Trentham United vs Sandbar Sharks.
A beautiful sunny Upper Hutt day, with not a breath of wind is the difficult conditions that Trentham United and Sandbar Sharks had to deal with today.
For Trentham United, today was about putting in a good performance to try pass their local rivals Wallaceville United and get off the bottom of the table, whereas Sandbar were looking to keep their promotion aspirations alive, while creating a winning culture as they head towards The Plate final in August.
Both sides put out strong sides and the whole match was pretty even with both teams having periods of pressure on the other.
It was in the 9th minute that pressure created the first goal. A weak backpass had Fitzy scrambling out of the Trentham goal and his clearance crashed into Teo of Sandbar. Keith of Trentham attempted to then head the ball back to Fitzy but instead found Teo, who with his back to goal, swivelled and hit a great right foot volley into the empty goal.
Teo had a glorious chance to double the lead ten minutes later but screwed his shot wide with only the keeper to beat.
Trentham were not sitting back and Keith`s forays from the back were creating havoc, as were a string of Batesy`s corners which were well handled by Mark in Sharks goal.
Just prior to half time Mark Hurley joined the fray for Trentham and what a difference he would make to the game.
While Stokesy of Sandbar was doing a wee trick every time he got the ball, inevitably slowing Sandbars attack, Hurley was more direct and energetic and gave Trentham a new force in attack.
His chase of a lost cause down the right proved worthy, as he pounced on slow defending and attacked the Sandbar defence. As the normally calm defence of Colin and Hugo tried to close the rampaging Hurley down, his well timed cross was put away by Batesy ghosting in at the far post.
Sandbar`s defence knew now that any mistake, or dithering could prove costly. Sandbar continued to push forward but the number of times that Teo, Rodney and Stokesy all hesitated to shoot when clear was baffling.
Teo created a great opportunity pulling the ball back to a completely unmarked Stokesy just out of the six yard box, but Stokesy smashed the ball into The Royal Wellington Golf Course.
Five minutes later, Hurley was at his menancing best again. He chased a through ball and just like Sandbar`s goal, the clearance was smashed into him. The deflection fall kindly to Hurley who, even though was on the ground, managed to hook the ball into the goal.
Sandbar looked a bit deflated after the goal but with 20mins left still had plenty of time to equalise. Teo, Rodney and Sam all worked tirelessly for the cause but came up empty handed.
Trentham defended staunchly, and with Mark Hurley chasing anything cleared upfield and pressuring any Sandbar player within ten metres they hung on for the win.
Sandbar had enough chances and territory to win this match and will need to be a lot more clinical if they are to get promotion and win The Plate.
Trentham should be pleased with their team effort. Keith and Tom performed well in a number of roles, Ren ran his heart out and Darren was strong all game.
The differnce though was Hurley. His enthusiasm was undoubtly the difference and deservedly was Man of the Match.
Final Score: Trentham United 2 Sandbar Sharks 1
Man of the Match: Mark Hurley (Trentham United)
Ollie 14