Performance of the season??

Wainui made the relatively short trip over the Wainui Hill to face Stop Out at a blustery Hutt Park Raceway this afternoon.  Stop Out played with the wind at their backs and took an early lead with a ball that drifted over Simon Rippons head and held up just enough for Stop Outs' striker to nod into an empty net.  After beating Wainui well earlier in the season Stop Out could have been forgiven for thinking that todays game would be no different but Wainui had other ideas.

After conceding so early in the game Wainui played the game along the ground not wanting to put the ball into the air too often, the wind was so strong the ball would just blow back to where it was kicked from.  John MacKay was excellent again down the right again and created some good chances with the use of his trickery and at the back some composed defending from Neil Barclay and a couple of great saves from Simon Rippon kept Wainui in the game.

Witht the wind at their backs Wainui came out for the second half and pushed forward from the off, they did have a couple of scares in their own goalmouth but the defence was always in control.  The equaliser duly came with 25 minutes left to play when Paul Wood beat a couple of players down the left, squared the ball for Callum Patterson whos shot was saved well by the keeper, the rebound fell for Stephen Quirke who blasted home from close range to the delight of the travelling fans.

The boys did create some more chances but the wind interefered with the flight of the ball and Stop Out to their credit also defended well when they had to.  The game drew to a close and with that brought Wainui another point in their race to avoid the drop.  This was in my opinion Wainuis best performance of the sesason,  and the win would well and truly been deserved against a very good, well organised Stop Out side.  So one more game to go for the season next weekend against Wellington United, if they can play like they did today who knows what might happen at Richard Prouse Park next Saturday!!

Weekend round up

It was a busy weekend of football here in Wellington and quite a few of Wainuiomatas teams were in action.  It's always good to see an almost complete weekend of fixtures that haven't been cancelled due to the weather although at this time of year the grounds generally aren't in the best of shape......

Div 4 :  Wainui 8 0 Island Bay Massey *What a win for the seconds, our local hero Ralphie got a start but the goals didn't begin to flow until Phil Hawtin made an appearance from the bench, this puts the lads 3rd on the table.

Div 6:  North Wellington Villa 2 3 The Undertakers *Great result for The Undertakers which takes them off the bottom of the table

Div 15 : Uni Cycles 1 7 Wainui Half Baked *Another big win for Curt and the boys leaving them in second place pushing for promotion.

Div 17 : Wainuiomata 6 0 North Wellington Bombers *It looks like the 3rd team have won promotion but I may need confirmation on that.

Womens Div 4 : Wainuiomata 2 0 Petone Pumas *This win ensures that the womens 2nd team don't finish bottom of the league, good job.

So a great weekend of results for the club, zero defeats can't be a bad thing.  This weekend in Wellingtons Football Central Premier League is a big derby for Wainui over the hill in Seaview against Stop Out.  It wasn't the greatest of results the last time the teams met from a Wainui perspective so it's a case of redemption for the boys this time around.

Rain fails to keep the home crowd away

On a cold and wet Saturday afternoon Waterside Karori were the latest team to make the trip over the Wainui Hill to take on the lads in Wellingtons Football Central Premier League.  Having made Karori work hard for their 2-1 win earlier in the season I was wondering just how this game would pan out.  I came equipped with my trusty rain jacket, little help it turned out to be as the rain persisted for the entire game.

Joel waiting for the long ball to drop

Karori dominated for most of the first half but Wainui defended well and kept them scoreless.  Although there was just one moment of panic when a cross wasn't cleared and a great shot from the Karori attacker came back off the post and into the path of another Karori attacker who somehow missed the shot with the goal at his mercy.

Rowen gets a shot away

The second half was a much better performance from Wainui who managed to create some chances while still putting up a fair old defensive display of their own.  Joel Evans had the best of these chances when one on one with the keeper he looked destined to score until, somehow, the centre back tracked back and did enough to force Joel to shoot just inches wide.  A much improved second half unfortunately brought no goals from Wainui but they did salvage at least a point.

Back in the clubrooms after the match the referees were applauded for a job well done and Josh Wilkie won man of the match for a great display at the back for Wainui.  News also came through that Western Suburbs lost again keeping them rooted to the bottom of the table in the race to avoid relegation.  Next weeks game is agaianst Stop Out, I just hope the weather improves before then.

Just one of those days

Wainui travelled to David Farrington Park to take on Miramar Rangers yesterday afternoon for what was a must win game.  Playing Miramar on their own turf is a challenge, I've played against them a few times out there and the closest I got to a result was a 3-1 loss in a very entertaining game of football.



Joel Evans about to score

 The team yesterday played with a high intenstiy that put Miramar off their game in the first half and with around 25 minutes of the game gone Callum Patterson cut down the left wing and delivered an inch perfect cross into the box which was headed home by young Joel Evans.  They dealt with everything Miramar threw at them for the remainder of the half with some ease but there was a case for a penalty to Miramar which the referee waved away.  A lucky escape I thought which also saw the Miramar coach vent his anger at the referee and linesmen as both teams trudged to the dressing rooms at half time.



