Island Bay United AFC

Capital 1 vs. Karori Dreamers - 3 April - L 1-3
&
Capital 1 vs. North Wellington - 5 April - L 0-3

First game up for the season and as is fairly common for a reserves team we looked a fair bit different from the year before. Being Easter weekend didn't help either, but we had worked hard pre-season and were happy for the season to be underway.

We were up against a Karori Dreamers side who we know are quality (finishing 3rd in 2009) and are a team who should be near the top come the business end of the season.
But that didn't daunt us, and we started strongly, on a typically wind-swept Wakefield no1 whose rock hard cricket blocks posed quite a hazard.

We created chances-a-plenty and probably should've been in the lead, after some nice work down the wings from Oli and Fred resulting in dangerous crosses in to the area. Some dazzling footwork from Andy and Ronald in particular had Karori lads in trouble in the middle. The finishing touch wasn't quite there but we continued to push, and held on to the ball well.

Unfortunately 10 seconds of disorganisation cost us, as the Dreamers tidily converted from a corner. And even more unfortunately it wasn't long till we were two down after a very unlucky own goal.

Still, we knew we weren't out of it, and that was exactly the message at half time.

And when Ryan nodded a cross from young Sam into the back of the net we knew we were a chance to get a well earned draw if not kick on for a win. We became more attacking, through substitutions and endeavour, as the Dreamers scrambled for their life, but we just couldn't find that clinical finish.

Then, in the last 30 seconds, another long ball from the Dreamers was latched onto and after the initial blocked shot came back off the post, the ball wasn't cleared properly and their striker calmly squared the ball to an unmarked team mate to easily side foot home.

It was great to see all the support on the sidelines and sorry we couldn't notch a win for you all!

We had competed well though, both physically and tactically, so it was an encouraging start to the season. . .

But that made it all the more disappointing on Monday when we really never 'turned up' against North Wellington's (NW) first team.

Again we had quite a few changes and just couldn't seem to gel. On what was a beautiful day for football in J'ville, NW were putting us under pressure and dominated the game. They were probably unlucky to not be in the lead at half time after a lot of last ditch saves, including at least two off the line by man of the match Karl. But that was fine by us and while we were frustrated at things not going our way, so was NW as they couldn't find the goal they probably deserved and we went in to half time at nil-nil.

We continued to battle away but around 60 minutes after a wayward pass, ex-shark Kevin Provis pinched it on half way and ran 30 meters before calmly chipping Russ in goal.

We still tried in vain to get into the game and started to play with the ball a bit more, but NW had their tails up and were harassing well. We showed some gritty defence, but NW's domination of possession and field position told when a couple of defensive lapses cost us a couple more goals. Working on our support play and improving our vision to enable quicker ball movement are two key lessons from Monday.

It was certainly not the opening weekend we were hoping for but it's very early days and with the keen young squad we've got lots of energy and motivation to change things around. You could sense the will to learn from the weekend's experiences in the attitude and intensity at training on Tuesday so bring on Saturday and Olympic. . .
Shark Attack!

Labels: away, capital 1, easter, home, karori, loss, north wellington

A very late report for this game and really there's not too much to report.

The wise heads of the Dreamers outplayed us again, as we didn't man up to their physical long ball game, and struggled to hold on to possession. We fought gamely though and their second goal took a large deflection after a corner wasn't cleared too well. And but for that goal, we were doing enough to have a chance of pinching a draw.

As it was we couldn't quite manage it, and we slipped back to last place on goal difference.

But who cares about that game, this weeks was much more interesting...

Shark Attack!

Labels: capital 1, home, karori, loss

I was going to preach deja vu all over again for this weeks match, but really, other than the scoreline, this match was quite different to last weeks' match.

It was a game we never really threatened in, with probably only one close chance from a deflected free kick. In saying that, Marist didn't threaten all that much either, and perhaps they were lucky to pinch an early goal, which took the pressure off them to attack.

We still had moments of tidy, quick passing in the midfield and a few good balls over the top for our strikers, but all in all we didn't create enough to feel aggrieved at not picking up the three points. And credit to Marist's defense, they were pretty solid and showed again why they sit top and have only conceded 9 goals in 15 games.
Picking up one point is another story, but bad decisions happen (would you believe another offside goal?!) and we need to score goals to overcome them.

