4th Team v Drury United

Having had a two week enforced break due to the recent poor weather conditions, this week saw the Pukekohe 4th Team looking to kick start their season away to mid-table Drury ...

Needless to say, the two week break saw the team enthusiastic for a game and hopeful of getting a result.  Pre-match preparations saw us going into the game with a bare eleven, but the arrival of Adam Moorhouse and Colin Case provided welcome reinforcements.  Unfortunately, despite talking of making a solid start we pretty much did what we usually do in the opening 20 minutes, i.e. were guilty of ball watching and being second to the ball with the end result being an early goal conceded.  Based on those 20 minutes, the Drury team were probably expecting to have a comfortable game.  That was not to be as we finally started to up our game, winning challenges and creating our own opportunities.  The arrival of Nick Rowe towards the end of the half also brought us up to full strength.

The second half saw us put in solid performances in every department, winning the ball, stringing together a few neat passes and putting pressure on the opposition defence.  We finally got our just rewards when Adam stabbed the ball home after a goal mouth scramble.  On the face of it, it may have looked like a scrappy goal, but the final touch was actually the result of some great build-up play from the team.  More opportunities came our way, but unfortunately we were unable to convert them.  To be honest, when the final whistle came I felt disappointed not to have taken all three points.  Having said that, we did get our first point of the season and not before time.  Drury played a hard fought game themselves, so credit to them as well.

Despite a jittery opening 20 minutes, the team put in strong performances in every department this week.  Player of the day honours went to Tom Shakeshaft, who has been Mr Consistent for us this season and today had an outstanding game at the heart of our defence.

A few thank you’s this week ... to Mike Thomas for refereeing the first half, to Paul Coles and Martin Bennett for providing us with reinforcements from the 3rd Team, to those players themselves (Nick Rowe and Colin Case, plus Adam Moorhouse from the Reserves) and to our travelling supporters.  Special thanks also to Colin and Jamie Pegg, who weren’t able to get a game for us, but still made the effort to turn-up (much appreciated, thanks).

At long last, we can finally put our losing streak behind us and hopefully build on this result and push on for the rest of the season.  All we really need to do is work on that opening 20 minutes, which (probably not helped by our constant rotation of players, now standing at 42) has undoubtedly been our achilles heel this season.  Bring on our next opposition ...

Team: Blair Mason, Emil Bojam, Neil Kraakman, Tom Shakeshaft, Donald Fleming, Dale Austin, Mark Ellis, Dave Wadeley, Adam Moorhouse, Graham Spinks, Jesse Bleeker, Mike Thomas, Colin Case, Nick Rowe

Goalscorers: Adam Moorhouse

Final Score: Drury Utd 1 – Pukekohe 1

Next Fixture: Home v Western Springs, Saturday 19th July (2:45pm)