
UNITED HANG ON TO BEAT THE RAPA!!
29 April, 2017
Wairarapa had come to Newtown Park to square off against the Orange and Blues with an impressive 4-1 record so far, looking to go 5-1 and head to the top of the table. United had other ideas, and our roving reporter Bobby Minshull had this to say about the match:
Hopefully Andy Hedge had his strongest squad of players for this game at Newtown Park, because Wairarapa were going to be strong opposition. Paul Ifill was a very good player in the English football leagues, and is reputedly a very good coach. Football is a wonderful game in which any team can win on the day and we needed to be one of those teams. We are a very very young side, did we have the playing ability to match such a strong side?
Our squad was as follows:
GK Keegan Smith
4 Liberato Cacace
5 Sam Phillip.
9 Williem Ebbinge.
10 Sarpreet Singh.
12 Luke Johnson.
13 Noah Tipene.
15 Liam Wood.
17 Luke Tongue.
20 Jack Henry-Sinclair.
22 Nick Lane.
Substitutes.
Res.goalkeeper. Zak Dean.
6 Ben Mata.
8 Ollie Whyte.
19 Thomas Raimbault.
21 Ruariri Cahill-Fluery
From the kick-off we looked confident and it was our lads who scored the opening goal, with Luke Johnson scoring a quality goal in the 12th minute. Golly, 10 or so minutes later Nick Lane chipped the ball over their keeper and into the net for our second goal and we looked impressive all over the park. However, Wairarapa were starting to show a bit more quality and scored a nice goal in the 30th minute, 2-1 to us. Our visitors were starting to get a grip on the game and player-coach Paul Ifill could have scored an equalizer shortly after but he failed, however, shortly after he made amends for his earlier "muck-up"
and scored the equaliser,2-2. This did not seem to bother our lads and we still played attacking footy and with the half-time whistle not too far away, we were awarded a penalty. Not exactly sure why, but Sarpreet Singh easily slotted the ball past their keeper giving us a 3-2 lead at the refs whistle for half-time.
The second half was not as exciting as the first, but when Wairarapa player-coach was fouled just inside our penalty box with 2O minutes to go, and he took the spotkick himself and he scored the vital equalizer for them. Yak. 3-3 and this lifted our visitors performance. Ben Mata was brought on in place of Luke Tongue to stiffen up our defence with 15 minutes to go, Fortunately for us Ollie Whyte gave us the lead again at 4-3, was this to be the final score? No chance, and our number 7 Tinashe Marowa scored a terrific goal making it 5-3. I must add Tinashe had been absolutely outstanding down our right flank and his goal was a just reward for his brilliant performance.
Wairarapa did manage to score a fourth goal before the final whistle but, we had clinched the 3 points thanks to young Tinashe's quality goal. Everybody happy? You bet we were. The 5-4 victory earning us three very valuable points was what we wanted and credit to both teams for the quality 90 minutes of football.
Written by
Bobby Minshull
29 April, 2017
Wairarapa had come to Newtown Park to square off against the Orange and Blues with an impressive 4-1 record so far, looking to go 5-1 and head to the top of the table. United had other ideas, and our roving reporter Bobby Minshull had this to say about the match:
Hopefully Andy Hedge had his strongest squad of players for this game at Newtown Park, because Wairarapa were going to be strong opposition. Paul Ifill was a very good player in the English football leagues, and is reputedly a very good coach. Football is a wonderful game in which any team can win on the day and we needed to be one of those teams. We are a very very young side, did we have the playing ability to match such a strong side?
Our squad was as follows:
GK Keegan Smith
4 Liberato Cacace
5 Sam Phillip.
9 Williem Ebbinge.
10 Sarpreet Singh.
12 Luke Johnson.
13 Noah Tipene.
15 Liam Wood.
17 Luke Tongue.
20 Jack Henry-Sinclair.
22 Nick Lane.
Substitutes.
Res.goalkeeper. Zak Dean.
