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| Canterbury United | Auckland City |
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2 | NZFC - Round 7, English Park, Dec 21 2008 | 1 | |
Tom Lancaster 75 | Keryn Jordan 17 | ||
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Halftime: 0 - 1 Referee: Jamie Cross Crowd: 425
by Gavin Searle at English Park
Auckland looked in control the break leading through a Keryn Jordan goal but with the visitors appearing to sit on their lead at times, the home side rallied on the hour mark and scored twice in the space of four minutes with goals to Tom Lancaster and Gareth Turnbull. The result leaves the Dragons unbeaten from their last four games and within touching distance of cracking the semi-final spots, having now taken points off each the top four sides from last season. Auckland, needing a win to stay top the table over the Christmas break, now drop from back to third place. While it was not all one way traffic in the first half, Auckland deserved their lead having looked more dangerous on attack.
After the break, the sun finally came out and this along with several Canterbury substitutions warmed the home crowd with Auckland keeper Ross Nicholson finally called into action through a sharp-looking Jamie Smith. Smith had a major roll in the equalising goal, nodding the ball down to Lancaster who unleashed an unstoppable shot past Nicholson with 15 minutes remaining. Minutes later Auckland captain Ivan Vicelich up-ended Ryan Faichnie in a cynical foul near the edge of Auckland’s penalty area and from the resulting free kick Turnbull got the final touch to set up his side’s first home win of the season. The drama did not end there with Auckland’s Paul Urlovic somehow pushing the ball wide in the closing minutes with the goal begging. Canterbury assistant coach Robbie Stanton was full of praise for his side after the game. “The way we have been playing in the last few weeks we has expectation about what we wanted to do today and to get a results was what we were really aiming for,” Stanton said. “We changed one or two wee things in the second half but the result is a combination of many things and hard work. In the last four games we have shown what we a capable of.” Auckland coach, Paul Posa had no excuses after the game. “We were in control in the first half but did not make the most of our second half chances but Canterbury took theirs well and that is football”, said Posa. Photos by Glyn Davies |
Canterbury United | V | Auckland City |
1. Michael O'Keeffe (GK) | 1. Ross Nicholson (GK) | |
2. Dan Terris | 3. Matt Friel (out 72) | |
3. Matt Boyd | 5. Matt Williams | |
4. Bill Robertson (c) | 6. Ki-Hyung Lee | |
5. Andy Pitman | 8. Chad Coombes | |
7. Ryan Faichnie (out 80) | 9. Paul Urlovic | |
8. Garry McDermott (out 71) | 14. Keryn Jordan | |
9. Tom Lancaster | 15. Ivan Vicelich (c) | |
10. Jamies Smith | 20. Greg Uhlmann | |
12. Michael Fiffi (out 61) | 16. Xavi Roca | |
19. Darren Overton | 23. Liam Mulrooney (out 61) | |
Substitutes | Substitutes | |
11. Gareth Turnbull (in 61) | 7. James Pritchett (in 72) | |
16. Nick Wortelboer (in 80) | 12. Jacob Spoonley (RGK) | |
20. Hamish Chang (in 70) | 19. Salesh Kumar (in 61) | |
22. Chris Sinclair (RGK) | 21. Riki Van Steeden | |
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Welcome to English Park for this Round 7 fixture with over cast conditions wih the pitch soft in patches after heavy rain on Saturday. | |
1 min | Play is underway with the wind blowing across the pitch |
2 mins | First Auckland attack ends with cross being too deep and goes over goal line |
7 mins | Auckland free-kick in front of goal well stuck but straight into the arms of Michael O'Keeffe |
9 mins | Auckland starting to dominate with shot from Paul Urlovich just wide of goal |
15 mins | Auckland win first corner of game with Canty clearing for another corner which comes to nothing |
17mins | GOAL 0 - 1 Keryn Jordan nods ball into open net after Andy Pitman hea ball back across his own goal |
23 mins | Auckland finally clears danager as Jamie Smith allowed to run unchecked into area |
30 mins | Auckland continue to look more danagerous on attack |
32 mins | Yellow Card Darren Overton (Canty) into for a heavy tackle |
34 mins | Yellow Card Tom Lancaster (Canty) also in the book |
42 mins | Auckland have lifted tempo |
45 mins | Referee Jamie Cross blows for half time with Auckland well worth their one goal lead |
46 mins | Play back underway |
48 mins | Auckland has ball in the back of the net but assistant flagging for off-side |
50 mins | Canty win free-kick on edge of goal mouth but cleared easily |
53 mins | Coombes on the end of good build up but O'Keeffe down to block |
57 mins | Jamie Smith allowed to run and shoots on the run to bring first save of the match for Ross Nicholson who palmed ball away for corner |
60 mins | Sun now out as Canty finally spark into life |
61 mins | Double sub: Canty replaces Michael Fifii with Gareth Turnbull and for Auckland Liam Murooney off for Salesh Kumar |
63 mins | Smith earns another corner for Canty |
71 - 72 mins | Double sub: Canty replaces Gary McDermott with Hamish Chang and for Auckland ames Pritchett off for Matt Friel |
74 mins | Yellow Card Matt Boyd (Canty) also in the book for a bad tackle |
74 mins | GOAL 1 - 1 Tom Lancaster great goal after Jamie Smith nods ball down |
79 mins | GOAL 2 - 1 Gareth Turnbull puts Canty in front from a free kick after Ivan Vicelich bundles over Ryan Faichnie on edge of area |
84 mins | Urlovic puts ball wide with goal begging |
90 mins | Three minutes added time |
90 mins + 3 | FINAL 2 - 1 Canty a strong second half display are Auckland lead at the break and at times looked happy to sit on lead. Full reports and comment to follow. |
Canterbury United’s resurgence continued at English Park on Sunday, making the most of their second-half chances in a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Auckland City.
Keryn Jordan scored one of the easiest of his 56 career NZFC goals in the 17th minute nodding into an empty net after Andy Pitman could only head the ball across his own goal. 
=2 yellow cards
= red card