UPPER HUTT CITY VS ISLAND BAY

MAIDSTONE PARK

KO 3:30 PM

MATCH DAY

PROGRAM

30th April 2016

Photo courtesy of JB Photography

Four games into the season and we are heading in the right

direction towards achieving our goals but it is essential we don’t

get complacent and keep the foot on the gas.

The last two weeks have produced some excellent football with the

results to back it up, (4 – 1 v Marist Benn, Richard 2 and Matt F

and 8 – 2 v Karori Cameron, Josh, Benn, Matt F and Richard 4)

On Saturday we didn’t start as strong as we would have liked and

conceded the opening goal after 10 minutes, we were a little bit

lucky with our reply (Sorry Cameron) and Cushla made an

excellent save before we settled and were able to slowly put our

stamp on the game.

Three quick goals close to half time put us in a commanding

position and I’m sure everyone at the ground was concerned for

the Wharfies players as the noises coming out of their changing

room was similar to a heavy metal concert (coaches rant) rather

than a team talk.

We stressed at half time how important it was to start strong and

put them on the back foot which we were able to do with a quick

couple of goals. The middle part of the second half died down

before another flurry of goals and goalmouth action to finish the

game.

Thanks to all our loyal supporters who have followed us around, it

is certainly appreciated by the team.

Finally, welcome to the Island Bay team and their Management for

today’s game, which I’m sure will be another enthralling contest.

Enjoy the game and look forward to catching up with you in the

club afterwards. Foz

A message from Mark . . .

City Review

Introducing your team . . .

City Review

1. Cushla Lichtwark

2. Brandon Postlethwaite

3. Josh Hinton

4. Wayne Rooker

5. Hamish McLachlan

6. David Lane

7. Matt Fong

8. Connor Scott

9. Jeremy Fong

10. Liam Bell

11. Cameron McLachlan

12. Dominic Scahill

13. Sam Rausch

14. Richard McLay

15. Benn Dawson

16. Logan Van Der Vegt

17. Stephen Thomas

18. Pedro Garcias

19. Matt Springgay

20. Sam Patterson

Coach: Mark Foster

Asst Coach: Benn Dawson

Manager: John Milroy

Physio: Dianne Shirer

Big scores kick off the Chatham Cup

City Review

The preliminary round of the Chatham Cup was light on upsets but there were goals aplenty around New Zealand on Anzac Day.

A total of 19 games were staged across the four federations – Northern, Auckland, WaiBOP and Football South – to find the final entrants in the first round of one of New Zealand’s oldest trophies (the Chatham Cup dates back to 1923).

One of the feature matches of the | preliminary round was the local derby between traditional WaiBOP rivals Taupo AFC and Rotorua, but the hosts at Crown Park dominated for early bragging rights.

Taupo AFC led 1-0 at half time and went on to secure a significant win with goals from Joe O’Donoghue (2), Byron Thessman and Finlay Smith.

Other big winners from WaiBOP included Ngongotaha, who defeated a sickness-ravaged Old Blues side 6-0, and Cambridge FC who trounced Colo Boys 8-0.

Further north, Unimount Bohemian Celtic won a high scoring thriller 5-2 over Northern United, Northwest United were pipped 4 – 3 by Bucklands Beach with Liam Thompson netting a hat-trick, and Kamo scored a big win, defeating Zamantix 5-1 at home.

Big scores kick off the Chatham Cup

City Review

Lynn-Avon United had five separate scorers on the sheet as they hammered Kerikeri 5-0, and Adrian Peihopa scored a hat-trick as Glen Eden Rangers beat Drury United convincingly 6-1.

Meanwhile, Gore Wanderers delivered a stirring second half comeback to defeat Melchester Rovers 3-2 at Caledonian Park. Trailing 2-0 at the break, after two goals in as many minutes from Jared White, Gore levelled terms when Frank de Jong and Todd Andersen scored shortly after the interval. Ben Rea completed the fine come from behind win when he scored in the 80th minute to advance to the first round.

