Island Bay United AFC

Another solid fighting display on Saturday resulted in a nil-nil draw with BNU. They beat us 4-2 in the first round, so it was a good turn around, however it's these sort of games, where we perhaps lack the killer instinct, that might come back to haunt us nearer the end of the season when we are fighting to stay in the grade.

With only 6 matches left in the season we need to convert these one pointers into three, and get well out of the danger zone as the table is still very compact.

In the game against BNU we started well again, which was a little surprising after a bit of a disjointed build up. We didn't know who was playing let alone in what positions and in the end we had a slight change in formation, but were pretty well settled.

We welcomed back Milney to the midfield and Stu Dunn on the wing (after a relatively long injury layoff), while Matt Whitburn slotted back in at left back.

We controlled the first half well, keeping up the intensity we have discovered in the last few weeks and although there was a typically difficult southerly blowing across the park, we perhaps didn't play to the conditions quite well enough.

Crosses into the wind weren't working and we struggled to work the ball to the windy side where the danger balls would really come from.

And in the end, the game must've been as uneventful as the score line suggests as I'm struggling to think of any highlights.

It's not that we didn't create chances, as a number of players, including even Dave Wiggins who made a sprightly surge from the back, had good opportunities, but either desperate defence or that unlucky final touch meant we stayed scoreless.

We had a few hairy moments on defence too, with a couple of tidy crosses and play through the middle stretching us, but desperation managed to keep them scoreless also.

We definitely tired towards the end, which is probably a by product of the intensity at which we start and play most of the game at, but encouragingly we make up for that loss in energy with determination and pride.

All in all it probably wasn't a good day for the spectators though, with both the weather and football a little bit lacking!

The climb to safety all starts this week against Wainui, who humbled us 3 nil in the first round. We're at home again (12:30 kick off) where we've had a much better record than away with only one loss in 6, so let's bank that point and hopefully nab all three.

Nick

Labels: bnu, capital 1, clean sheet, draw, home

Well, we did it again - were our own worst enemies in literally GIVING three goals up against previously bottom placed Stokes Valley.

Yes, the ground was crap.
Yes, the referee was, ummm, being heavily assessed (enough said).
But we still should've got past that to post the win. And we didn't.
So back to the bottom of the table for us.

After a good team lunch at La Bella Italia, we arrived at Delaney Park with good time to spare, and in good spirits after a well deserved win the week before.

The team wasn't too disrupted with changes, as the core was kept the same. Matt Hickey had an exam, Paul was out injured, and Milney away after the passing of his father. Our condolences go out to you and your family mate.
Black arm bands on though and time to get focused on the game.

Hamish came in for Matt, Freddie at Left Back for Paul and Luciano, still on his come back, started up front with Jimmy.

Talk was of getting into the same mind space as the week before, understanding the importance of getting a result and the desperation that Stokes Valley would be feeling to stay close to the pack.

And to be fair, we started off well again. We were never really troubled at the back, were dominating the ball in midfield and creating chances up front. It's just a pity we couldn't finish off, as a goal could've worked wonders in getting our tails up and SV heads down.

But the SV 'keeper kept them in the game, and when they got a dodgy and fortuitous own goal we knew we were still in it, to get a result.
SV got a ball in behind our left hand side and Freddie did well to get in between the ball and the man, but a pretty blatant shove in the back pushed him off the ball and as he came back to block the shot, it was cruelly deflected into our net. Very lucky and undeserved so we needed to keep our composure to build our comeback.

We threatened plenty, forcing a lot of corners which resulted in a couple of good saves.
Josh rose nicely for one header, and got well over the ball but unfortunately straight to the 'keeper, then I finally got one goal bound, only for the 'keeper to get a couple of fingers to it and send it out for another corner.
Other shots and crosses towards the danger area were blocked by the desperate SV defence, and we went in to the break down by that one goal.

I'm not sure what happened in that second half, whether we were feeling the effects of the heavy pitch or if SV just got right into it, but for the majority of it, we seemed to be too loose and too slow to second phase ball.

