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!!