Island Bay United AFC

If I'd written this on Saturday evening it would have been full of references to Refereeing, Licenses found in Weetbix Boxes, Underhand Tactics, ecetera, so we can all be thankful that I took a step back and waited for the aftertaste to come through.

It took a while.....

Saturday's return leg against Karori began like it went on, with hard tackles, some fouls and some not, and numerous off the ball incidents intertwined with periods of good play from both sides.

Dave Plowright had to make one, great one handed save, but otherwise our defense cut most of their promising play out in the first half. At the other end, Lucci crossed some delightful balls, but we didn't seem to be able to meet them once they arrived, and their keeper picked up anything which came too close, including a one-on-one late in the first spell.

The score was locked at 0-0 at halftime, it was obvious that we had a fight on our hands, as both teams wanted to take away the full three points.

The beginning of the second half carried on in the same vein, with both teams hammering away at each other (both physically and mentally). Yet again, this extended to the Dug-outs with Karori's coach carrying on like he was ready to push through a set of saloon doors and start a bar fight. Classic....

A Waterside Karori corner was unable to be punched clear by Dave, possibly due to the "Wharfie Sandwich" which three of their players had him in. Instead the ball dropped 2 yards out from the middle of our goal line, where James Hill had been conveniently waiting for the smack in, breaking the deadlock.

Play carried on in much the same way, with Island Bay looking dangerous on the attack, until the final ball/shot/pass etc. Karori suddenly ran out of puff, at least whenever the ball was out they did.......... Mind you, I would have been slow if we'd been 1-0 up in this sort of game as well, so I can't blame ya fella's.

The linesman finally saw Tahl being fouled by Adam Crump, but unfortunately this time it was for a blatant elbow to Tahl's teeth, which was the final straw for Tahl and resulted in him being shown red as well.

With both teams down to ten men and with us chasing a leveller, the dynamics changed slightly, and Karori were forced to play the counter attack as we tried to pile on pressure against their defense. Fortunately for them, (and you can read their unbiased match report here) when we did get in behind their back four we didn't pressure their goalie with too much, and even a magnificent turn in their box by Musso (nose bleed Musso?) ended in a shot over the bar.

They extended their lead to 2-0 late in the piece after a corner, when Dave could only push an almost unmarked players volley inside the far post, nearly taking Paul's (standing on the post) head off in the process.

As our last home game of the season we're fairly disappointed with the loss but will look to get hold of third spot by beating Miramar this Saturday at Dave Farrington Park, and relying on Stop Out to drop a point in any of their last games.

Shark Attack!

Labels: home, karori, lost, premier

Saturday's game against Upper Hutt was so important to both teams with only a win being good enough for us to keep the pressure up against Tawa. We were told that as players we were under no pressure to win, only not to lose, but I believe pressure can be a good thing. It can create moments of sheer brilliance, and focus some normally unruly individuals into reaching new heights.

We entered the match in what has become typical Island Bay fashion. Players out through injury, suspension and vacation had some of the team re-introducing themselves to one another during the pre-match warm up. Fortunately, the "Oi, You over there" calls I had half expected as a result didn't occur, and we meshed as a unit almost from the first whistle.

We expected Wayne Rooker to be Upper Hutt's distributor, and for him to provide plenty of hopeful balls over the heads of our defense for the skillful and quick wingers in Andy LeProu and Troy Burling to run onto, and he didn't disappoint, but thankfully, we were positionally sound and managed to react well enough to repel most of these attacks before they got out of control. Iain MacIntyre had left Shark Park to join Upper Hutt pre-season, and was given the task of target-man for them, dropping the ball back to their midfield to run onto. This provided us with some problems in defense, but our Midfield eventually dropped slightly to slow down the mobility in front of our back line.

At the other end, we were creative and had Upper Hutt scrambling in cover defense until a fantastic through ball was chipped in behind their back line (I'm only saying that 'cos it was from me) which Kevin Mills chugged (he's the engine room don't you know?) onto before the Keeper and 2 of their players woke up, and then he managed a delicate chip into the goal from an acute angle, giving us the lead.

A few minutes later, and Luciano latched onto another through ball. He beat a player only to seemingly push the ball too far in front of him and just as it looked like the next defender would clear comfortably, the notorious Wakefield Park bobble caught the ball, and the player missed it completely, leaving Lucci an easy (for him) smash past the stranded Keeper, giving us a fantastic 2 goal cushion.

Upper Hutt continued to fight us for everything, and Dave Plowright made an outstanding point blank save to deny one of their players standing six yards out, who chested a cross down nicely before volleying a cracker toward goal. We were saved again moments later, when an Andy Le Prou run breached our defense, only to have "the Bobble" skip the ball over his foot at the last moment as he went to shoot from only a few yards out.

It was one of those games where you wish half time wasn't going to happen, as momentum can shift after a rest, a drink and a few stern words. But, as sure as a Ref can't please everyone anytime, half time arrived.

The second half was tough going. The shocking, unrolled ground had taken it's toll on both teams in the first half, and the fouls were starting to increase.

Upper Hutt made an early sub up front, bringing on their 6 foot 6 inch import to mix it up. We (at the back) didn't react to the change fast enough, and struggled for awhile as he flicked the ball on constantly to other players running through in contrast to Iain MacIntyre's style.

