporter he could with sh*t a 12 year old could/would think up (this guy must have been about 40) and after a few comments from the WU supporters he started making threats which quickly followed by some equally stoopid comments from his female friend. He got the last laugh/ last yell of abuse as the WU crew left the stand tho. Petone 1-0 winners.