6 Ben Mata.
8 Ollie Whyte.
19 Thomas Raimbault.
21 Ruariri Cahill-Fluery
From the kick-off we looked confident and it was our lads who scored the opening goal, with Luke Johnson scoring a quality goal in the 12th minute. Golly, 10 or so minutes later Nick Lane chipped the ball over their keeper and into the net for our second goal and we looked impressive all over the park. However, Wairarapa were starting to show a bit more quality and scored a nice goal in the 30th minute, 2-1 to us. Our visitors were starting to get a grip on the game and player-coach Paul Ifill could have scored an equalizer shortly after but he failed, however, shortly after he made amends for his earlier "muck-up"
and scored the equaliser,2-2. This did not seem to bother our lads and we still played attacking footy and with the half-time whistle not too far away, we were awarded a penalty. Not exactly sure why, but Sarpreet Singh easily slotted the ball past their keeper giving us a 3-2 lead at the refs whistle for half-time.
The second half was not as exciting as the first, but when Wairarapa player-coach was fouled just inside our penalty box with 2O minutes to go, and he took the spotkick himself and he scored the vital equalizer for them. Yak. 3-3 and this lifted our visitors performance. Ben Mata was brought on in place of Luke Tongue to stiffen up our defence with 15 minutes to go, Fortunately for us Ollie Whyte gave us the lead again at 4-3, was this to be the final score? No chance, and our number 7 Tinashe Marowa scored a terrific goal making it 5-3. I must add Tinashe had been absolutely outstanding down our right flank and his goal was a just reward for his brilliant performance.
Wairarapa did manage to score a fourth goal before the final whistle but, we had clinched the 3 points thanks to young Tinashe's quality goal. Everybody happy? You bet we were. The 5-4 victory earning us three very valuable points was what we wanted and credit to both teams for the quality 90 minutes of football.
Written by
Bobby Minshull
PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND 11
11th July, 2015
Wellington United 2 (J.McGarry)
vs
Kapiti Coast United 1
We were blessed with excellent playing conditions,and Newtown Park was in good condition despite the rain we had midweek. But sadly right from the referees whistle our lads were lethargic to say the least. Our passing was not up to scratch and our movement off the ball was not not what our coaches would have liked. Certainly the supporters were not impressed and their fears were realised in the 14th minute when Kapiti broke away from the middle of the park and finished the move off by taking the lead. 1-0 to our visitors, yak. Luckily for United, Marcel in our goal coped with the strikes on his goal and yes there were many, as Kapiti were pushing forward at every opportunity but thanks to our keeper no further goals were scored. Our centre back Tamupiwa Dimairo was made to work overtime in the heart of our defence and did an excellent job. The half-time whistle sounded with Kapiti still holding their one goal advantage and really dominating the game and we certainly did not look like a team at the top of the league. Still a few rockets in the changing room from our coaches will surely get our players out on the park with a more positive frame of mind.
Sorry, my hopes were not fullfilled, our performance in the second spell was a wee bit better but not enough to overcome an experienced side like Kapiti Coast. However I thought that the visitors were tiring as the time ticked away, they were starting to drop deeper into their own half, and this helped us tremendously. With only a few minutes to full time, you guessed it, our lads pushed forward and a Kapiti defender handled the ball inside the penalty area. The ref had missed the offence but the linesman held his flag up and after a short chat between the two officials the spotkick was given. Hooray, a glimmer of hope that we might get something from our disappointing performance. It was all on young James McGarry's shoulders, yippee James rocketed the ball past the keeper,1-1. The excitement never ended there, Kapiti kicked off, we intercepted a loose pass and in a flash Merlin put the ball passed their keeper and into the net. Disaster for Kapiti, heaven for United as we stole the 3 points when the fulltime whistle sounded 2-1 for us.
As much as we football fanatics love our game, one had to feel a little sorry for Ian Porteous (Kapiti's coach) who was a very good player for United 15 or so years ago. But that's football, but Andy Hedge and Valerio will have to study the video of this mediocre performance. But on a brighter note, we should have several of our missing players to choose from for our next game, another home game at Newtown Park versus Miramar Rangers 2-30 kickoff.