We were still attacking the other end though, and I'm sorry to say I mis-directed an open header off a corner skyward over the bar, when it would have been easier to take the score to a potentially game killing 3-0.

The new striker was pretty grabby, and managed to con the ref into believing Musso had pushed him just outside the box (I could believe this might have happened, had there not been 100 kilos between the 2 players). Matt Bennett stood up to take it, and as all of their tall timber lined up on the far post, he curled his shot around the outside of the wall. Dave pushed it onto the post but it rebounded back onto the line, where Steve Davey could only help it into the roof of the net. Naturally this gave Upper Hutt some new determination to get something from the game.

We were guilty of giving away far too much possession when we had the ball, and Upper Hutt were forcing us into last minute tackles and putting our bodies on the line. Yet another Upper Hutt set piece led to the ball being bounced around in our box only to watch the ball sail from out wide over Dave's head where Andy Le Prou was waiting to force it in from a yard, levelling the scores, and making us wish we had more goals in hand.

It was all over soon after though, after some clinical passing from our players saw a ball cut through into space, and Dave Rutherford made no mistake from a tough angle, tucking the ball around their keeper as 3 Upper Hutt Players tried to rein him in. You could see the despair in the Upper Hutt Players faces straight away.

With a few minutes left, they pushed 4 up front to attempt another come back, but this meant that they had virtually no distribution, and we mopped up most of their attacks with little further problems.

Another 3 points for Island Bay, and our 4th win in a row means we are now sitting alone in 2nd place. Unfortunately, Tawa haven't yet succumbed to the pressure of being on top of a league which is still so close, beating Stop Out 4-1 to remain on top, in front by 2 points, AND with a game in hand!

This weekend we are away to Naenae, and as normal, it's another must win match for both teams involved, as we look to continue pressuring Tawa for the Trophy, and Naenae look to stay in Capital Premier next year.

Shark Attack!

Labels: home, premier, upper hutt, won

Could the Champs Premier League be any closer? Could it get any more difficult to work out which team might be where, if only we'd all played the same amount of games?

I'm getting sick of postulating where we might be on the table. I say, if you're playing well enough to advance through the rounds of the Chatham Cup, you're good enough to play your catch up games midweek! Of course I'm being completely two faced, and would complain in a heartbeat if we were still in the Chatham Cup and being asked to play midweek league games! :)

Saturday's match against Wests was going to be a test of our commitment to each other. In recent history, I cannot remember a season where we didn't drop points against teams beneath us on the ladder. With already having lost to Wests this year (in difficult circumstances) we were either going to sink or swim this time around.

To my delight, I'm able to use some words I haven't used in my reports for awhile:

Cohesion: Island Bay Premier's individuals bonded together as a unit, and outplayed Wests as a team. This is how every team should play, win, lose or draw!

Resolve: We showed that despite having injuries, politics, bad weather and facing opponents desperate for points, that we were taking the whole 3 points - end of story

Passion: There were some great goals, some flamboyant attacking, some inspirational defending, and some desperation tackles, but for the whole 90 minutes, (and this is where we sometimes drop the ball) we were passionate about winning.

Mo Terlau kicked things off in the right way, and after a touch to control, smashed a poor goal kick past the stranded Keeper from well outside the box to give us the lead.

Wests came back, their mixture of talented youth and experienced elders were proving to be a handfull, as Rupert Ryan, and Neil MacDonald were playing good one-two's to their players, and keeping us on our toes all around the park. The final ball from Wests wasn't coming though and we never looked like conceding the soft goal we normally do, entering half-time 1-0 up.

The second half could not have started better for us. Wests kicked the ball off, and within 1 minute, a fantastic run all the way down the flank from our right back Steelo and around his defender on the right wing was coupled with an equally deft cross, and Mo made no mistake about heading it past the Keeper.

2-0 up and Wests were struggling to get past our defenses since the first half loss of Neil MacDonald. We had a moment of panic when a corner wasn't cleared and several smashs towards our goal had to be repeled with some body-on-the-line defending.

Ian Paterson finally got a deserved goal after some fine counter attacking play, killing off Wests with a 3-0 scoreline. We're not only pleased for the win, but it's also nice to keep a cleansheet for a change.

This week sees us play away to Kapiti, and we'll have to come away with the points if we have any hope of keeping pressure on the other five teams within 5 points of top of the table.

Shark Attack!

Labels: home, premier, western suburbs, won

Barely two weeks ago, I was hurling criticism at Island Bay's Prem's as I played through a horrible game against Tawa.

In the last week however, I've seen us jump the table to third (Stop Out and Karori still have games in hand over us), played in two memorable victories, and seen our team transform remarkably, from a bunch of guys with talent, to a team with heart.

Admittedly, the first win was against bottom placed Lower Hutt, but we always like to make a game of it don't we? Coming from a goal behind twice in the match, to muscle out 3 points took courage, character, and cool heads against a team who are desperate for every point they can get.

Stop Out, whom we hosted on Saturday, were always going to be hard to beat, especially given their great run of results, and the fact that they were going to look for revenge after we bet them in the first round.

We were asked to deliver for our home fans, as our better games have been played on the road so far this season, and we walked out on to Shark Park with a quiet determination to keep the winning momentum turning over for ourselves as well.

