Match report vs Tawa in the Cup

WU Salmon 2- Tawa AC 7
(Halftime 2-3)



Scorers:
Craig

Dan M.



MOM Pts

Dan M- 3pts

Sami- 2pts

Mataio- 1pt



Although soundly beaten by another almost Cricket score this is another one of those games where the final score does not tell the full story and the Salmoln were competitive for large passages of the game, let down only by lapses in concentration at either end. Although it was a joy to be transferred to Newtown #1 it probably suited the fast running, quick passing ACs more than us, since the boggy cratered MacAllister would have been ideal for our trench warfare style.


Our ranks were once again bolstered by the Sunday Blazers FC this time towering centre back Mataio, and we also had the late seaosn return of Stevie jessup.



Salmon could have taken the lead in the first minute as Tawa started very sleepily and Craig made a dash down the right, as is now commonplace he eleceted top shoot straight at the kepper than try and pick out the run from Dan M, now promoted to a starting position up front. The first exchanges were very even and although it was inevitable that one of Tawa's forays would eventually result on a goal it was against the run of play in many ways. Their next two goals were very soft however- firstly a free kick for the Salmon was taken quickly by Craig but the close set wall blocked the shot which fell invitingly for Tawa- with the Salmon still trudging forward for the set piece Kahu was caught out and attempted a risky halfway line offside trap, a clever idea since he woul;d have been outnumbered anyway- but Referee Jessup said no go and the Tawa striker made his way unchallenged from halfway to the box, rounded Sami and scored. Their third was softer, a weak goalkick was met by the striker who dribbled into the box and finished past Sami, stranded once more.



It seemed as though Salmon were now going to be blown out of the water, but a stroke of luck and some fine battling opened the door. Nigel played a telling long ball over their shortest defender who misjudged the flight, allowing Craig to collect on top of the box and skip past the keeper to finish in an open net for 3-1. Then the moment that briefly turned the tide. Tawa were through again with some nice passing, Sami seemed to be beaten but he came out to narrow the angle, and like a lithe cat, or maybe more like a feral Polar bear, he punced on the ball at the winger's feet saving a sure goal- a quick and accurate kick upfield was met by Nigel who flicked a quick cross/shot into the box which was once again misjudged by Tawa, Poacher Dan was on hand to steer a shot past the keeper in the 6 yard box for 3-2 with the final kick of the half.


Salmon should have had the momentum in the second half but to be honest Tawa were a class apart- they dismantled us- 2 of the 4 second half goals were soft and 2 were very well taken- i won't go into too much detail about the second half, but we were never really in it- Enrico had a fine cameo pulling off soem great tackles and was devishly unlucky to concede an own goal, their final goal- it was not his fault at all. There was a collectors item in the second half however- Craig's debut at Centre back for the last 12 minutes- perhaps a sign of things to come? no chance!


We did enough with our first up win against the Bears to avoide the wooden spoon cup play off-instead we get to play the Gulls for the honour of 5th place- there is no other team i would sincerely like to beat this year than Seatoun so this is it boys, a chance to finish on a high.


A reminder that voting is now open in the team awards-please exercise your democratic right of One Fish-One Vote