Island Bay United AFC

Another beautiful Wellington day, along with the carpet like Endeavour Park surface set the scene for a massive game against Tawa reserves, who finished 2nd in Cap 2.

It was great to have some consistency with the line-up, as we rolled out the same 11 from the last game against Petone, but we got off to a sluggish start.

Maybe it was the early start (Midday), maybe it was the week off, maybe it was nerves or maybe it was just Tawa coming out that little bit more fired up, whatever the reason we were almost immediately under the pump. Dangerous balls were being delivered into our area and while we scrambled well to survive for the first 10 minutes, we just couldn't settle the game down.

It resulted in a nicely taken goal as Tawa's strikers and midfielders worked well together, leaving Adam no chance in goal after the Tawa midfielder calmly picked his spot to put them 1 nil up.

The good news was this seemed to be the kick we needed to get going and immediately we had an attack up the right where Steelo won himself a penalty after one of his booming throws was hand balled in the box. No prize for guessing the result of the penalty - duly slotted and back to square at 1 - 1.

Tawa were still fired up though, but now we were matching them for intensity. Ball security probably wasn't the best (from either team) and chances were coming at both ends. And it wasn't too long before Luciano was through on goal - he used his pace to latch onto a long ball, outdoing his marker, and clinically finished past the stranded 'keeper to give us the lead, and a bit more confidence.

Perhaps not being used to having (or trusting) linesman we were probably sitting a bit deep, giving space for both Tawa's strikers and midfielders to run in, and eventually Tawa hit back to take us into the break all square again at 2 - 2. A run from midfield, feed to the striker and resulting layoff and goal all appeared too easy as we urged each other to keep up our standards and intensity.

I don't know what it was at the break, maybe I'll give the credit to Mez ;) but we came out a lot more relaxed and began to dominate the game. We withstood the pressure on defense, Millsy and Milky had control of the midfield, and the lads up front were asking plenty of questions of the Tawa defense.

As everyone began to tire, and the game seemed to be heading for extra time, the impact of our substitutions began to show. Freddy had come on for Mitch, and Jimmy for Josh (with Milney dropping back) and the fresh legs were really testing Tawa. Freddy seemed to be having a field day on the right wing and after dispossessing his defender one time, he charged down field and produced a beautiful finish into the inside left side netting to give us back the lead with only 10 minutes to go.

Desperation then started to tell on Tawa, as they pressed players forward and went all out in a bid to push for extra time. As our D held tight and there was now even more space up front, we wanted the killer blow.
And it came courtesy of another attack down our right. The build up was tidy and once Freddy was released, all he had to do was cut the ball back across goal for a lone Luciano to tap home into an open goal.

Tawa were visibly tired now, but weren't giving up and again we got them on a break. This time on the left side Millsy and Luc combined well, and once the ball found it's way to Jimmy he perfectly sliced the ball through for Freddy Double to bag a double. The ball rolled into the same side netting as before and what a super sub young Freddy had proved to be!

As mentioned the other week, I think we deserve another crack at Cap 1 after some encouraging signs this year and we will be a lot better for this year's tough season, so well done lads, I already can't wait for next year!

Congrats again to Olympic, this time for winning their promotion match, beating Naenae 8-7 on penalties after it stayed 1-1 after normal and extra time. Good luck for next year.

Prize giving next weekend (5 September), so don't forget to get your tickets and we'll see you all there, or at Summer League.

Shark Attack!

Labels: capital 1, neutral, playoff, tawa, win