I thought we started the match well, keeping possession for spells, but maybe not quite as cohesive as against Lower Hutt. Stop Out were keeping us under a tighter rein, but we still had plently of ball in and around their box, with only last ditch clearances and strong challenges keeping their Keeper safe.

We drew first blood after 20 minutes when a "Tahl Theodorou Wonder Chip" (edited from original "Speculative" - Happy now Tahl?) held up just short of the box, and Mo Terlau arrived in front of two markers to chip the Stranded Keeper in supreme fashion, giving him two goals in as many starts up front. Long may it continue....

We tried to sure up at the back for the next period of play, in order to re-focus and then return to attacking, but we lost the ball coming out from midfield, and Stop Out drew our defense out of position, letting their striker linger near offside (and on goal) just long enough to receive a pin point pass to feet which he neatly dispatched past Dave Plowright, bringing us level at halftime.

Like last week, the guys showed self belief in the dressing room, and shrugged our latest soft goal off, focusing instead on the next 45 minutes and securing a vital 3 points.

I'd like to say the second half was all Island Bay but while for long periods it was, Stop Out made it hard to us to turn promise into reward, and also put us under pressure at the back by playing long, angled balls across the park. I'm glad to say that our defense covered each other very well, and it was definitely our combined efforts which reduced their promising attacks at goal into nothing more than a few corners.

Our midfield coped better with theirs than in earlier matches, I think thanks for the most part by a better understanding of our positional play by the team as a whole. We also showed we had a bit of mongrel when we needed to, forgoing some of the class in order to win and control the ball's path.

A loose ball on halfway was placed well into the stratosphere by Mo, only to be nearly palmed in by their Keeper once it reached Earth again.

A promising Island Bay Attack was halted by another foul, and the resultant free kick was directed nicely into the box but over my head, yet it was close enough to Scott Clayton for him to be fouled by both Stop Out's Left AND Centre Backs, giving Richard Steel yet another Penalty attempt around the 80th minute.

We've become so sure of him (100% record to date) that most of our team ran off to get water. Thankfully, even though his kick wasn't up to his normal high standards, it went through the keepers hands anyway, giving us the lead we'd fought hard for.

Stop Out ran out of time to come back, and went a player down after their skillful winger turned on the Ref (Silly, Silly, Silly Boy), effectively killing the game off, and giving us our second win in a row for some time.

In other games, Tawa bet Karori 2-1 (Tawa are now in the drivers seat for first place, with a game in hand) Miramar as still top of the table after beating Lower Hutt 6-2, Upper Hutt jumped up to 4th, accounting for Wests 1-0, and Kapiti Coast devoured Naenae 6-2.

This Saturday we'll be out for revenge as we host Wests in the return league. Wests eventually bet us 3-0 (0-0 HT) at Endeavour Park in the first round, as we ran out of gas after playing with 10 men from the 5th minute onward.

Shark Attack!

Labels: home, premier, stop out, won

To the Spectators who were there to support our men's first team on Saturday against Tawa. - We apologise profusely for being on the receiving end of such a thrashing. We have NO excuse for being destroyed, at home, in the manner you witnessed.

To my teammates - to those who played, and those who could not - Breathe In......Now, Breathe out!

Feel the pain and anguish of what was a massive defeat. DO NOT FEEL YOU WERE UNLUCKY, OR HARD DONE BY (Even though 1, 2 or even 3 goals may have been comical) AT ANY POINT DURING THAT MATCH. We all, as a collective, did not deserve a point from the game and were undone by a team who, once they were in front, were determined to take their pound of flesh home from Wakefield Park. It's called determination, and Tawa did not let up at 2-0, or 3-0, nor did they sit back after half time.

That said - DO NOT, FOR ONE MOMENT believe we aren't better than that 1 performance, or, if you do, please don't come to training. Stay home in the warm, and watch some "Reality" TV. Eat marshmallows. Whatever. Don't waste your time, our time, or Island Bay's spectators time by putting on our sacred yellow jersey.

The difference between an average player and a great player is not blood or bone, it's brains and heart. The brains to know what needs to happen to get the task done, and the heart to see you through it when the task is a tough one!

5 points separate the top 6 teams, and we have 24 possible points left to put body, mind and soul on the line for!

SUCK IT UP, and (for those of you who read this before Tuesday) turn up to training with determination and focus. Decide to share what we felt against Tawa, with our next opponent. It starts with training EACH week, pauses with the final whistle at Bell park on Saturday, and then resumes again the week after.

Finally, well done to Tawa, winning at Wakefield park, (in style) for the first time since 1992. You deserved your win, and we'll now have to start from behind as we race you for line honours.

Still, look out for the Shark Attack!

Labels: home, lost, premier, tawa

On the Queens Birthday, while she was sipping high tea and giggling at a re-run of Coronation Street, we were freezing our bits off chasing a few bits of stitched together leather around a paddock.

Wakefield Number 1 looked like it had been used by the NZ Army for Tank Wars, so the match was transfered all the way over to Brooklyn's home ground, Wakefield Number 2. Ahhhhhh, much better............;p

We'd sat inside our nice cosy changing room, and convinced each other that today we weren't going to let ourselves down, do the simple things well, play decent football and then turn the confidence we'd regained from keeping hold of the ball into decent goal scoring opportunities. We had also committed to doing this as soon as the first whistle went.

