Wgtn Utd Salmon vs Tawa AC-Match Report

Wgtn Utd Salmon vs Tawa AC
MacAllister Park
3/4/2010

Wgtn Utd Salmon 2- Tawa AC 3
(HT- 1-1)

Scorers:
Craig Ireson
Dave Armstrong

Team:
..............Kahu..........
Richard....Simon......Enrico*......Dave
Danny......Ben...Jonathon Hudson*....Sean Anderson*
..........Lane....Craig

Subs:
Nathan Rattray*
Chris Scott*

MOM points:
Ben Norman- 3
John Hudson-2
Dave Armstrong-1

(*indicates Salmon debut)


Match Report:

Deja Voodoo all over again for the Salmon as the firstchance of points go begging

Salmon turned up to the new season with 5 debutants in the line up, ready to take on Tawa Saintz at a rock hard MacAllister. The first sign of something awry was when the Tawa captain told us the draw was wrong and that were in fact Tawa AC. This was the same team we had played in a fierce storm at MacAllister in June last year.
They were a handy side, but then again so were the Saintz, so whoever we were playing it was going to be a tough start to the season.

The other glitch in the Matrix was that Sami, so often late but always reliable, decided not to turn up and not to let us know. Worse still he has our only pair of keepers gloves. Luckily Kahu had opted in, and he was happy to go in goal, albeit with one very shabby keeper’s glove.

Salmon started much the stronger, building attacks up the flanks and competing well in the middle thanks to the determination of Ben Norman. Despite the possession we failed to penetrate deep into Tawa territory- our first real foray came after ten minutes, when a Danny through ball had Craig twisting and turning past his man, but the cross-shot to Lane’s head held up in the wind and was easy pickings for the Tawa keeper. In another Matrix-esque déjà vu the Tawa keeper was another B. Norman, our Ben’s brother in fact. Brad Norman had in fact played one game in goal for the salmon a few seasons back, breaking his leg in the dying minutes. The Salmon had bought Brad a guitar to aid his recovery, but he was not to be so charitable to us, denying Salmon goals with an extroverted keeping style.

Tawa started to find some rhythm but Simon had put his impending fatherhood to the back of his mind and was leading the Salmon defence well. The back four was disrupted as Enrico, debuting at centre back, pulled up lame on the cricket pitch and was replaced by fellow debutant Chris Scott. Another newbie, Nathan, who has joined us from Petone AFC, spent most of the first half doing a great job with the whistle.

However after 20 minutes a sweeping cross field move from the ACs was finished sweetly and despite a fairly even share of possession Tawa had the lead.

Salmon were now in danger of going off the boil but the counterattacking breakthrough came from the foot of Kahu in goal, who was launching 50 metre howitzers into the wind. One such clearance went as high as it did long, and seemed to mesmerize the Tawa defence. Craig took advantage of their indecision and ran through onto the kick as it landed ten metres into their half. The skipper stunned the ball with the outside of his left boot, looked up to see the keeper back pedalling and launched a dipping left foot half volley from 30 yards out. The ball swayed from right to left as it traced an arc into the top left hand corner-from almost nothing the Salmon were back in the match with a quality goal poach. Salmon consolidated to go into the break with honours even.

The second half saw Salmon running with the wind, and Salmon were making good yards down the left through Dave Armstrong, and two other debutants John Hudson and Sean Anderson.

However an errant back pass had Tawa take the lead again after only 15 minutes, as their striker stole the ball from the last man and calmly finish past Kahu.

Tawa now looked to grab a further advantage, and some rather dubious referring form their lot saw them have three free kicks within five minutes- one for a fine tackle by Dave Armstrong that left their striker grounded after he tried to push the ball through Dave.

Dave was to make amends when a John Hudson corner was flicked on by Lane Nichols, it landed at the far post where Dave reacted quickest, kneeing the ball into the net. Dave scored one of his backside last year, and one with his knee this year- he has taken over the mantle from Jol Bates as the appendage goalscorer.

Salmon pushed for a winner, but to be honest we were running out of puff- Tawa finished stronger and fitter- a series of three corners in the last five minutes proved s too much for the Salmon to defend- A failed overhead kick from Tawa on the edge of the area had the ball fall at a midfielders boot- he drilled it low and hard-surely a routine save for Kahu? It was not to be, Nathan and Kahu got mixed up on the line and the ball rolled under Kahu’s body. Tawa celebrated like they’d just scored a 40 yard left footed half volley that had hit the top left corner- to be honest they were lucky, albeit fitter and more determined in the end. Salmon pushed again with some good running from Danny, but it was fruitless and Salmon ended the match pointless, but upbeat about the battle.

Just like in 2009 salmon had spurned a chance to take points from the first game. The difference? In 2009 Salmon had squandered a 3 goal lead to lose 4-3 to a team that was clearly no better than us. In 2010 we battled toe to toe against a team that was on the whole younger, quicker and very hard to break down.
If we battle like that in matches to come, and manage to raise our fitness then the luck will start to swing our way. Oh, And we need to get the keepers gloves back from Sami!


Craig