Olivers army were almost on their way

Andrew Oliver bagged himself a brace of goals but it wasn't enough to give Wainuiomata a first home win since returning to The Football Central Premier League as a determined Marist went home with a share of the points after a hard fought encounter this afternoon.

Andrew Oliver scored twice for Wainui

Andrew Oliver put Wainui ahead with a neat finish but were pegged back when Marist scored with a pearler of a free kick.  I missed most of the first half action, running a marathon and then driving back from Levin is rather time consuming.  Shortly after I arrived at Richard Prouse Park the half time whistle sounded and I then took up my position in amongst the raucos home support outside the clubrooms.

'Danger Here'

Wainui dominated the early exchanges of the second half and were duly rewarded with a fine strike from Andrew Oliver to restore the home sides lead to the delight of the crowd.  The lead however was short lived.  Within five minutes, having already survived a goalmouth scramble, Marist broke down field and beat the keeper to level the scores again.  Josh Wilkie did make a valiant effort to clear off the line and was very unfortunate not to have succeded.

Players tussle for possesion as both benches look on

Marist came more into the game and dominated for a period after equalising and should have taken the lead only for a superb finger tip save from Michael Howells to keep the scores level.  Callum Patterson made an appearance from the bench and caused some trouble for the away teams defence with some super crossed balls into the box causing all sorts of problems but again luck deserted Wainui just when it would seem that a goal was coming.

The day finished with the customary speeches in the clubrooms after the game finished and the officials were thanked for a great game of flowing football.  Next week is a trip to the artificial pitch at Wakefield Park for a game against Island Bay.