I've decided upon reflection that it must have been too windy to hear the first whistle, as we actually started in panic mode, giving away far too much ball, and then inside of 20 minutes, one bad ball at the back led to another, and the nippy striker dispossessed our centre back, tootled around Plowright in goal, and toed it into an empty net. Did I say he was fast? He was so fast, the rest of their team had to run twice as fast just to keep up with him!

True to form, after conceding, we settled down nicely, and at some moments looked dangerous with ball at feet and some nice crisp passing movements. Unfortunately our shots were not on target and yours truely blazed a golden op over the bar, so the half ended with us still down 1-0.

A bit of a re-iteration in what was wanted and needed at halftime, and we were back out into the balmy weather to try and turn things around.

The first 20 minutes weren't much to write home about, with few good scoring opportunites from either side, but after Dave Plowright stopped a one on one shot and held it while right out at the edge of his box, we seemed to wake up a little.

Kapiti seemed to be content with the one goal, and let us bring the game to them. I must say I am amazingly proud of the way Island Bay can play when we want to, and in the last 25 minutes, we really turned up the pressure, forcing Kapiti to throw themselves at everything, resulting in the Ref whipping out his little yellow card like he was an Action Man "with authentic wrist action".

We hit the crossbar, sent the ball just wide, and then a handball in the box ended with a penalty (almost just like the one we should have had against Karori, except in the Ref's line of sight) and Steelo tucked it in to bring us level.

We wanted the whole 3 points, and unfortunately as someone once said, "we didn't lose, we just ran out of time." In almost the last kick of the game, Scott Clayton spun his man and curled a shot across the goal. The Keeper disturbed the air flow around the ball with his flapping glove (i.e - the absolute faintest of touches), which sent the ball onto the bar, and richocheting back into the flying David Rutherford (who knew nothing about it) before bobbling inches wide of the net, and 2 more, much needed, points.

The game ended a 1-1 draw, which annoyed the writer no end, because he alone should have "Bulged the 'ol onion bag" 3 times. Maybe next week.

The start of the second round sees us hosting Tawa, and we hope to build on our last 25 minutes of the last round, and begin winning again.

Shark Attack!

Labels: drew, home, kapiti, premier

We all know how bad the weather was on the weekend. I watched a boat slip it's moorings, and mash itself against the rocks, while the owners tried futilely to hoist it out of the water, only to have to give up and let it sink.

Still, we all got to play football, and wasn't it great to play in, or watch the game you were involved with?! Yeah Right!

On Saturday, through injury I was forced to join the throngs on the sideline, and watch Island Bay play Miramar's Second Team. After losing to their top side in the Cup the week before and been taught a few footballing lessons, I'd been looking forward to passing the knowledge onto Miramar's second side via a solid pasting.

The weather did not allow a football match to be held. Instead I watched a comedic game of Force Back. There is no doubt that each team tried their absolute damnedest to play footy, and I'm sure both teams would have loved to get the ball on the ground to pass to their team mates, but it was not to be. Instead both sides spent the majority of the game smashing the ball into the air, where they watched the wind toss it around before sending it back in a completely different direction where it would ricochet off the closest players head/face/feet/body.

To their credit, Miramar played Force Back better, getting closer to our line twice more than we got to theirs and hence scoring two goals to our none. The conditions evidentally made refereeing really tough, so we thank those guys for showing up when they could have stayed inside.....R.E.S.P.E.C.T, Ah?

Tawa, Karori and Stop Out all won their matches, meaning a nice leap frog for them ALL over us, sliding us down to third equal behind Tawa, who smashed 8 in against Kapiti Coast, making Kapiti's poor keeper pick his 30th ball out of his net in 7 games.

This Queen's Birthday weekend sees more double headers for us, as Capital Football strive to have our season over before the grass has begun to grow over the cricket wickets. We play away to Waterpark Karori on Saturday the 30th, before hosting Kapiti Coast United on Monday the 1st June, in the last game of Round 1.

We wish all teams the best of luck in their respective leagues, and hope that we can dig deep, get over our various injuries and complete the round with two more, momentous wins!

Go Sharks!

Labels: home, lost, miramar, premier

Well, we could have drawn Eastborne in the third round of the Illustrious Chatham Cup (Western Suburbs bet the unlucky chaps 10-0) but no, we somehow drew Miramar Rangers.

As I've said before Miramar have won it all at some stage or other, and currently sit on top (now joint after a horror 3-3 draw with bottom placed Palmerston North Marist - but they had just lost their coach) of the Central League after having won it last season, and in 2006.

They've also won the Chatham Cup three times, just in case you weren't satisfied we went into the game as underdogs.

It would be an understatement to say it was windy, but when isn't it?! Oh yeah, Sunday through Friday........

The game started with both teams managing to get a couple of shots off and settling down to play some football. Miramar were in control, but we were happy to push them wide, and to our credit we managed to force them to do so. Unfortunately we hadn't counted on the wind having laid a large bet against us at the T.A.B, and a ridicuously hopeful cross from Miramar suddenly turned into a Beckham wonder goal, as the wind picked the ball out of the sky, turned it 90 degrees and then threw it into the net, much to the horror of Dave Plowright in goal who had absolutely no chance.

