Men's Thirds- Games 3 and 4 Review

Game 3 for the third team was at home against Western Springs Young Ones who were also unbeaten after 2 matches. They were as their name suggested- young.

Pukekohe started well and went ahead after 20 mins when Simon beat almost every player on the field (twice) and then laid it up on a platter for George to slam home. 1-0 Puke.

Then Pukekohe had a couple of lapses in concentration, both of which led to unmarked players in the box being able to finish fairly simply for Springs. Halftime: Puke 2-1 down.

The second half was all maroon, but Puke just didn't quite manage to play their proper game and the result showed. Wiz managed to equalise around the 60th minute, when he coolly took a through ball from Si around the keeper and passed it into an empty net.

From there it got a bit mad. A late tackle on the sideline 40m out gave Springs a free kick, which was knocked over to the back post. The puke defense all missed it and the Springs striker headed it back toward goal. It wasn't that simple though, the ball hit the far post and rebounded into two Springs players who bundled it into the corner, along with a desperately diving Menno in goal. Springs 3-2 up.

That was the final score, even though Puke had a couple of reasonably good chances and probably at least one good penalty claim. So that left Springs and our next opponents, Onehunga Sports, as the only unbeaten teams in Div 6.

And the knob you might be thinking? Martin Bennett for being an iPhone addict and all round dodgy flirt. (not with the lads thankfully...)

Game 4 was at Waikaraka Pk against current league leaders Onehunga Sports. The first interesting point to mention was the pre-match build up. This consisted of being informed that there was a metal pole sticking out of the ground near halfway in the circle.

"We'll just put a cone over it". Yeah right Onehunga. A spade was produced and Clive (our designated handyman) set about digging a hole around and under the pole so we could peg it flat and cover it with the dirt. But we ended up managing to snap it off and fill in the hole. Just as well, as it was pretty dangerous.

As we were now the field maintenance crew, Onehunga 'volunteered' to Ref the whole game, thankfully as we had no-one to do it this week.

Pukekohe started playing the best football, but Onehunga went up 1-0 fairly early on when the maroons defense failed to meet a high ball, and the O-S striker ran through and chipped an advancing Menno. The rest of the half was all Pukekohe, and after a few good chances missed (Yes, by Wiz again...) we gained a deserved penalty which Simon converted for his first goal of 2011. Halftime: 1-1.

The main thing from the halftime talk was this from Clive- Score early this half and they'll be done. It proved to be very true, when the speaker of those words himself gathered the ball near halfway and made a jinking run through a group of O-S players before laying off to Terry who swung a perfectly weighted cross to the back post. Montri (in his first game of the year) calmly volleyed in for his first goal and our 2nd. Pukekohe 2-1 up.

Pukekohe were all over O-S from then on. The third goal was from a Montri corner, where Roly leapt high- only to miss the header and score with his shoulder/back. Pukekohe 3-1. After subbing himself off for poor shooting form (again) Wiz returned in the 2nd half to finish the scoring. A great goal kick from Menno, who's delivery had been outstanding all game, was flicked on by Si into the run of Wiz. The trouble was that Wiz had pulled his quad in an effort to make the run... he managed to catch up to the ball however and smash a powerful low shot past the keeper into the right corner of the net. Pukekohe 4-1 up and sub please.

Again Pukekohe probably could have had more goals, with a couple hitting the bar and a blatant penalty or two being turned down. All in all the teams best performance of the year.

The knob this week went to Roland Mackenzie: for knowing far too much about 'The Sound of Music', making some unlikely bets on the Highlanders and for the back-goal.

Goal Scorers to date: Wiz 6, Karl & George 2, Jay, Si, Bondy, Roly, Montri, Ben 1 each.

Next game- Home v Otahuhu Suva 2:45pm.