The first 15 wasn't too bad and this is when we equalised, but for the last half an hour SV dominated possession and play as they kept us camped in our defensive half (where the state of the ground was much better than the other half).

Off another attacking corner, a half clearance was squared back in along the ground by Jody. It found Hamish with his back to goal and as he gave it a nice flick back through his legs (or a perfect dummy miss?), it came right to me inside the 6 yard box...a wild prod, with eyes closed, and the ball makes it over the line. You beauty, my first goal for Island Bay and it's brought the scores back level!

As mentioned though, we couldn't seem to push on from the momentum gained and when two mistakes in quick succession were punished by goals we just had too far to climb.

A runaway SV player had his first shot brilliantly parried by Adam in goal, but when the rebound fell to the other striker there was nothing he could do to stop the resulting shot.

And poor old Adam, who had run out of petrol on the motorway on his way out to the game, was left high and dry again, as a mix up on half way left the SV striker bearing down on him as he came out to claim the ball near the edge of his area. As he collected the ball, he slid out of the area and tried to keep the ball in the box, but his momentum carried him too far. He let go, the striker pinched it and squared it for his unmarked mate to finish. Tough luck but maybe we need to tease out the mongrel and dishonesty in you Adam - you're just too honest! ;)

Our final goal came from a nice piece of counterattacking, in what really was the only well worked goal of the game. 15 year old Caleb, who had come on for Jimmy, was released down the left hand side, in acres of space. Once he got down to the box he calmly checked and squared for an unmarked Luciano, who cooly slammed the ball past the 'keeper.

We tried valiantly to claw back another equaliser but SV did well to hold on to the ball and keep us out.

Thankfully we're back at home this week and in the never ending important games, we have the return match against Brooklyn Northern, who are coming off a 1-1 draw against top placed Olympic and beat us 4-2 in the first round.

They're only 1 point ahead of us though, so nothing to fear and plenty on the line...

Nick

Labels: away, capital 1, loss, stokes valley

Now that is an amazing turn around! Not only in result but the whole attitude, desire and intensity which led to a remarkable improvement in performance, and we got the due result.

All week at training you could sense that everyone was keen make amends for our disappointing game last week, and although its a typical cliche - it really is the test of a teams character for how they come back from heavy defeats. So it was nice to see everyone respond accordingly and train hard.

It was great to be back at home, and it was a beautiful, if chilly, winters day at Wakefield Park. We were well organised and well amped for our return match against Wellington United, who beat us 4-2 earlier in the season, and sat second in the league, prior to the weekend.

And we started like we really wanted the match. We were aggressive but composed and absolutely dominated in the first half hour. We held onto possession well and fought like men possessed to get the ball back when we did turn it over.
The whole midfield absolutely worked their arses off, with the contrasting combo of Lomu and MJ teaming up well in the middle of the park to both win possession and create opportunities, while young Matt Hickey and a little less young Jody Bullen flew up and down the wings but still trudged back to help out their defence.

Unfortunately we couldnt get the goal(s) we deserved, but with the defence holding staunch we felt it was just a matter of time till we took the lead.
We went off the boil for the last 10 or so minutes of the half, but it was always going to be tough to keep up such high intensity for the whole game, and we went into the break at nil-nil.

We talked about sticking to the game plan and ensuring we kept up the concentration as we couldnt afford the sort of lapses we had displayed the first time we played these guys.

Again, we started solidly but it was the introduction of Luciano after about 60-65 minutes for Milney (who had been an absolute menace up front and tired out the defenders - and then had to start for the firsts!) that really sparked us into action. Luc (said Looch) chased after everything, and one nice through ball to the edge of the left hand side of the box was absolutely spanked by Lucs left foot into the net.

It was well deserved and a great welcome back for Luc after sitting out a fair few weeks because of injury. His partnership with Jimmy had continued on from where Jimmy and Milney started, and more and more chances were coming.
Unfortunately the chances were at both ends and but for an amazing backwards scrambling save from Adam and resulting immediate block off the line by Krip, things wouldve been back to square and our character really tested!