Less than 30 seconds later, when no one from Island Bay was looking, Miramar scored again to make the lead 2-0. This carried into halftime, with both sides having settled down again.

We came out after the half looking to make amends for the two goal deficit, and pushed Miramar into defending on many occasions. Naturally, having some players from Team Wellington to "fall back on" meant that Miramar were not going to stand aside, and unfortunately, as we were searching for a goal as a way back into the match, they managed to sneak in a couple more. I put my hand up here and apologise now for not bringing the scoreline closer, sending a golden opportunity over both the cross-bar and the actual-bar.

Dominic Rowe ended up scoring twice, as did Michael (of course I claimed the cross) Eager, so perhaps in hindsight we should have just double teamed those two players and let Peter Halstead shoot til the cows came home.

Anyway, Island Bay exited the cup after going down 4-0 to Miramar. A thoroughly deserved win from a top central league unit. Congratulations and good luck with the rest of your campaigns!

This week we seek to return to winning form, as we play our third home game in a row, against Miramar for the second time in a row (their 2nd team this time people!) and try to consolidate our position at the top of the table.

Elsewhere, Stop Out play Naenae (for the second week running), Kapiti host Tawa, Upper Hutt welcome Karori, and Lower Hutt spend Sunday at Wests.

Go Sharks!

Labels: chatham cup, home, lost, miramar

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

Easter is upon us, and Saturday saw the start of our double header weekend, with Island bay looking to get the best start possible to what's sure to be another long season, full of tough games.

Despite half of Island Bay United's players being out with pulled Holidays, (Holidays, during Footy Season?!?) and management having to strategically pick players to cover the top three teams, we started well, matching Lower Hutt's physical approach, and scored early on, when Steve Davey whirled around in the box to deliver a neat cross which Luciano Colucci calmly slotted into the near corner.

Lower Hutt scored an equaliser before half time thanks largely to the wind, which turned a clearing header and deflection into a lob over our Keepers outstretched hand.

The second half saw Island Bay pull away from Lower Hutt, who's physicality turned into numerous yellow cards and an eventual red (it wasn't the right player, Ref) and this let us dominate the young side in most areas of the park.

David Rutherford saw his charge down inside the box converted into his first goal of the 2009 campaign, and after Steve Davey bruised the keeper with a point blank shot, substitute Mitchell Lee slammed in the final nail in Lower Hutt's coffin to end the match 3-1, and give us a good follow up from our Tawa game last weekend.

On Monday we have on Top-o-the-Table clash (I know we're only 2 games in!) playing away to Stop Out at 2pm.

Go Sharks!

Labels: home, lower hutt, won

Our last game of the season was against Upper Hutt at Wakefield Park, and even though the result didn't go our way, the manner in which Island Bay went about playing was a nice way to end our season.

The 2nd teams chance for promotion, coupled with the fact that we had no chance of winning our league AND the Capital Football's rules which do not allow Central or Capital Premier players to be dropped to other teams once their regular season has ended, meant that the squad had changed slightly to when we last played Upper Hutt.

Lee Westlake, Steve Davey, Paul Muollo, Ian Paterson and Dave Plowright were all playing Second team so that they could help the fight for promotion to Capital 1, Petero (back in Fiji), Lai and Hicham were A.W.O.L and Zac and Ollie were away. For those of you with Math's issues this means 10 of our regular players were not playing!

What is more important, is that we were able to call upon some experienced players and field a relatively competitive side. I'd personally like to thank Mike, JB, Steve, Peter, Bill and Darren who all put their hands up and played 'almost' like they would have 10-15 years ago. The touch and experience were all there, with the fitness only dying late in the second half.

We started the better of the two teams, pressuring the Upper Hutt defense. Within 10 minutes, a great cross was put across the box, Benn flicked it back over the defenders heads, and Lucci rifled the ball into the top right hand corner, possibly giving us a slightly false sense of security.

Upper Hutt settled into their game, and started finding their attacking players feet via a few long balls. A fast break, off one of our corners, ended in tragedy when our newly formed defense was sliced apart, leaving Steve Hughes to attempt to tackle two players. He got one, but the rebounding ball landed nicely to their other player who slotted home around Chemo's dive. We had a few more scares, but gave as good as we got. 1-1 at the half and we still felt we were in the game.

Both teams came out firing in the second half but it was Upper Hutt who scored first via a poor penalty decision for handball;

Actual handball Definition - Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with his hand or arm. The referee must take the following into consideration:
• the movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
• the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)
• the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an infringement

Not: "It was ball to hand inside the box, so I'm giving a penalty"

From there on we struggled to get back into the game. Upper Hutt's tactics were obviously win "at all costs", as pushing, shoving and racist remarks were being thrown around all over the place.

We thought we had a chance to level after a foul in their box, but despite all eleven sets of Island Bay's hands going up in the air, and the ref's whistle going to his mouth, he didn't have enough puff, and so the game played on.

In the last 30, our formation changed to 3-5-2 as we chased a point, but Upper Hutt's players were the fitter, and ran away with the game, scoring twice more when fast breaks down the line were passed back inside for two or three unmarked arriving players to slot home.

