A game of two halves

Wainui were soundly beaten 5 - 0 by Tawa earlier on today but in the true sense of the word it was 'a game of two halves' and the final scoreline didn't reflect how much effort was put in for the second half.  Our local hero Ralphie was in fine form today as he produced  a string of top drawer saves to deny Tawa time and again helping to keep the score from getting out of control.

The teams line up before the handshakes

Wainui made a solid start and almost took the lead after Paul Woods deflected shot almost looped in over the goalkeeper.  Tawa though played some clever football and cut through the Wainui defence on several occasions in the first half to take a well deserved 3 - 0 lead into the halftime break.

Euan Barclay beats his man

Wainui came out fighting in the second half and stifled the Tawa attack for large periods in a much improved display.  However an unlucky own goal from Neil Barclay (or was it Euan??) made it four for Tawa.  Believe me when I say it was unlucky, he got a challenge in on a Tawa players jinking run and from an acute angle inside the penalty box managed to put the ball into the roof of his own net?!?  Young Shaun McKechnie saw red late in the game and Tawa took full advantage of the man advantage to score a fifth goal.

Ralphie lines up his wall

Next week the venue shifts to the artificial park in Wellington as Wainui take on Island Bay United, it will be my first trip to the artificial park at Wakefield and it should be a good game with both teams being evenly matched in both of last seasons encounters.