Capital Division Ten- Play off for 7/8 Places
Naenae Unify 3- Wellington United Salmon 3
(Half time 1-3)
Naenae Park
Scorer:
Craig Ireson (3)
Craig Ireson (3)
MOM Points
Craig Ireson- 3 pts
Michael Ashby- 2 pts
Richard Martin – 1pt
SALMON SHARE THE SPOILS, AS RUBBISH PITCH RUINS
THE LAST HURRAH
This was such a
bizarre game it is worth writing up in full.
With the 22 man squad
at full stretch salmon only just managed to field a fit 11 at game time,
relying on ex-keeper Sami to take the gloves (freeing Rich Martin to mid field)
and Sunday Blazer Mataio. With Dave Armstrong having to leave at half time to
catch a plane to Auckland and James Stewart on injury watch, we knew from the
outset 11 players wasn’t going to be enough.
Naenae Park had
clearly seen better days, with three or four huge mud puddles in the centre,
although the wings seemed in good nick. We got underway and made immediate
headway down the left, with Ashby running smartly onto through balls from Sam,
Mataio and Rich in the middle. It didn’t take long for the breakthrough, as the
sticky pitch made it hard for Naenae to clear and Craig pounced on a loose ball
just inside the box and chipped home over the keeper for 1-0.
The home referee soon
evened things up when Naenae pushed down the right and into the box for the
first time, the striker seemed to be clipped by Callum’s tackle and the penalty
was awarded-although he himself admitted it was no such thing. The podgy
striker made no mistake for 1-1.
But Salmon were on
form- a Mataio through ball drew the keeper out wide and left, and Craig ran
through to guide the ball into the empty net from 18 yards for 2-1.
Salmon were dominant now, especially down the left as Dave and Ashby kept working hard to create chances- Ashby had a great shot after a long run forward and earned a corner, and then soon after he scuffed a pass to Craig, and as the defence held off in expectation of the second attempt he chipped a great shot against the cross bar, surprising everyone.
Naenae must have
sensed Ashby was the danger man because the next time he ran forward he was
clattered from behind and, as he fell, he tripped his assailant. The red mist
descended and what was an innocuous 50-50 became a serious assault- the guy
jumped up and punched Ashby in the jaw; then stood over him like a maniac. All
hell broke loose, but to the Salmon’s credit we kept it tight, and to Naenae’s
credit they realised the severity and he was given his marching orders.
We made them pay immediately
as the free kick was whipped in to the 6 yard box by Craig, and the keeper
totally misjudged the speed, palming it into the net for 3-1.
With Dave due to fly
to Auckland at half time we proceeded to try and make them pay but could not
manage a fourth.
In the second half we
started brightly again- Callum got goal side down the right and put some good
balls across, Sam was played in a few times and Ashby kept up the running-Naenae
pulled one back after about 20 minutes, it was well finished but was against
the run of play.
When James pulled up
lame after 25 minutes salmon lost all
shape, on a normal pitch its hard to play with nine- on a quagmire its nigh on
impossible. To our immense credit we managed to keep them out for about ten
minutes but with ten to go they equalised and then we were just holding
on-Their finishing was dire though-they had plenty of chances to win it. At the
whistle it was 3-3 – if we had 11 men we would have trounced them, with 9 we
only just managed to hold on.
