YoungHeart Manawatu

Otago United

1

2

Dale HIGHAM 49'

Nathan KNOX 17'
Phil RUGGLES 59'

by Kelvin Wescombe at Memorial Park
asbpremiership.co.nz

YoungHeart Manawatu sit outright last on the Premiership table after being dealt a crushing 2-1 loss at home against Otago United on Sunday.

With only one point separating the two sides after five rounds in the Premiership, this bottom of the table clash saw both teams looking to secure their first win of the season.

YoungHeart Manawatu also had a much simpler wish – to put the ball at the back of the net, something which up until today had not happened.

The match started at a frenetic pace, with both sides eager to push the ball forward and look for scoring opportunities. Otago had more chances to score than Manawatu, even though the green and whites had more possession of the ball. These half-chances culminated into a scoring opportunity for Nathan Knox in the 17th minute, who received the ball with open pasture just yards out of the box. His goal gave Otago leverage with a 1-0 lead that they held until halftime.

Manawatu came out with a real sense of urgency in the second half, and it wasn’t long until this change of pace evolved into breaking Manawatu’s drought of goals when Dale Higham guided in a nice ball from a streaking Hayne up the right hand side. The home crowd now had something to cheer for as Manawatu revelled in scoring their first goal of the season and locking up the game at one goal apiece.

There was new-found energy from YoungHeart Manawatu as they looked to capitalise on the momentum gained from their goal, creating a few half-chances in and around the goal. Frustratingly they could not finish these chances, and Otago United started showing signs of a fight back.

The 59th minute saw a short lapse in judgement by the Manawatu defence, and Phil Ruggles slotted in an easy goal to make it 2-1 to Otago United.

Manawatu looked patient for the remainder of the game, waiting for open players and opportunites, but they never came. The final five minutes saw a frantic frenzy of attack from Manawatu to try and level the ledger, but it was not enough as Otago held off for a hard-fought 2-1 win.

Otago coach Malcolm Fleming felt his side just needed to stick to a basic game plan of being patient with the ball and defend in all areas of the park if they were to come away with the win today.

“Last weekend we didn’t defend well in the first forty five minutes against Wellington which was disappointing,” said Fleming.

“We had to defend properly in all areas of the park today, and then keep possession when we had it. If you’ve got the ball it’s hard for the opposition to get it off you if you keep passing it around and running it into open space, and I thought we did that well today.”

“We’re happy with the points. I think we did about seventy five percent of what we wanted to do, and twenty five percent of things that let us done is stuff that we can work on. We need to keep up our possession, know when to pass and when not to pass. We work on that all the time and if we continue doing so we will continue to do well”, said Fleming.

Manawatu coach Bob Sova looked disappointed his side let Otago score a soft goal late in the second half to hand his side their fifth straight loss for the season.

“Everyone’s disappointed that we didn’t come away with a result”, said Sova.

“To not even get a draw today, that wasn’t good. That should’ve been an easy draw if not a win.”

Sova took little away from his side dominating the possession stats. “The possession stats are improving but that doesn’t really count towards much if you can’t put the ball at the back of the net.”

Sova has seen his fair share of challenges as a coach this season, with changes being made weekly due to injuries and suspensions. “Up until now I have been forced into making four or five changes every week,” says Sova.

“I don’t actually want to do that but it’s been beyond my control. I want to get a settled line-up and if that means having one or two poor results then so be it, and we’ll learn from it”.

Among the things he feels his side needs to move forward and improve, Sova singles out his team’s ability to create chances to score as one of the more important areas to work on.

“We need to work on the link between the midfield and the attacking third – the midfield front runners. There are other things too but that’s the main one I think”.

YoungHeart Manawatu will be playing Wellington Phoenix A at home on Tuesday, before heading up to Kiwitea Street to face on Auckland on Saturday. Meanwhile, Otago have a chance to build on their first win and continue their climb into the top half of the table with a home game against Canterbury next Sunday.

YoungHeart Manawatu

V

Otago United

1 - Matt BORREN (GK) 

22 - Callum FLAWS (GK)

2 - Nobuyoshi ISHI

6 - Tom SADD

3 - Matt SMITH

7 -Nathan KNOX

7 -Jason HAYNE

8 - Paul SEAMAN

9 - Michael WHITE

10 - Phil RUGGLES (M DAY 76')

10 - Adam COWAN (C)

11 -Andy COBURN

11 -Hamish MACKAY

12 -James REICHWIN

17  Brook TOZER

18 - Harley RODEKA

18 - Dale HIGHAM

23 - Anthony HANCOCK (RICKERBY 62')

20 - Willie HODGE

25 - Tom CONNOR

21 -Jared BLOOR (FRASER 75')

26 - Tristan PRATTLEY

Substitutes

Substitutes

5 -Josh CHETTLEBURGH

14 - Alistair RICKERBY (in 62')