We currently lie third on the table (Pending Karori's results) and while I feel deflated over the season's final outcome, I enjoyed playing immensely when we had our good days, and feel proud as punch to have played football with some of the talent that Island Bay's Premier squad turned up with.

The best of luck to Petero and Nate, who are off to pursue new football lifestyles in Fiji and China respectively, to any retiring squad members, and to all of the Island Bay teams yet to finish their leagues.

Go Sharks!

Labels: home, lost, premier, upper hutt

Coming off the back of earning a hard fought point the previous weekend against Wairarapa, to play Miramar (the only team we'd failed to score against in the first round) was going to be a true test of the Premier side's commitment to keeping their league lead.

The Miramar side was bolstered by a few Central Leaguers, who had had their home match against West's postponed (for some strange reason), and this proved to be the catalyst needed to fire up the rest of Miramar's second side.

True to form against teams lower down the table, Island Bay failed to dominate or hold possession, and only had a handful of half chances in the first half. Miramar on the other hand looked dangerous, as the ball was constantly played in the air to Kevin Thompson upfront, who knocked it down well to the other Miramar players breaking forwards and into space.

0-0 at the halftime, and as it was Island Bays defense who were having to work overtime to plug the onslaught from Miramar's fast front men and quick support from their midfield, the Island Bay defenders were happy to have kept the sheet clean so far.

The second half saw a change of formation from Miramar, Left backs playing Right wing and that sort of thing. It seemed to work, with Michele Zanotti delivering a low cross behind our marked up defense to the back post for an untracked man to hammer home from an acute angle, giving the visitors their first goal.

Chasing the game meant changing our formation, and after a few subs, we were playing slightly more aggressive football, but the touch and passion that had been there in previous games was still missing and Miramar's packed defense wasn't opening up.

We created a few chances, through patches of good football, but unfortunately it was Miramar who scored next, breaking out through the midfield yet again, attacking our back line en mass, and an unmarked David Batty popped up on edge of the area to slam a shot goal bound, taking a nasty bounce in the process and skipping over Dave into the net.

To Island Bay's credit, at 2-0 down, we were still fighting for some sort of comeback, but Miramar weren't playing nasty, so penalties wouldn't be coming to save us this time. Time ran out on the clock before we could score, (and we could have been there all night and still not have forced a save from their keeper, so, well done to Miramar who;

~ took four points from us in two matches
~ kept us scoreless for 180 minutes
~ are the only team we haven’t scored against in 2008
~ ended our unbeaten run at home
~ possibly ended our league contention.

This week we play Tawa out at Redwood Park as we look to improve our overall team game dramatically, win all our remaining games, and put pressure on Wairarapa (playing Upper Hutt) in case they drop points too.

Go Sharks!

Labels: home, lost, miramar, premier

First played second when Island Bay Premiers hosted Wairarapa United on Saturday, although neither team could lay a definite claim to top spot as Wairarapa had a game in hand, and were only 1 point behind.

It was always going to be a tough match, with Island Bay looking to avenge their only loss of the season so far, and Wairarapa wanting to take over the lead on the table. The match started exactly how it carried on, a hard fought contest between two battling sides, capable of playing some high quality football.

Wairarapa took the lead when one of their long balls to their skillful and fast strikers wasn't dealt with effectively enough, and carried that lead into the break as both teams failed to control the game in the mud that was the midfield.

The second half was no different, except that both teams were tired from carrying around several kilos of Wakefield Park mud. Mistakes and goals were definitely going to happen. Unfortunately for Island Bay, it was Wairarapa who scored first, Rabo playing a ball through to Solomon to run onto and slot in around Dave's outstretched arms giving Wairarapa 3 points, or so they thought!

The Island Bay train kept on chugging, and determined not to let them beat us again, we sent Petero up front, brought on fresh legs, and began attacking Wairarapa's defense, sending wave after wave of attacks into the box.

Island Bay's three man defense was still being constantly threatened by the pace and touch of the two Fijian strikers, but were struggling to find good shooting opportunities without the support from their tiring midfield.

A Wairarapa handball in their box resulted in the referee awarding a penalty, which Rodney put away (after the keeper parried the initial kick), and handed the Bay a lifeline.

A cross into the back of their box was headed back across and Petero's resulting bicycle kick forced a great save from their keeper.

A free kick just outside the box was actually a definite penalty (once we reviewed the video).

Lucci was crudely brought down in the box giving the Ref no option but to award another penalty, which Steve Davey dispatched sweetly into the corner (although the keeper seemed concreted to his spot).

This levelled the game for us, and caused snow to fall on the Rimutaka's, so Wairarapa had to go home without setting foot inside our clubrooms to either make snow angels, or beat the road closure.

A remarkable comeback from our team, and a great insight into the determination we can show when we put our minds to it. Still, with the league table the way it is, Island bay will have to win all of their remaining matches, and hope Wairarapa drop a point, before they can claim this seasons Premier Title.

This week we're at home again, this time hosting Miramar, the only team we have failed to score against so far, and we'll be looking to set the record straight!

Go Sharks!

Labels: drew, home, premier, wairarapa

Island Bay Premiers side faced Marist on Saturday, hoping to continue our winning run and cement our position on the top of table. We knew from our previous encounter with Marist that their current position on the table isn't an accurate reflection of the determination of their squad and we'd be fighting for the whole of the 90 minutes for a result.

