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Dave Wadeley posted on May 30, 2009 20:59
This weekend saw us travel to Point England looking to notch up a victory over Ellerslie ATSC, a team coming off the back of a 1-0 win against our derby rivals Waiuku. The weather looked threatening as we left Pukekohe and sure enough the rain hit hard as we arrived at Point England with the entire match being played in a virtual downpour. On to the match itself ...
The absence of a referee saw Martin Bennett kindly volunteer to do the honours, meaning a couple of tactical changes before kick-off. We did stick with the 4-5-1 formation which seems to have brought out the best in us over the last couple of games, with Pete Wild again playing in the role of lone striker. Despite the weather the game got off to a good start with some neat passing football from the Puke players. We did squander a couple of decent early chances, but a ball played out of the defence to Cameron Williams out on the left saw him turn in and strike a fearsome long shot which beat the opposition keeper to open the scoring. More chances followed and eventually Ezra Leffalaar beat several opposition players to increase our lead. 2-0 to Pukekohe at half-time, but Ellerslie had put our defence under pressure on several occassions so the game was far from over.
The second half again started promisingly, but a well struck shot from outside the area saw Ellerslie back in the game at 2-1. We soon put that behind us and were awarded an indirect free-kick for a foul not far from the opposition corner flag. Shane Harneiss floated the ball in and up popped Pete Wild to put it into the back of the net and increase our lead to 3-1. We were then made to do a fair bit of defending as the opposition looked to get back into the game, until a great ball out of defence from Matt Stewart saw Pete grab his second goal of the game. Further chances followed, with the final score ending at 4-1 to Pukekohe.
Post-match analysis: a just reward for a fantastic effort, building on what we have been doing so well in the past few weeks. Great attitude, commitment and work rate, with every member of the team playing for each other. We just need to keep doing this from week to week. There won’t be any easy games in this division so we need to stay focused if we are going to build on this.
Special mention for Martin Bennett this week, who refereed the whole game which was much appreciated by both teams. Credit also to the Ellerslie players, who made us work very hard for our win. Let’s see if we can continue to build on this next week ... bring on Waiuku!
Team: Blair Mason, Matt Stewart, Dave Wadeley, Jason Harneiss (capt), Donald Fleming, Mike Smyth, Kevin Mullane, Shane Harneiss, Ezra Leffalaar, Cameron Williams, Pete Wild, Neil Kraakman, Martin Bennett
Goalscorers: Cameron Williams, Ezra Leffalaar, Pete Wild (2)
Final Score: Ellerslie 1 - Pukekohe 4
Next Fixture: Home v Waiuku, Saturday 6th June (kick off 2:45pm, Bledisloe Park)