Island Bay United AFC

Apologies for not getting this report out sooner, but it was difficult to get the events of Saturdays game clear.

It was a beautiful day at Weka Park and the ground was also perfect. Something we definitely aren't used to enjoying.

It's fair to say that we began the game in dis-array. Our midfield was pushing up too high too often, and the bounce of the ball wasn't going our way, allowing them to pick up loose balls in the vacant gaps and pressure our defense.

We got a penalty, somehow, and as normal Richard Steel made no mistake. Minutes later a foul by us led to a freekick, which was taken in a new style, on the bounce. A perfect ball out wide gave their winger some time to line up, and beat, his man. As our defense scrambled to cover, the guy delivered a pin point pass to an unmarked attacker, calmly slotting the ball past our keeper to square the game up.

Much frivality and laughter ensued for the rest of the half, with numerous fouls, insults and curious decisions keeping both teams intrigued.

The second half carried on in much the same vein, until a superb cross was met by Steve Davey, who controlled the ball AND beat his player with his first touch, before slotting the ball into the corner of the goal, giving us the go ahead goal.

Kapiti were in no mood to lose points, and fought tooth and nail to get back into the game, while we pushed to kill the game off with a third goal.

Scott was sent off after a mistimed header hit a Kapiti player instead, so we played on with ten men. Minutes later, when their tall timber at the back elbowed Jamie Milne's nose open, we were reduced to nine.

Thankfully, before we ran out of players, David Rutherford had heroically headed the ball over their keeper and into the corner of the goal, after just getting back onto his feet from a prior horrendous challenge aimed at his head.

Eventually, time ran out and we had won, but it was not a pretty match, nor was it an example of how we want to play. Kudos to all of our players for sticking to their tasks for the whole 90 minutes, even though it wasn't panning out according to plan.

Another 3 points puts more pressure on the top teams, and hopefully we'll win this weeks home game against Upper Hutt, widening the gap between us and some other teams.

Shark Attack!

Labels: away, kapiti, premier, won

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

Last Saturday we faced Kapiti United, and found that the 1 hour trip away had been reduced to a trip to Whitby as Kapiti Council had closed all their grounds.

Despite both teams essentially having an away game, we knew from our last encounter with them that it would be a hard fought game played for the full 90 minutes. Injuries and Ground closures had disrupted our preparation during the week, but we were determined to put this past us and keep to our winning ways.

We did not start well though, and the first half belonged to Kapiti who put pressure on us at the back by pumping high balls forward which were lost in the sun until the last minute. Their striker proved to be extremely dangerous, hitting the crossbar, and forcing Dave P to make some fantastic saves to keep the sheet clean.

We weren't creating much, but one excursion forward saw Benn Florence slot one home against the run of play, bringing us into halftime 1-0 up and very relieved to get into the break ahead.

Calm heads were going to be needed to get the three points, and in the second half Kapiti pushed us all to the limits, sending many players forward and pressuring us for every inch of space around the park when we had the ball. They hit the post, sent a few wide, and did everything except score.

The Kapiti faithful made for an interesting and noisy sideline, egging their team on at every opportunity, but unfortunately perhaps they pushed too hard, getting one of their players so worked up that he was given a straight red for molesting our Keeper, and that in turn relieved some of the pressure on our back line.

Near full time, one of our fast counter attacks finally paid off, when Petero ran 80 metres out of our defense to receive a good ball, smash a great shot which the keeper could only parry and Zac buried it from one yard to end the game 2-0.

Full respect to Kapiti United who forced us to battle for each of the 90 minutes on the park, and kudos to our guys, who put in a gutsy performance and proved that we can still win games when our brand of football might not be flowing freely as we'd like.

This weekend sees us hosting Wairarapa in what could decide how the season will go for both teams. They've handed us our only loss of the season so far, and Island Bay will be looking to set the record straight.

Go Sharks!

Labels: away, kapiti, premier, 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