The game started as we thought it would, scrappy, with both teams struggling to retain possession on the unforgiving pitch. The Marist midfielders (and Marist in general) were closing us down quickly, and making it hard for us to play our quick and free flowing attacking game. Eventually we managed to force a flowing move, a nice pass into the path of Hicham gave him a half chance, and he tucked it away into the corner, giving us the lead into halftime 1-0.

The talk at halftime called for a reshuffle of the team formation in order to cope with Marist's midfield dominance. Unfortunately the change didn't have the desired effect, and Marist pulled even shortly after halftime, when we were overrun in the midfield and unable to make a decisive clearing tackle.

At 1-1 it was all up in the air. Marist were brimming with confidence, and we were unable to relieve the constant pressure by scoring at the other end. With 5 minutes left to play Marist were awarded a penalty when a cross was misjudged and bounced into a Island Bay hand. It was up to Dave Plowright, stepping up from Reserve Goalie to keep Island Bay's unbeaten home run alive, and he put the Marist Striker off enough for him to drive the ball into the post.

The Game ended 1-1 with Island Bay breathing a sigh of relief, and Marist wondering what they had to do to get their second win for the season. This weekend we play Kapiti Coast out at Weka Park, and will hope to get some form back in a season where every point counts so much!

Go Sharks!

Labels: drew, home, marist, premier

Island Bay Premiers had the chance to exact revenge on Western Suburbs for kicking us out of the Chatham Cup on Monday, even if it was West's second team.

Even though they have been struggling in the Capital Premier League so far this season, it was a must win for us if we want to be in the running come the end of the season, and as the table is so close, every point we can take is vital. We had won all our home games so far, (scoring at least three in every game) so we had a lot to play for.

Wests started well, lifted by the inclusion of senior players Rupert Ryan, and Neil MacDonald, who's experience and touch gave Wests more possession than they would have enjoyed without them. We attacked down the flanks and delivered the ball into dangerous areas without causing them too many problems, until 30 minutes in, when a corner was delivered perfectly to Zac, who headed the ball into the man on the near post, and was deemed to let the ball entirely over the line before clearing it. A year ago we would not have had this sort of decision go our way, but luck is actually bred from attitude and self belief, two components which have come a long way this season. 1-0 at Half time.

The second half carried on in much the same vein, see-sawing football, and neither team playing particularly well, when a slow clearance led to a good tackle from a Wests striker, who on his next touch slammed the ball home from 20 metres and tied the game up at 1-1 in the 70 minute.

The realisation that we were in danger of giving Wests their second point in 8 Games finally woke us up, and from then on it was all Island Bay. Lucci pounced on a nice through ball, and drove the ball into the area, giving the Wests defender no option but to attempt to clear, unfortunately powering his header past his own keeper and into the net.

5 minutes later and a poorly timed tackle 25 metres out gave Hicham a chance to flex his calf muscles, lashing a fierce drive into the far netting, and giving us a safety cushion.

3-1 the final score, but Wests will start taking points of teams if they continue to play like that. This week marks the start of the second round, with Lower Hutt hosting us at Fraser Park.

Go Sharks!

Labels: home, premier, western suburbs, won

Another home game on the weekend required another victory for the Premier side as we attempt to climb to the top of the ladder. Karori were joint top of the table, hadn't lost yet in 2008, and have a game in hand aswell, so it was a good time to let our intentions for this season be known. The squad was overflowing with confidence after beating Tawa, and Upper Hutt (Chatham Cup) in previous weeks, and were looking forward to keeping to our winning ways.

We started well in the windy, wet conditions, although perhaps not so great at the back, with a few tense moments as we failed to deal properly with Karori's long floating balls over the back of our defense. Once we'd sorted these out, it was all Island Bay, with Karori's midfield being swamped by Nate, Steve and Petero. Hicham was back from injury, and carving trenches around the Wharfie's defense, taking 20 minutes before scoring a well earned goal, even if it did take a deflection on the way.

We continued to dominate, Karori relying on counter-attacking whenever they could break out of their half. Five minutes before half-time another attack resulted in a corner. Ian fired in a near post cross, which Zac rose up to and rocketed the ball towards goal. The defender on the near post could only head the ball into the top of the net, making it 2-0, and surely requiring a couple of panadol.

Different game, same old Wakefield Park half-time talk. "Third goal will kill 'em off gentlemen!" Karori would have been given a slightly different speech I'm sure, and both teams came out of the dressing rooms fired up.

Karori changed formation to 3-4-3 in an attempt to peg one back and make a game of it, but within 5 minutes Steve Davey had decided the third goal wasn't happening fast enough, so drove one into the top left hand corner from 25 yards, leaving us all gob-smacked, including the stranded Wharfie's keeper.

Karori kept searching for a way back in, and looked to have found one when they were awarded a penalty. Fortunately Shaan gave us some more penalty magic, not only saving the initial kick, but also dealing with the rebound. Karori would score ten minutes later though, bending a freekick around the outside of the wall and in off the post with precision. It was all too little too late though, The Bay has now won all four home games and is sitting in second place, only two points adrift of Tawa.

