Waiuku win the Franklin derby

The Franklin derby took place on Saturday at Bledisloe Park with both teams looking for a win for different reasons. Pukekohe are well and truly due a win and Waiuku wanted to bounce back from last weeks defeat to Mt Albert. The game could of gone either way as the lead was taken by Waiuku and then taken back by Pukekohe only for Waiuku to finish strong.

Waiuku kept the 3-5-2 formation from last week with Caine Robbie getting a start in place of Grant Muckle who was injured. Pukekohe started strongest and pushed Waiuku deep with hard running and fluent passing in the midfield. However Waiuku took the lead when they attacked on the counter break which started as far back as Waiuku vice captain Jerry Hubbard and finished with the raw pace and talent of Jesse Smyth Kirk. The ball was played into the middle of the park where Wayne Trout fed Danny Baldwin who in turn played a ball ahead of Smyth Kirk. Smyth Kirk shaped as he was going to cross but instead hit a dipping volley which dropped into the far corner of the net from near 30 yards out. However Pukekohe hit back when Geoff Rickard beat David Johnson for pace and Johnson could only trip the attacker as he bore down on goal. Pukekohe captain Marcus Bathan took the direct freekick and levelled the scores with a superb strike from 25 yards out which slightly deflected off the wall and beat goalkeeper Justin Baldwin with shear pace. Pukekohe had renewed confidence and took the lead shortly after. Robbie Leonard took on and beat Robbie on the left and clipped a cross back for Joe Morris to head home at the near post.

Stung into action Waiuku attacked. Good work from Jamie Pegg and Baldwin gave Smyth Kirk space on the right. His cross found Waiuku captain Cody Ralph in front of goal but he couldnt find the target with his right foot volley. A goalmouth scramble was the closest Waiuku got before halftime while Rickard went close a couple of times with free headers from a couple of Pukekohe corners.

Waiuku changed their formation ten minutes into the second half which created a couple of close opportunities but they equalised in the 65th minute when a Danny Baldwin cross was not cleared by the Pukekohe defence. Pegg capitalised by pouncing on the loose ball and beat goalkeeper Jamie Clarke from close range to make the score 2-2. Waiuku were starting to press forward now buoyed by the equaliser and in the 78th minute took the lead. A corner was only cleared as far as Hubbard on the 35 yard mark. Hubbard took one touch, played it to his right and then smacked the ball into the top left corner leaving Clarke no chance. Waiuku closed the game out bringing on Dale Oliver for Smyth Kirk and Charlie Heather for Pegg. The game finished 3-2 to Waiuku

Waiuku coach Jim Evans was relieved with the win "This is not an easy place to come and Pukekohe deserved more then nothing today. They will take points off someone this year and thankfully it is not us. We are a footballing side and it was tough to play football today but we showed great character after going behind to come back and win. We trained hard all week after last weeks loss to Mt Albert and I know we can only get better. Man of the match was Jamie Pegg who showed how much he wanted to win this game today with his endless running and determination in scoring his goal."

Pukekohe coach Steve Upfold said it was a hard loss to take "It is not usual I am speechless but I didnt have many words to say after the final whistle. The Pukekohe lads ran their heart out there today and competed all over the park. Maybe with a bit more experience we could of held on for the win but we will keep going and improving. I said to Jerry if that is the only goal he scores this year then he should be happy as it was a wonderful and important goal."

The goal was important for Waiuku as it puts them in fourth place after the other weekends results.

Team: Justin Baldwin, David Johnson, Jerry Hubbard (vc), Caine Robbie (Vaughan Banfield 45), Sam van Pomeron, Danny Baldwin, Wayne Trout, Cody Ralph, Jamie Pegg (Charlie Heather 87), Derek Sinclair, Jesse Smyth Kirk (Dale Oliver 65)

Subs not used: Phil van den Broek, Scott Petersen, Robert Thornton, Luke Sutton, Mitchell Thomasen