In the final match of the Football South Federation, Timaru Boys First XI were outclassed when they hosted Thistle AFC 6-2. The youngsters were in the contest at half time, but doubles to Jordyn Ellis and James Spence sealed the result and ensured Thistle AFC a winning start to the 2016 Chatham Cup.

Six in a row for Auckland City

City Review

Auckland City will take on some of the best players on the planet yet again at December’s FIFA Club World Cup after lifting the OFC Champions League trophy for a ground-breaking sixth consecutive time.

The Navy Blues earned the right to represent the South Pacific in Japan with a comprehensive 3-0 defeat of Team Wellington this afternoon at QBE Stadium in Auckland, Micah Lea’alafa proving the inspiration with a double and an assist for the victors.

Having wrestled the ASB Premiership title from out of Auckland’s grasp at the same ground in March, Wellington were looking for a similar outcome today but instead add to settle for a repeat of the defeat they suffered in last year’s OFC Champions League final to the same opponents.

The men from the capital never really got going and their afternoon of misery was added to when former Auckland midfielder Alex Feneridis was dismissed late on for a rash challenge on City fullback Takuya Iwata.

Six in a row for Auckland City

City Review

To have any hope of upsetting the eight-times champions, Wellington needed to frustrate Auckland for a long as possible and disrupt their passing game but those tactics went out the window straight away when City struck in the opening minute.

The skillful Lea’alafa picked the ball up on the right and displayed all of his trademark pace and trickery to cut inside and ghost his way past a pair of challenges before leaving Chris Bale flat-footed in the box and rifling a low shot inside the far post.

Wellington goalkeeper Scott Basalaj got a hand to that effort but was left clutching at air when Lea’alafa again made a nuisance of himself and picked out a cross to Joao Moreira, whose first-time volley came crashing off the underside of the cross bar in the 42nd minute.

That meant the half-time score was only 1-0 but Auckland must have wondered how they had failed to increase that advantage after completing dominating proceedings. In contrast to the tight and even action of most finals, the Navy Blues had enjoyed 75 per cent of the possession and fired 11 shots towards goal while Wellington were yet to muster a single effort.

Matt Calcott’s side therefore needed to improve in the second half to keep their hopes of reaching Japan alive but instead continued to struggle to make an impact on the game and it was always likely to be Auckland that scored next.

When the second goal did finally arrive in the 67th minute, there was again a touch of class about it and it was that man Lea’alafa who sparked it once more. The Solomon Islands international was clearly enjoying his time in the glorious Auckland sun and another run down the right allowed him to tee up Clayton Lewis, who made no mistake in tucking a cool effort past Basalaj.

Six in a row for Auckland City

City Review

Wellington now had to produce something truly special to turn things around and never looked like doing so as Auckland goalkeeper Diego Rivas was left largely untested.

The task was made even harder in the 83rd minute when Feneridis received his marching orders and the final nail was driven into the coffin just a moment later. Yet again it was Lea’alafa causing the damage, the pint-sized winger dinking a ball to the far post which Ryan De Vries headed back across goal for Moreira to attempt a bicycle kick.

The Portuguese striker did not make the desired contact with his spectacular effort but the ball broke to a well-positioned Lea’alafa and he drove a volley through several players to find the net, thus wrapping up a forgettable day for Wellington. “It’s been a good campaign but it’s difficult to think about that at the moment,” captain Bill Robertson said.

“Obviously, we’re hugely disappointed with the result today. Our first-half performance was poor and we never really recovered from that,” he added. Fair play to Auckland City, I think they deserved it today and were the better side so congratulations to them.” Opposing captain Angel Berlanga was delighted to have booked a return to the world stage. We are really happy because there has been so much hard work from the team and the staff – now we are going to Japan again,” he said.

“We knew it was going to be hard and we were really disappointed after losing our last final against them. So we had to pick things up from there and we played a really intense game.” There was further glory for Lea’alafa when he picked up the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player while Basalaj earned some consolation in receiving the Golden Gloves.