Wonder Strike Keeps Waiuku Hopes Alive

A thirty five yard wonder shot from defender Andrew Millynn kept Waiuku’s hopes of a top six finish in the first phase of the season a reality and helped the home side to a 2-1 victory.

Waiuku AFC hosted Tauranga City FC at Massey Park on Saturday and it was never going to be an easy game. Tauranga, another team in the running for promotion to the NRFL Premier League, made the two hour trip north hoping to dash the hopes of Jim Evans’ Waiuku side but right from the start it clearly wasn’t going to be a walk in the park for either side.

With a strong wind blowing across the field, controlling the ball proved difficult as players tried to adapt to the conditions. It was Waiuku who settled first and were soon threatening the Tauranga defense with darting runs from Captain Cody Ralph and Simon Millynn. On one occasion Millynn took on three defenders and looked to shoot. As the defense closed in to block the shot he cheekily played it to Shane Godden on the right flank and the resulting shot went narrowly past the far post. Waiuku kept pushing hard for the opener with attacks from Wayne Trout and Jamie Pegg but to no avail. Then against the run of play it was Tauranga who broke the deadlock. A long ball from deep in the Tauranga mid field tried to pick out striker Reece Edmonds, Waiuku defender Jerry Hubbard attempted to intercept the pass but only managed to take the pace off of it with his head and drop it into the path of the advancing Edmonds. Finding himself in front of goal he made no mistake and put the visitor’s one goal ahead. The score remained that way at half time but it was clear this game had more excitement to come.

Waiuku came out for the second half and made it clear they weren’t going to give up without a fight. Putting numerous passing combinations together they began to dominate and it was one of these moves which produced the equalizer. After a string of six passes mid fielder Shane Godden picked out Wayne Trout making a surging run up the middle of the park. Godden neatly threaded the ball through the back line and Trout only had the keeper to beat, shooting straight at the keeper it deflected kindly into his path and he made sure with the second chance, bringing the home side level. Sensing a win was theirs for the taking, Waiuku pushed hard and came close to taking the lead with shots from Pegg and substitute Robbie Leonard who replaced Simon Millynn . Then came the moment that the home side was looking for and which turned the game. With fifteen minutes remaining and the Tauranga players camping deep in their own half of the pitch, Owen Hill played the ball out to right back Andrew Millynn . Finding himself in space and with a lot of time he could’ve gone for a run with the ball, but instead decided to take charge of the situation and have a shot from thirty five yards out. Connecting with it beautifully, the ball travelled like a rocket straight into the top left hand corner of the net and gave Waiuku the lead. In the dying moments of the game Tauranga rallied for one last attack but a fabulous save by Waiuku keeper Justin Baldwin down to his left proved this was not going to be their day, they never managed to come back from such a blow to their chances and the game ended 2-1 to Waiuku.

Coach Jim Evans was relieved with the result “that was a close one and Justin Baldwin’s save in the last minute was a bit close for comfort. However I think we deserved the win. We had the most chances and played well in the Tauranga defensive third. I can see our luck starting to change a bit. Man of the match today was Cody Ralph for his hard running all day”.

Waiuku have two games remaining in the first phase of the season and meet Birkenhead Utd on 26^th June at Massey Park. Kick off 2:45pm.

Team – Justin Baldwin, Elliot Crean, Jerry Hubbard, Sam Van Pomeren, Andrew Millynn, Shane Godden (Charlie Heather 80), Owen Hill, Wayne Trout, Simon Millynn (Robbie Leonard 70), Jamie Pegg, Cody Ralph. Subs Not Used – Phil Van Den Broek, Evan Crean, and Mitch Thomasen.