Waiuku go down to top of the table Ellerslie

Waiuku were without Jamie Pegg after Papakura made sure he left the field on an ambulance last week and were also without Danny Baldwin and Phil Donovan. In came Mitchell Thomasen and Elliot Crean for their first starts of the season. After playing Ellerslie in preseason, Waiuku knew they had to look after playmaker Nathan Palmer and changed their formation to try and combat his skills.

Waiuku started the strongest and put the Ellerslie team under pressure for much of the first half hour. On the thirty minute mark Waiuku scored the best goal of the game. Robert Hatton won the ball in the Waiuku box and gave the ball to Simon Millynn who ran at speed at the Ellerslie defence. He played Robbie Leonard into some space who cut inside his marker and then laid a superb ball into Cody Ralph. Ralph got to the ball first and slotted it past the Ellerslie keeper to put them 1-0 in front. However all the good work was undone when de Silva beat Thomasen to get his ball in the box and Palmer reacted quickest to beat Phil van den Broek in goal. The last kick of the half saw Ellerslie take the lead. A cross from the right was superbly volleyed home by Palmer to put them 2-1 up at half time.

Waiuku changed it round slightly at half time to try and create more but Ellerslie punished them for giving the ball away in the wrong area. Palmer finished smartly with a one on one chance to claim his second hatrick of the season. Scott Wallace put Ellerslie 4-1 up with a driven shot from 25 yards which gave van den Broek no chance.

Waiuku again dominated the game from this point but couldnt convert a couple of chances. Wayne Trout clawed one back with a smart finish off the post from 12 yards out. However Ellerslie played out the game for a 4-2 win.

Coach Jim Evans was upbeat. " When I saw the draw at the start of the season, I knew travelling to Ellerslie was going to be a tough one. Nobody expected us to win this but we matched them on the park today. We scored the best goal of the game and if we had kept our nerve at certain times we would of got something from this. We should never of let Ellerslie score so soon after our goal and that was probably the turning point. Next week we play second placed North Force at home so we need to put this behind us and get back on track for next week. Simon Millynn was man of the match today and I was also impressed with Wayne Trout who played the whole game with a torn groin."