Simon Rippon keeps Miramar out

 Miramar came out a more determined side and put Wainui under some pressure and finally won themselves a penalty with about 20 minutes to go.  The spot kick was duly dispatched into the back of the onion bag (Tommy Smyth with a Y refernce there) but this kicked Wainui into gear for the remainder of the match.  A lot of pressure was applied, Joel Evans hit a thunderous freekick from all of 25 yards that the Miramar keeper did well to keep out, Callum Patterson jinked his way into a scoring shot but hit the side netting.  Miramar themselves came close at the death but neither team could find the winning goal, a draw was the fairest result on the day for both teams.

A point for Wainui could have been an ok result for the days work but with Marist beating league leaders Upper Hutt (a shock result if ever there was one) the boys now face a tough challenge to break out of the bottom two and avoid the drop.  But with two of the three remaining games to be played at their home pitch anything is still possible.
 

200 games and counting



Mark Manzone sizes up a free kick

 Mark Manzone marked his 200th appearance for Wainuis' first team in last Saturdays loss to Upper Hutt.  200 first team appearances is a huge achievement for anybody and according to the match programe from Satyrdays game it's a club career that began back in 1990 with a 9-0 victory against Newlands to help the team win the old Super League 2 in an undefeated season.

The club congratulated him with a new blazer with the clubs crest on the pocket, presented to him by our local hero Ralph Chenery who has over 350 first team appearances to his name.  I bagged my own momento of the occasion with an autographed matchday programme from the man himself, thanks Mark!!

The collectors edition programme

Wind, rain and thunder, just another day in the valley

Coming up against the league leaders of Upper Hutt in this afternoons game at Richard Prouse Park was never going to be easy and the visitors really showed their class and why they are top of the pile in some atrocious conditions today.

Our local hero Ralph Chenery made an appearance in goal alongside striker Mark Manzone, who was making his 200th appearance for the club today, but was helpless to deny the visitors taking an early lead with a well taken goal from their striker.  It almost got a lot worse soon after when Upper Hutt were awarded a penalty but with some distraction from the home support and some fancy footwork from Ralph in the goal the penalty was missed.

The second duly arrived for Upper Hutt but this sparked Wainui into gear and they managed to hit the crossbar twice just before halftime.  The visitors then managed to soak up some early second half pressure from Wainui before catching them twice on the counter to kill off the game as a contest.  A fifth and sixth goal followed but Wainui never gave up the chase and finally just before full time Callum Patterson nicked one past the keeper.  This brought a huge cheer from the home support who had gathered against the clubroom wall for some shelter from the driving rain that showed up from time to time.

Back in the clubroom the 'apres' match speeches from both coaches as always were good value and Joel Evans landed the bottle of champagne for player of the day.  It was a well earned reward for a hard days work from Joel even though he ended up on the losing side.  More great scenes in the clubroom followed as Mark Manzone was presented with his club blazer to commemorate his 200 first team appearances and the 100 appearance club guys received their newly designed club ties.  All that was missing from today really was the result against Upper Hutt.

Better late than never

After last Saturdays Undertakers game Craig Preston made a presentation to players Ricky Sweetman and Grant Van Der Westhuizen. 



Grant shows his trophy with some
support from the legendary Dean Cutter

 Grant recieved his trophy for The Undertakers most consistent player of 2010 and Ricky was receiving his trophies for The Undertakers players player of the year for 2010 and the second teams most consistent player from 2009.  Congratulations guys and as they say, 'better late thatn never'. I think the awards won that I mentioned were correct, might need some clarification from Mr Preston on that one!!



Ricky (middle) with Adrian and
Bruno offering their congratulations

 It's a huge game this Saturday at Richard Prouse Park in the Football Central Premier League against league leaders (who also happen to be the defending champions) Upper Hutt.  It would be great to see the lads get a result against one of the best teams in the league, best of luck to them is all I can say!!

The bigger they come, the harder they fall

Wainui earned a two all draw against Marist in The Football Central Premier League having lead by two goals that came from Paul Wood and Ewan Barclay.  Not the result that was needed but the race to avoid relegation is still on.  I couldn't make it out to the match as I answered the call from The Undertakers who were struggling for numbers.

It was good to get a chance to put the Wainui strip on again but I was glad to be on the bench as we were coming up against the league leaders Petone Chicago.  From what I saw in Petones warm up I was glad that I would be last sub aswell, these guys look pretty onto it I thought. 

Clayton Messenger had other ideas though as he slotted the ball home at the second attempt, Scott Auty had a great chance cleared off the line and The Undertakers, lead from Midfield by Marcel Brunner, totally outplayed the league leaders. 

I managed to get on for the last 20 minutes and miss a couple of great chances, if only I had a left foot, but everybody dug deep and defended well to keep Petone out.  There was a lot of Irish lads playing for Petone and for me personally it was good to get one over them because they did have some good players in their midst.  Although after one of the Irish lads took me out of the game with a 'blatant' foul I don't think I'll be heading to his pub in town for a pint any time soon!!