Central League - Round 15
The top of the table clash at Endeavour Park followed the exact same pattern as the first clash between Western Suburbs and Miramar Rangers, with Suburbs again running out 4-0 winners. The first half was evenly contested, with both teams creating chances, although Wests went into half time one goal to the good. Under 20's reserve goalkeeper Roddy Brown was the scorer of the decisive goal when an early cross evaded three Miramar defenders and found him unmarked at the far post.
Miramar nearly drew level early in the second half when a whipped cross from Allen Chote was nearly turned in by in-form striker Dominic Rowe. Shortly after that, ex-Miramar Rangers striker Rupert Ryan scored his second goal of the season against his old club, with a cross-come-shot that fell in at the far post. Rangers tried to push forward for the goal that would breath life back into the game but only succeeded in leaving holes in their rear guard that Suburbs were able to ruthlessly exploit. Goals from Dave Johnson and John Rowe were converted and a number of other chances were missed as the home side turned the screws ahead of their Chatham Cup quarter final this weekend.
Wellington Olympic leap-frogged Miramar into second place in the table with a 6-3 win over Stop Out, in an entertaining game on Sunday. The only dark spot was the sending off of Olympic centre-back Barry Lewis in the 25th minute of his 100th game for the club. Olympic led 2-0 at the break after first half goals from Raf De Gregorio and Micky Maluvik.
On the hour mark, Stop Out's Ben Kitsell had a glorious chance to get Stop Out back in the game when he was put through 1-on-1 with keeper Andrew Toomath after two Olympic defenders collided with each other. Unfortunately he could only blast his shot over the bar. Two minutes later though, the game was back on when a spectacular thirty yard volley from Gary McDermont lobbed over Toomath in the Olympic goal. The teams were numerically evened up soon after when a Stop Out defender was sent off for bringing down Micky Maluvik in the box. De Gregorio put away the penalty to take the score to 3-1. Olympic squandered a number of chances, most noticeably being when De Gregorio was denied a hat-trick when his header was cleared off the line, and when Miky Maluvik blazed wide from close range. Those misses looked like they might be costly when a Sam Higgins cross from the left was tucked home by an unmarked Kitsell. Jimmy Haidakis made up for an earlier miss when he scored the goal of the game, with a mazy run that took him past two defenders and the keeper before slotting in from a tight angle to make it 4-2. The action reached fever pitch in the last 5 minutes with a second goal of the game to Micky Maluvik, a penalty to Kitsell and a late goal to Olympic substitute Mickey Halikias left the final score 6-3.
Phew!
Lower Hutt dispatched Wellington United 4-0 with a clinical display at Bell Park. The home side were sharper in a dominant first half that saw goals to Sam Blackburn, Peter Howe and Adam Church. Church scored his second of the game with the only goal in the second half.
A Pedro Garcias hat-trick and a glorious, acrobatic volley by his striking partner Robert Gill gave Gisborne City a hard-earned 4-0 Central League win against a plucky Palmerston North Marist team in Gisborne. Garcias opened the scoring in the second minute with a well-placed header from fellow-Chilean Hose Ramos� cross. Just before halftime, Ramos and current golden boot leader English professional Gill did the spadework on the left and Garcias made it 2-0 with a hard, low, 15-metre drive.
In the second half, a 75th-minute header after some great work on the left flank from fullback Hone Fowler and Ramos, gave Garcias his hat-trick. A battling display by the visitors kept the score at 3-0 until the final minute when Gills volley put the icing on the cake for the home team.
In the final game of the weekend, Napier City Rovers came away from Taranaki with 3 points after a 4-1 victory. In a tight first half, Team Taranaki's direct route and early ball out to the wingers caused problems for Napier's defence although penetration was lacking and goalkeeper Scott Dunn was generally unthreatened. It was a game full of grit and determination and Taranaki matched Napier's efforts in terms of endeavour and will count themselves unfortunate to go in behind at the interval. Leon Birnie's spot kick was the only thing that separated the sides.
Within 5 minutes of the restart it was 3-0. Firstly, Chris Greatholder's through ball put Greig Henslee in and he made no mistake in slotting past the keeper. That was followed immediately by an almost identical finish, this time by Chris McIvor and all of a sudden the game was as good as over. Good work on the bye line saw Chris Greatholder's cross headed home by Graham Fyfe for his 12th of the season to make it 4-0. Credit must be given to Taranaki who continued to battle and deserved a consolation in the 85th minute with a fine header from Jarrod Mchalanan.
Frankie Mac2007-07-18 15:31:11
Man, cant wait for Uncle Steves or Pavlos comments on this....should be a treat!
Wot is that it uncle Steve - surely you can do better than that!
