Island Bay United AFC

Marist won promotion to Capital Premier after coming second in Division 1 last season. They only lost one game while Miramar Rangers [who won Div 1] lost three, the difference proving to be Marist's draws.

Last week they lost to Miramar 3-2, after conceding three goals in the first 10. We knew that they would be looking to record a win in their first Premier game on their new home ground, and would try and play football, rather than long ball, or just beating us with their fists, so we were looking forward to the encounter.

The game started, but we failed to, and for the first 30, it was all Marist, using the wind to peg us in our own half, with their midfielders feeding their striker and wingers lots of good ball. Their goal came from a fast break down the line, a couple of missed offside calls, and an eventual tap in which was made harder by determined tracking from Steve Davey. 1-0 to Marist.

The last 15 minutes of the half would see us wake up slightly, but we conceded offside after offside, and when Hicham smashed the ball into the corner of their net, that was called offside as well. 1-0 HT.

The second half was not a lot better from us, but a reshuffle saw us play an extra man forward, and Steve Davey capitalised on a nice cut back to beat the keeper from close range and level things up at 1-1. Marist had let up from their great first half performance, but still gave us plenty of trouble down the flanks, partially from us handing them too much ball.

1-1 at full time seemed fair at the time given our performance, but upon reflection either team had enough chances to take the 3 points.

This week sees us hosting Kapiti which we'll be targeting to regain our winning ways while playing entertaining football.

Go Sharks!

Labels: away, drew, marist, premier