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| Waitakere United | Otago United |
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4 | NZFC - Week 13 Fred Taylor Park Sunday 7 February 2010 | 0 | |
Jake Butler 8 | |||
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Halftime:1-0 Referee: Mike Hester Crowd:245
by Bob Pearce at Fred Taylor Park nzfc.co.nz Otago United came, saw and returned home suitably Nobody could fault their commitment and at 1-0 down at the break, they were still very much in the game on a swelteringly hot and muggy West Auckland afternoon. But, as coach Malcolm Fleming conceded, they lost the plot in the second half and 4-0 could have been more. One consolation, though, on the flight home: They are no worse off in the NZFC than they were. They remain in third place and could probably be assured of a place in the playoffs if they can take four points from their remaining three games, two of them at home. Waitakere stay level pegging on points with Auckland City but behind on goal difference at the top, but a four-goal tally should serve as a warning that the former champions are warming to their work and only need their strikers to find their range and there could be a goal blitz. It took just eight minutes for Waitakere to take the lead. A left-wing corner was nodded on to captain Jake Butler and he looped his header over James Waggitt just under the bar. Roy Krishna made the game relatively safe in the 58th minute when he atoned for some wayward shooting with a tidy finish to a through ball and then the icing on the Waitakere cake came in the 81st and 83rd minutes from Benjamin Totori and player-coach Neil Emblen. Totori was supplied with a fine pass from the impressive young fullback Tim Myers and he added his own bit of magic for the goal, while Emblen out leapt the defence to head home a corner from Neil Sykes. Emblen's first of the season could have been joined by his second minutes later when his drive from the edge of the penalty area was headed for the roof of the net when it hit an unsighted goalkeeper Waggitt and Totori's finish was ruled offside.
At the other end, Totori and Krishna created a heap of chances only for the finish to be missing and Waggitt again showed his prowess with a couple of outstanding saves. "I was disappointed in the second half," said Fleming. "I think we let ourselves down. When we keep possession we can match anything and we trained all week to keep the ball on the ground. "We kept putting the ball in the air and Neil Emblen and Co headed it back to halfway. Still we're no worse off than we were and hopefully we'll be back north for the playoffs." Emblen was happy to see his team score four goals, but would have been happier with more. "I'm a bit of a perfectionist," he said. "We missed some gilt-edged chances but we did score four and hopefully this is the performance that kick-starts us for the rest of the season. "Roy and Benji are free spirits and they do things out of the ordinary and they create things for us, so it was good to see them both score goals. I again thought Tim Myers was outstanding, filling in for Aaron Scott." |
Waitakere | V | Otago |
1 Danny Robinson (GK) | James Waggitt (GK) | |
4 Tim Myers | 3 Tristian Prattley | |
7 Martin Bullock | 5 Ben Light (Tom Connor 61) | |
8 Brent Fisher | 6 Tom Sadd | |
9 Benjamin Totori | 8 Stu Kelly | |
10 Allan Pearce (Pearce 70) | 9 Ryan Faichnie | |
11 Neil Sykes | 10 Dave Dugdale | |
12 Roy Krishna | 16 Morgan Day | |
16 Neil Emblen | 17 Tim Horner | |
17 Jake Butler | 18 Nathan Knox (Abbott 67) | |
21 Jack Pelter (Rowley 58) | 20 Rhys Henderson | |
Substitutes | Substitutes | |
2 Jason Rowley | 13 Brian Brown | |
18 Zane Sole | 2 Michael Abbott | |
19 Dakota Lucas | 14 Dan Ede | |
20 Ryan de Vries | 15 Tom Connor | |
22 Liam Little (RGK) | ||
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0 mins | Hot and humid could be tough for the visitors. Crowd a fraction of the hundreds who turned up last week for the Auckland City game |
0 mins | Ref is Mike Hester, who has got the callup for the World Cup along with linesman (sic) Jan Hintz. Congratulations, we will be watching!! |
1 min | otago on the attack but last touch goes astray |
3 mins | pearce breaks on right but cross fielded by Waggitt |
4 mins | Totori breaks but Waggitt beats him to ball |
5 mins | Waitakere keeping the pressure up, surely the dam will break in a minute |
7 mins | Pelter limps off, freekick wasted, Pelter back and Otago stray offside |
8 mins | GOAL! Left wing corner for Waitakere, Fisher heads to Butler who heads it in, looping over goalie |
9 mins | Nearly another goal. shot on turn by Fisher brilliantly saved by Waggitt |
14 mins | String of corners for Waitakere but no result |
16 mins | Ryan Faichnie has first Otago chance but blasts over top |
20 mins | Otago freekick, finally finds Dugdale who had strayed offside |
22 mins | Great Otago chance, Kelly finds Dugdale who shoots straight at goalie from close range |
25 mins | Water break, red wine for the reporter. Waitakere deserve to lead but Otago missed golden chance to equalise |
26 mins | Rabbit hole in pitch being filled in!!! |
27 mins | Krishna outpaces defence but shoots over top |
28 mins | Butler header from right wing corner hits post and stays out. |
30 mins | Light has chance for Otgao but the shot again goes straight a t goalie. |
31 mins | Allan pearce robs Waggett but squanders chance |
33 mins | First Otago corner, cleared with difficulty |
35 mins | Krishna and Totori combine but Totori shoots wide |
37 mins | Yellow card Horner for blocking Pearce on edge of area |
38 mins | Yellow card Day for tackle on Krishna |
40 mins | Otago losing shape, Krishna shot ordinary but Bullock fires missile just wide. |
43 mins | Otago work towards penalty area but shoot over top |
45 mins | Four minutes of time added |
45 plus one | Brent Fisher yellow for grabbing shirt |
45 plus four | Halftime 1-0 Waitakere. Both sides had plenty of near misses but Waitakere probably deserve the lead |
46 mins | Away again Otago attack ends in right wing corner. Taken short but easily foiled |
48 mins | Totori passes to Krishna across face of goal but finish is poor |
50 mins | Totori again fluffs reasonable shot. Pass the ball benji to someone who can shoot. |
56 mins | Left wing corner for Otago easily headed clear. With Pelter and Emblen Waitakere own the air. |
58 mins | GOAL! Crtoss from right by Totori nudged by Fisher to Krishna who finall provides the finish |
58 mins | Subs Ede for Day, Rowley for Pelter |
61 mins | Sub Connor for Light |
66 mins | Everyone feeling the heat and the play is becoming very scrappy. |
67 mins | Abbott on for Knox |
70 mins | Sub Pearce off, de Vries on |
73 mins | Shot by Connor well save d by Robinson |
75 mins | Yellow card Butler |
79 mins | Yellow card de Vries for tackle that will be common at the World Cup |
81 mins | GOAL! Totori finally converts a good pass from Tim Myers |
83 mins | GOAL! Right wing corner headed in by Emblen |
84 mins | Sub Lucas for Fisher |
86 mins | Otago are wilting as they did against Auckland City |
88 mins | Right wing corner headed goalwards. Was it in? Ref says no. |
90 mins | Three minutes time added. Players will be pleased when final whistle blows |
90 plus two | Left wing corner for Waitakere. Emblen shot bounces off goalie, rammed in by Totori but offside |
90 plus four | Fulltime 4-0 to Waitakere. Otago gallant but outpaced and undone by the conditions |
chastened after they were beaten 4-0 by Waitakere United at Fred Taylor Park.
Otago had their chances in the first half, Ryan Faichnie fired over the top and then Dave Dugdale and Ben Light both shot straight at Robinson with only the keeper to beat.
=2 yellow cards
= red card