Admittedly the ground was an absolute bog which made running on it difficult let alone playing football in, but it's Winter, and we're in Wellington so it's not like we're not used to it.

While our defense hasn't exactly been brilliant - it's ranked 6th in the league, and we've only conceded 8 in the last 6 games, which ain't bad for the team sitting last - it's the goals for column that is really sorry reading.
We've scored only 17 goals from 15 games and if we want any chance at staying up, we're going to need to find the back of the net, starting this weekend at home against Stokes Valley.

Anyway, rant over, MAAAASIVE game on Saturday...

(Team for the record: Adam, Matt W, Dave, James, Nick, Josh, MJ, Mitch, Freddie, Jamie, Caleb. Subs: Cam, Matt Hickey, Hamish, Sandy)

Labels: away, capital 1, loss, marist

I'm struggling to come up with any new ways of describing our games. Every week it seems to be Deja Vu.

Good fighting spirit, clear opportunities created, good commitment, mostly solid defence - all resulting in another gut wrenching loss.

We lined up against top of the table Olympic with a very strong team considering all the injuries, suspensions and holidays decimating our first and second team squads.

And after a week off, after being cancelled last week, you could sense the keen-ness in the squad. Our core was maintained, with Josh and MJ lining up in the centre of midfield and Dave Wiggins part of the furniture at the back. Relative newbie Darren slotted in next to Dave with Nick sliding out to the right and Matty W assuming his possy at Left Fullback.
Up front we must've had an average age of about 12, with our 'front 4' consisting of the Hickeys, Freddie Double and Andy K. Adam, as usual, rounded out the team in goal.

Right from the first whistle, we played with intent and our young guns were causing plenty of trouble for the confident Greek defense. They were putting great pressure on the ball and stole a lot of it from careless first touches or plain arrogance on the ball. And our counter attack was working well.

One lightning attack down the left from Matt H resulted in a pinpoint cross to his brother Cam, who despite a Michael Jordan like jump (who said white boys can't jump!) couldn't quite get enough over the ball and his header shaved off a coat of paint from the top of the crossbar.

It was agonisingly close, but also very encouraging.

Most of Olympic's attacks were well snuffed out, either in midfield or from a nice nudge in the back courtesy of Darren or Dave. And when they did get in behind us, either the cross was well cleared or the cover was sufficient to make the tackle.

You could sense Olympic's frustration as we dominated play, and we knew the longer we kept them scoreless the better it would get for us.

Unfortunately, a tinny flick from their winger to their offside striker resulted in a simple one-on-one opportunity which was clinically taken, giving the Greeks a somewhat undeserved lead. (And I don't usually moan about refs decisions after the fact!).

We continued to push in the first half, but just couldn't find the goal. It was good to see everyone muscling up though and one thing we certainly weren't was soft. We went hard into challenges (maybe a little hard sometimes) and were sure to not be bullied out there which was important.

It's just the clinical edge we seem to lack. Final crosses, passes or shots just aren't hitting the mark.

So, after coming out of the break knowing we were still in it, we continued to create chances. Perhaps even more than the first half. Andy was getting plenty of ball, running from the space in behind Cam up front and the other three young'uns continued to run their bollocks off harassing the defence and creating for each other.

We had goal mouth scrambles, precise set pieces, a one-on-one and a (now expected) acrobatic bicycle from Andy, but every time the ball evaded the goal.

Frustrations were also starting to reach boiling point, with challenges becoming reckless and plenty of banter flying around the pitch.

And it all came to a head when Cam received a ball 10 metres into the attacking side of the field. He sharply turned inside, knocking the ball forward, but was well collected as he tried to scoot past. The defender had saved a one-on-one with their rather rotund keeper, but copped a red card for his troubles. The gutting thing for us was time was running out and Olympic had already started to work the 'defend the lead' tactic, only producing attacks on the counter and then they didn't have many numbers forward. The loss of a man only enhanced this tactic, and try as we might we couldn't find the elusive goal.

Another game gone. Another 3 points missed.

There's no doubt we're into the desperation end of the season and being last by 2 points, every week we don't pick up points is going to hurt deeply.

And it's fair to say we have a very tough run in. We have 4 of the top 5 teams left, and the only saving grace from that is that we seem to play our best against the good teams - as long as we can slot a goal!

This week we're against a very stingy Marist, who've conceded only 9 goals this season so if ever there was a test, this week is it.

Labels: away, capital 1, loss, olympic

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

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