Interestingly, after SEVEN games, there is only SEVEN points separating the top SEVEN teams. This weekend Tawa face Karori, while we play Upper Hutt, away at Harcourt Park [that'll be twice in two weeks] on Saturday, with a Chatham Cup tie against last years beaten Cup finalists, and Central League Winners, Western Suburbs.

Waterside Karori's Match Report

Go Sharks!

Labels: home, karori, premier, won

On Saturday Island Bay clashed with Tawa, unbeaten and with four wins from five games, they had a right to occupy first place on the table. We were looking to switch the momentum from that of a mediocre side held scoreless by Miramar the week before, to play more of the well oiled, and penetrative style we know we can. The Fans demanded a big game!

We started well, straight from the first whistle we settled into our attacking gameplan, looking to break Tawa's spirit early. The breakthrough came inside the tenth minute, Luciano Colucci was played through by a great ball, cut inside his man and smashed the ball in near post. We wondered if Tawa were shellshocked then, but they certainly were ten minutes later, when a pass back from their goalie found the centre back dispossessed by Lai Gatarua who spotted the keeper off his line and expertly chipped the ball into the top left hand corner from outside the box, giving us a two goal cushion.

Tawa struggled to get back into the game, but began to break through from midfield and push the ball wide, pulling our back three out of position, and opening up little holes. A couple of near misses, led into a few great saves from Shaan, but a neat one two in our box saw an easy tap in and the half ended 2-1.

The message was clear. Tawa had to attack, and we needed to score first to put the game to bed. So that's what we did. Ian Paterson flew down the left wing, cut inside a few of their defenders and slotted home within ten minutes of the restart. Tawa weren't phased though and their constant pressure showed why they are at the top of the ladder, eventually breaking our defense down again, and a glancing header was simply finished off at the far post as we all stood ball watching. A tense and defensive final ten minutes was eaten off the clock and Island Bay emerged with a 3-2 victory, pushing us back into third spot, 2 points off the lead.

This week is a Chatham Cup Round, with Island Bay facing Upper Hutt at Harcourt Park.

Go Sharks!

Labels: home, premier, tawa, won

A youthful Kapiti Coast United turned up to do battle against us on Saturday, coming off the back of a 2-1 loss at home to Miramar.

After having drawn last week against Marist, the mood in the dressing room was one of determination. We feel as a squad we can foot it with the title contenders, and the bar needed to be raised higher than our previous performance.

We started well, composed and attacking minded, Hicham finishing another great passing move within the first 10. He calmly rounded the keeper 5 minutes later, and Island Bay were firing on all cylinders.

To their credit Kapiti were not fazed in the least by conceding twice in 5 minutes, and settled into the game, creating space in midfield, and trying to poke holes in our defense. With a nasty wind swirling around the park, we were loath to concede free kicks close to our goal, but we did, and with 20 left in the half, Chemo our keeper watched a ball change direction on him at the last minute and bulge the net as he was stranded in mid air.

Kapiti were lifted, and continued to attack us whenever they could find a gap. Yet another free kick was launched at us, and unfortunately Chemo could only take the pace off it, leaving me to make a failed attempt to clear off the line. 2-2 at half time.

Letting Kapiti back into the game was obviously not good enough, so after the break we sent another man forward, looking to break the game down in Kapiti's half, and pressure them into mistakes. Steve Davey was once again "Johnny on the spot" rewarding the team for a flowing attack with the lead again.

Kapiti were still attacking us all over, and it wasn't until late in the game when Steve smashed a free kick off my balding head and into the top corner that the game was put beyond doubt.

Final score 4-2. This week we'll travel away to the Wairarapa on Sunday, to see if we carry on our winning ways, and carry on climbing the table ladder.

Go Sharks!

Labels: home, kapiti, premier, won

Having lost to Lower Hutt both times last year, and to their Central League side in the Chatham Cup, we knew they weren't going to be pushovers this time around.

The game was played in the pouring rain, which at times turned the game into a theatrical event, rather than a footy game, both sides overrunning the ball as it stuck in pools of water, and having the ball bounce 20 feet overhead whenever it hit a hard patch.

After 15 minutes of first game jitters, the pre-season training and effort that the squad and management had put in paid off, and we settled into a rhythm with lots of precise passing and good ball control. One particularly nice set of passes later Lucci had rounded the keeper and we were up 1-0.

From then on we maintained possession, and played in Lower Hutt's end of the field for the most part of the first half, occasionally letting them out for a quick break, or a hopeful long ball over the top of our defense. Hicham Kamri, one of our new faces, struck twice, both times receiving the ball with his back to goal, spinning his man and tucking the ball into the corner of the goal from the edge of the area.

The halftime talk was simple, "It's 3-0, and the game should be in the bag, so lets make sure!"

Lower Hutt obviously had a rev up at the break, and came out looking to peg us back, but aside from the odd perfect through ball, and a few fast breaks the length of the field, failed to get a shot on target.

Hicham's strength saw him latch onto a massive punt from Chemo, and slot under their keeper to complete his hat trick and effectively kill the match off with 10 minutes to go.

This week we're away to Marist at Kilbirnie Park. Good Luck to all the Island bay teams.

Go Sharks!

Labels: home, lower hutt, premier, won