If you’ve read the previous two match reports then you may see a pattern emerging ...

For the third week running we found ourselves on the receiving end of a 4-1 defeat, this time courtesy of a fairly decent Three Kings side.  Despite missing four of our regular players (Neil Kraakman, Mike Thomas, Donald Fleming and Anthony Kwan) we were still able to field a fairly decent side ourselves, but unfortunately the game plan soon went to pot when centre back Petru Musta was forced off with a bad knee injury with little more than 10 minutes played.  This meant a defensive re-shuffle with Mike Smyth coming on to the left wing to play only his second game of competitive football.  The first half went on to pan out in what is now becoming fairly typical fashion, with Pukekohe going in at half-time 3-0 down.

The second half also went on to typify the season so far, with the Maroons continuing to dig in and going on to stage a fight back.  A fourth goal conceded early in the half necessitated a change of tactics, going to three at the back with Matt Stewart pushed up front.  The change payed off with Matt getting himself on the scoresheet after heading in a cross that the opposition goalkeeper had failed to deal with.  The team continued to apply pressure, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time left on the clock to prevent defeat.  In hindsight maybe we should be playing with three at the back from the start of every match!

Difficult to pick an individual player of the day as the whole team worked hard and didn’t let their heads drop, as always.  However, the honours went to Jesse Bleeker, who yet again worked his socks off in the lone striker role.

Everyone deserves a mention though – Shane and Jason both added pace and energy to the side; Mark and Emil battled hard despite suffering from illness and injury, respectively; Dale continued to cause the opposition problems from the right wing; Shakey put in his usual consistent performance (in both midfield and defence); Petru, another consistent performer, was unlucky to have to come off with a bad knee injury; Blair had a solid performance in goal (there wasn’t much you could do with any that we conceded); Matt for being in the right place at the right time to grab a goal; and Mike for his efforts out on the left wing, despite being a relative newcomer to the game.

It may seem a bit cliched to keep using the phrase “just keep plugging away and the results will come”, but short of signing Harry Potter to work some magic that’s all we can keep doing.  For any statisticians out there, the 4th Team have used a total of 37 players during the season so far – a record I’m sure even the Over 35s would find hard to beat!

Team: Blair Mason, Emil Bojam, Petru Musta, Dave Wadeley, Matt Stewart, Dale Austin, Mark Ellis, Tom Shakeshaft, Shane Harneiss, Jason Harneiss, Jesse Bleeker, Mike Smyth

Goalscorers: Matt Stewart

Final Score: Three Kings 4 – Pukekohe 1

Next Fixture: Away v Western Springs, Saturday 21st June (1:00pm)