I wouldnt say we had it comfortable for the rest of the game, as Wellington United lifted with desperation, but we ran ourselves into the ground to defend our lead and still did enough to keep them stretched at the back.

Two more changes were made, and both kept up the intensity, but at the pace and commitment we were playing at we couldve done with 3 or 4 more, and we were really tiring. Lomu had to go off to stretch after cramping up, leaving us with 10 for a few minutes then Jody called to Mez for a sub, not knowing wed already used our allocation. Then I, along with others Im sure, started cramping up.

I thought Id throw that in there, to try and explain what apparently was a very clumsy challenge from me as I assisted their nippy midfielder into performing a double-pirouette-with-half-pike-flip, about ten out from our box. Luckily the resulting free kick was pants and we survived another attack.
Worth the yellow card I reckon! And should be covered by the team ;)

Then we got the buffer we needed after Luciano got behind the defence again and was taken late by the scrambling last line of defence in the box. No-one exactly rushed up to the spot for the penalty, perhaps feeling the pressure and having very weary legs, but Jimmy took it upon himself and made no mistake in blasting it past the keeper who had made a few cracker saves throughout the game.

2-zip with maybe 5-10 minutes to go and we were determined to keep our clean sheet so battled right to the end.
Then came the final whistle and some very satisfied lads.

Weve now got to make sure we build on this result, and continue our push up the table. The league is still competitive as hell - we sit ninth but only eight points from first - and with Stokes Valley, who are bottom, away next week, three points is a must to get away from them and among the mid tablers.

Nick

Labels: capital 1, clean sheet, home, wellington united, win

Well, this is not quite what I signed up for when offering to write our match reports. Having to re-live the 90 minutes from Saturday is not exactly fun, but I guess youve got to face up to the bad as well as basking in the good.

The day actually started off alright with Merrick letting me know I was captain for the day in Dave Wiggins absence, but things only got worse as I proceeded to lose the toss and then, within five minutes we were one nil down. A cross from the left wasnt controlled and as the ball fell to the strikers feet, he made no mistake in lashing it home.

Not the start we wanted and on a very boggy Karori no3 pitch, we couldnt get anything going. Karori were muscling up more than us and with not much getting pulled up we seemed to pull out of 50/50 challenges.

It didnt seem long before we were two nil down as one of their strikers got through the defence and slotted a calm finish past the onrushing Adam in goal.

We were at risk of completely dropping our heads but some good fighting lead up work and pressure on their defence led to a well taken goal from Milney. Built up from the right, a mistake led to a Karori defender retrieving the ball from just in front of goal, but as he didnt immediately clear he was dispossessed and the ball fell to Irish Karl who slammed a good shot which could only be parried by the keeper. The ball lobbed back over Karls head and he had great awareness to just lob the return over the keeper which Milney got a deft header on and flicked it into the net.

While there was still plenty to do, you could sense we felt we were back into it.

Karori threatened a few more times, before they nailed a nice set piece goal. Any one of three unmarked Karori players couldve headed home at the far post from a corner and the one that rose the highest made no mistake.

We battled away, but to no avail and went in to half time three one down.

A change to the formation and some stirring words meant we started well, but another lapse proved costly and maybe fifteen minutes in we were down four one after some handy work down their left hand side resulted in a tidy low cross that was turned into the goal.

Maybe it was our resolve, or maybe that they relaxed a bit much, but we dominated the football for the rest of the match. We played with composure and confidence and only lacked a finish on a few occasions.

Karori were only working off the long ball counter attack now and nearing the end we disappointingly conceded a fifth to really put the dagger in. Too much time given outside the box resulted in a well placed shank to the bottom corner.

Not the result I was after in my debut as captain - Dave mate, its all yours!

Nuff said, weve got to move on. Im sure we can all think of plenty excuses, but we just need to work harder as a team to put it all together. An outdoor training this week would be nice so heres hoping the weather holds out for us, and the council play ball.

Return match against Wellington United (sitting second) this week, and while things arent quite desperate yet, we could do with the three points.
See you all at Wakefield for the early kick off (12:30pm), before the firsts take on Tawa.

Nick

Labels: away, capital 1, karori, loss