14 - Michael MCKNIGHT

21 - Liam LOCKHART

15 - Pablo MOYA

24 - Curtis DAY

16 - Michael FRASER (in 75')

27 - Morgan DAY (in 76')

19 - Ben WILKES

=goal

=yellow card

=2 yellow cards

= red card

0

We are underway on this cool Manawatu afternoon. Otago with first posession

1

Corner kick to Otago - kick is overshot, kicked down-field

7

Both sids showing urgency -no great chances have evolved as yet

11

Otago's N KNOX gets a nice ball laced through just inside the box - BORREN defuses and smothers ball

14

game being played at a frantic pace - both teams sharing equal posession and territoy

17

Otago streak down the right flank - soft inside pass to KNOX on the right-hand side of goal, just outside the box. KNOX soots a rocket - GOAL!

17

 KNOX - in the bottom left of the net

23

KNOX again gets a clean shot just outside the box - great diving save from BORREN to his left

24

Free Kick Manwatu - HAYNE takes it 20 yards out from the box - ball trickles out and Manawatu keep pressure on

25

Player down -23 HANCOCK leaves the field momentarily but is now back in the action

30

BLOOR get a nice look just outside the box and fires the ball at the goal -athletic save by FLAWS -corner kick to Manawatu but doesn't eventuate

31

fast break down field by Otago - SEAMAN shoots at goal from the left side of goal -BORREN saves ball and makes it look easy

34

RODEKA with a hard shot 5 yards out from the box - ball flies over woodwork - Goal Kick

37

HANCOCK receives ball just past halfway and shows some fantastic handle before booting ball into COWAN

38

HANCOCK again finds himself with ball on the left-side in a one on one situation - crosses ball inside for open shot but is intercepted by Manawatu defence 

39

COBURN crosses a lovely ball from the left-side, finds the head of KNOX who sends the ball over the goal -could've been a chance for goal number 2 for KNOX

44

a bit of frustation showing by both teams - HAYNE given a free kick after RUGGLES trips him - RUGGLES gives HAYNE a little shove

45

HALFIME - both sides have had plenty of time with the ball but Otago have created more chances, and the scoreline could be worse for Manawatu. We will be back shortly for the start of the second half.

45

Underway - Manawatu streak down the left flank - HAYNE overcooks a pass and ball goes out

49

 GOAL! Finally Manawatu have chalked up a goal this season. HAYNE streaked up the right flank showing his great pace - crossed the ball to an equaly quick HIGHAM who trailed in the midfield and slotted it in the moneymaker. The monkey is now off the back of Manawatu - score now 1-1

55

You can clearly see the increase in energy from Manawatu after tha goal - they have more posession and territory, and are starting to create more chances for themselves

58

RUGGLES receives the ball just yards from the goal on the left hand side - fires a blinding shot but BORREN dives in front of it for a fearless save - another chance gone for Otago

59

SUBSTITUTION - Otago HANCOCK comes off, and a fresh RICKERBY enters the game 

59

GOAL! RUGGLES redeems his close miss earlier with a nice finish on the back of a string of quick passes inside the box. 2-1 Otago 

60

 COBURN delivers a tough challenge within Manawatu half

65

Some very tough challenges and hard tackles emerging - this game is heating up

69

Hard luck for RICKERBY who laces a ball past BORREN from the left hand side, but hits the right post and trickles in front of goal before BORREN regathers. Another chance gone for Otago to extend lead

71

Manawatu hold the ball in their half, looking for an opportunity. Manawatu look patient

75

SUBSTITUTION Manawatu - FRASER enters the game for BLOOR

76

SUBSTITUTION Otago - Morgan DAY comes in for RUGGLES -good performance today for RUGGLES

78

RICKERBY intercepts ball in Otago's own half and streaks down the right-handside - Corner Kick for Otago

79

Corner is quality, but misses the head of SADD who comes running in from outside th box

81

Otago keep the pressure on as they setup camp in Manawatu half

82

HAYNE crosses a nicely weighted ball into a sea of green in the box - ball misses everyone and FLAWS gathers a scoring opportunity missed

83

 REICHWIN with a tough challenge, gives Manawatu a scoring chance 15 yards outside the box

88

Manawatu are getting frustrated as they create chances but they can't seem to finish

89

Manawatu are throwing everything at them but cannot finish th opportunities they'e creating -O tago looking to send ball downfield to wind down the clock

90

Whistle blows for FULLTIME here in Palmerston North. A closely fought game that saw Manawatu score their first goal of the season, but going down in a 2-1 loss to Otago

The two teams showed a lot of fight in this game, but now Manawatu are now outright last on the Premiership table, while Otable their first win of the season. Thank you for joining us here at Memorial Park - be sure to read the post-match wrapup right here on www.asbpremiership.co.nz.