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Gaffer posted on March 29, 2010 19:57
On a hot Saturday afternoon Waiuku 1st team traveled to Te Awamutu, a team who nearly upset Waiuku in last years Chatham Cup competition, for their first pre-season friendly. With four 1st team regulars unavailable the reserves were called upon to step up. Off season signings Robbie Leonard, Elliot Crean and Rob Hatton made their debut with Hatton making an immediate impact with a long throw into the Te Awamutu box finding the head of Derek Sinclair and netting to put Waiuku 1 up early in the game. Waiuku continued to dominate and it wasnt long until Sinclair found debutante Robbie Leonard just outside the box. Leonard kept his composure, took on three Te Awamutu defenders and drove the ball low past the keeper. This spurned the home team into life and they came back strong earning a free kick just outside the Waiuku penalty area. The striker hit the ball low and hard past the wall but keeper Phil Van den Broek got down well to hold the ball. Ten minutes later, another long thrown from Hatton found Sinclair unmarked in the box resulting in Waiuku going into the break 3-0 up.
With a comfortable lead going into the second half, Coach Jason Heather changed the formation to try out some tactics devised in training and they paid off when Cody Ralph broke free and slotted the ball past the keeper to get his first of the game. Te Awamutu rallied but to avail as the Waiuku formation held strong and kept focused and organized behind the ball. The game took a slight turn when substitute keeper Stu Ruddell mis-controlled a back pass to gift Te Awamutu with a consolation goal. Waiuku fired up again and a long ball from Joe Rayson looked like it was going out but right mid-fielder Charlie Heather didnt give up, he reached the ball just before the bye line and gave a pin point accurate cross to substitute Luke Sutton who put a bullet header through the keepers hands.
With the game nearly over Cody Ralph beat the offside trap and latched on to another beautiful through ball from Derek Sinclair and with only the keeper to beat, Ralph kept his cool and netted his second of the game.
After the game coach Jason Heather said he was happy with the result. The team has responded well to training and formation changes and with four key players to come back, things can only get better, player of the day was hard to call but Derek Sinclair has to get it with two goals and two assists, although Robbie Leonard proved he is going to be a valuable addition to the team he said. Waiuku 1st and Reserve teams take on Ellerslie next Saturday the 5th of March at Michaels Ave on their build up to what promises to be a very exciting season for the club.
Team: P. Van den Broek, B. Zinzan, R. Hatton, S. Van Pomeron, M. Thomasen, J. Rayson, R. Leonard, D. Sinclair, C. Heather, J. Pegg & C. Ralph
Subsitutes: S. Ruddell, E. Crean, D. Nutt, and L. Sutton