Lee Du Maurier posted on May 26, 2007 18:06
The Mens O35's took on the only side to ever beat them since they entered the tournament, Beachlands at Bledisloe Park this afternoon. In blustery conditions, the home side elected to take the wind and started brightly against solid opposition, who matched us stride for stride in the opening 20 minutes.
The game came to life midway throughthe first half, when Puke stopper Daryl Wilson, ran into keeper Andre's head and came off second best. The bump on his shin resembled a multi coloured Millenium Dome, such was the impact and consequently played no further part. This brought the defensive pairing of the 2 Big Macs (Brian and Gavin) and they quickly established a solid partnership comfortably snuffing out any Beachlands threats.
Soon afterwards, Puke took the lead when a beautifully weighted cross from Tony Woulfe met the powerful head of Puke's slimline substitute making his first appearance of the season. (For slimline, read George Foreman in a Maroon shrinkrwrap outfiit.....Fin are there not any XXXL shirts?) In reality, my header came back off the post and flukely straight back into my waiting gut to force across the line. It wasn't pretty but they all count.
In the 2nd half, Puke pushed forward at every opportunity and were unlucky not to extend their lead, when within the space of 2 minutes they hit the woodwork twice. Firstly, Russell Whiters speciality cross-shot came back off the angle, closely followed by Gwyn's 45 degree header that hit the same spot.
The game was effectively wrapped up when another superb ball by Tony Woulfe was brought under control by Dave Bernard in the box. The challenge by the Beachlands defender only managed to loop the ball over his own keeper to put the home side 2-0 up. The score was extended 5 minutes later, when Richie Sharples brought the ball out of midfield, carried it forward 10 yards, looked up and lofted it beautifully over the keepers head.
Beachlands got a late consolation from a neat header and did make a go of it in the last 10 minutes, however, Puke held on to record a convincing 3-1 victory, to make it 23 wins in a row. They will aim to make it 24 when they take on Tuakau at Bledisloe next Saturday.