Thirds Sneak Into Top Spot

A trip to Michaels Ave was changed into a trip to Pt England Reserve for the thirds to take on Ellerslie on Saturday. Pt England Reserve= No open change rooms or toilets... much to our dismay (especially Si's). Just as well it wasn't raining.

After a brief warm up on the soggy grass the game started on what was thankfully a firmer pitch, even if it was sloping quite a bit from one end to the other. With the wind behind us, Pukekohe started well (better than normal anyway) and created some early pressure. A corner whipped in by Wiz after about 10 mins found JR's head but he could only nod it over the bar... Its just not his year to score... yet.

The first goal was a sneaky header by Jay Pressnell, who out-jumped a couple of defenders and team mates to head in from close range. Puke 1-0.

Wiz continued with his 'goal a game' run, adding the second after half an hour. Jay Pressnell this time provider, when he saw Wiz run across the backline aiming for a space in the middle of the box. Jay delivered and the goal was a simple finish. Puke 2-0.

The second half saw us play into a diagonal breeze, and Ellerslie definitely managed to get into the game more. However their pressure could not lead to goals, and Puke scored their third and the best of the game (if not the year). A long ball was brought under control by Wiz, who passed through to Si. With a great decoy run by Wiz leaving defenders unsure, Si had time to skip passed the defender in front of him, and smash a 25m screamer into the top right corner. From the perspective of the players behind him, the ball curled at least a metre outside the post before coming back into the top corner. Nice effort indeed. Puke 3-0.

Ellerslie pinched a goal back when from a turnover up front a quick long ball caught our defenders by surprise and the nippy striker finished easily. The game looked like it might get closer from there, but it didn't really. Puke 3-1.

Puke's 4th goal came via a horrible challenge by the biggest player in the oppositions team. After a fairly innocuous shoulder to shoulder challenge with Si, this 'geezer' chased Si down and launched himself at him from behind and just plain chopped him. With the free kick awarded 30m out, Clive smashed a ball into the box which was played first time across th ebox into Jay's path for a simple second. Puke 4-1.

At the time of the game finishing, we expected to be second on the table. But top of the table Western Springs failed to beat bottom of the table Papatoetoe Utd (drawing 0-0) and so Pukekohe sneaked into the top spot. Well done lads!

And the 'knob of the day'... We were awarded a free kick about 25m out from goal. Wiz stepped up proclaiming this would be just within his range, when Terry said "nah nah Wiz, we have a plan...". Terry then passed it directly to the Ellerslie defender on the edge of the box. Top plan that Tez. Can't wait to see it come off.

Thanks to Roger for reffing again, for Kellie and Kevin Loader and Joanne Goulstone for their valued away support, and also to Callum Gibbs for making his senior debut to help us out. All much appreciated.

Next game is at home v High School Old Boys at 1pm.