Island Bay United AFC

A hearty welcome back to Naenae, whom we hadn't played against in top flight football for a number of years.

This of course creates the issue of not knowing how they play, who was dangerous, and how we could bet them. Coaches problems really. The weather had been horrible all week, but on Saturday Wakefield Park was bathed in sunshine, and still (Yes, you read it - Still!!)

Our guys turned up to play football, and we started the game quite well, with a strong defensive line, hard-working mids, and hungry attackers. I can't say we played great flowing football for 90 minutes though, as the game resembled more of a tennis match at times.

This is nearly always the case in games where the opposition are determined to match us physically, while trying to "run interference" and stem our attempts to play football. To their credit, Naenae gave their all for the duration, and made some good attempts at scoring, thankfully our defense was up to the task, and we kept our third clean sheet for the season.

Our goals came via Mo Terlau and Kevin Mills and both in the first half. Mo closed down a defender outside the box who tried to dribble around him unsuccessfully, leaving Mo to hammer the ball past a stranded Keeper, and Kevin reacted first to a failed clearance, expertly lobbing the ball into an open goal over a crowd of players lined up on the edge of the box.

The second half got scrappy, and neither team created golden scoring opportunities, the game ending as it did at halftime, 2-0 Island Bay. Stop Out also won their match 2-0 against Lower Hutt, which means we're still second on Goal Difference.

We look forward to this Saturday, where we welcome Miramar's first team in a Chatham Cup tie.

Go Sharks!

Labels: home, naenae, premier, won