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Dave Wadeley posted on April 20, 2008 11:46
This week’s away fixture against Ellerslie at Point England looked to see us travelling with a full squad (including 3 rolling subs) and hopeful of registering our first win – at least that’s how it was looking on Friday night. Come matchday, however, we were only able to field 10 players due to player injuries and unavailability, with only 3 players from last week’s line-up in the team.
With a makeshift defence marshalled by goalkeeper Jamie Clarke and stand-in captain Tom Shakeshaft, the team battled well during the first half but were unable to make a breakthrough and inevitably finished the half 2-0 down against a side who were certainly no better in terms of quality (but did have the benefit of an extra man and rolling subs). Undaunted, the team looked to create chances early in the second half. With just 30 minutes of the match remaining the arrival of Ben Johnstone, fresh from a game with the Reserves, brought us up to 11 players. Unfortunately this didn’t last long as George had to limp off injured about 5 minutes later. The team did manage to work their way back into the game, putting pressure on the opposition which resulted in Ben getting on the scoresheet with a well taken goal. Towards the end of the match the opposition managed to grab another goal and the game ended at 3-1 to Ellerslie.
Again, the workrate and commitment of the Pukekohe players, personified by player of the day Paul “Wee Man” Hinton, could not be faulted and it will only be a matter of time before they start to reap the rewards of their hard work and creative endeavour. A special mention to 17th Grade players Cole and Albert, who made the step up to senior football (at very short notice) and were a credit to both themselves and to the club.
Hopefully we will be able to field a full team for next week’s fixture and get some much needed (and deserved) points on the board.
Team: Jamie Clarke, Rob Darby, Tom Shakeshaft, Cole Van Tiel, Dale Austin, George Miller, Albert Lee, Jesse Bleeker, Paul Hinton, Anthony Kwan, Ben Johnstone
Goalscorers: Ben Johnstone
Final Score: Ellerslie 3 – Pukekohe 1
Next Fixture: Home v South Auckland Rangers, Saturday 26th April (2:45pm)