Sorry, my hopes were not fullfilled, our performance in the second spell was a wee bit better but not enough to overcome an experienced side like Kapiti Coast. However I thought that the visitors were tiring as the time ticked away, they were starting to drop deeper into their own half, and this helped us tremendously. With only a few minutes to full time, you guessed it, our lads pushed forward and a Kapiti defender handled the ball inside the penalty area. The ref had missed the offence but the linesman held his flag up and after a short chat between the two officials the spotkick was given. Hooray, a glimmer of hope that we might get something from our disappointing performance. It was all on young James McGarry's shoulders, yippee James rocketed the ball past the keeper,1-1. The excitement never ended there, Kapiti kicked off, we intercepted a loose pass and in a flash Merlin put the ball passed their keeper and into the net. Disaster for Kapiti, heaven for United as we stole the 3 points when the fulltime whistle sounded 2-1 for us.
As much as we football fanatics love our game, one had to feel a little sorry for Ian Porteous (Kapiti's coach) who was a very good player for United 15 or so years ago. But that's football, but Andy Hedge and Valerio will have to study the video of this mediocre performance. But on a brighter note, we should have several of our missing players to choose from for our next game, another home game at Newtown Park versus Miramar Rangers 2-30 kickoff.
PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND 10
20th June, 2015
Wellington United 4 (J.McGarry, X.Pratt 2, G.Bouzoukis)
vs
Petone 2
At long last our beloved Newtown Park had become available to us, now the under 20's World cup was in its final stages up in Auckland. Luckily the pitch was in excellent condition considering the amount of rain we have had in Wellington. Once again our coach and his assistant had to make numerous changes from the team that had played only two days before against Island Bay, would our lads have enough spark in their individual performances? Would they be complacent having won the first round 12-0?
Starting Line-up:
Gk Marcel Kampman
6 Sam Wilson
7 Xavier Pratt
8 Joe Bell
9 Ruairi Cahill-Fleury
13 Christian Johnson
14 Gianni Bouzoukis
15 Sam Phillip
19 Tamupiwa Dimairo
22 Louis Evans
27 Merlin Luke-Miny
Substitutes:
10 James McGarry
23 Ben Stroud
2 Sam Gillespie
5 Cherbel Khouchaba
It was obvious from the very beginning that this game was going to be NO cake walk so to speak. Andy Hedge was forced to make a number of changes and we all know how this disrupts a teams performance and Petone had obviously strengthened their team since we last played them. The first 15 or so minutes were best forgotten as we looked lethargic and and gave away too much possession. We did have a few shots saved by their keeper, we did strike the crossbar but never looked like scoring. That was until Xavier managed to score a goal and give us supporters somethink to cheer us up. We held on to our one goal advantage to a couple of minutes before half-time but sadly a defensive blunder allowed Petone to grab the equalizer. Yak.
We supporters were expecting some fresh legs to take the field for the second half, but I bet the coach gave his team a rocket or two re-that dismal first half and sent the players out with a crystal clear message; perform or else. The lads took the field and showed a lot more urgency and after 10 or so minutes Gianni put us in front after an excellent build up, sighs of relief from our supporters. Shortly after taking a 2-1 lead James McGarry was brought off the bench and boy-o-boy did this substitution work a treat. In no time at all a super individual goal from James, a left peg strike easily beat their keeper giving us a 3-1 lead. Shortly afterwards a precision cross from James and Xavier slotted the ball past their keeper, 4-1. Andy Hedge would have been delighted with his decision to bring on young James who will be called "super-sub" from now on. Petone did manage a late goal to make the score 4-2 to United.
This performance would have pleased their coach Scott Mcleod, a vast improvement on the 12-0 loss to United at the start of the season. For us United folk, a win is a win, still unbeaten and 3 points clear at the top of the table and hopefully all of our players will be back on board when their international duties are completed. The lads can take a well earned rest next weekend as Chatham Cup resumes, as we were edged out of this losing to Central League club Wests in the last round.
Starting Line-up:
Gk Marcel Kampman
6 Sam Wilson
7 Xavier Pratt
8 Joe Bell
9 Ruairi Cahill-Fleury
13 Christian Johnson
14 Gianni Bouzoukis
15 Sam Phillip
19 Tamupiwa Dimairo
22 Louis Evans
27 Merlin Luke-Miny
Substitutes:
10 James McGarry
23 Ben Stroud
2 Sam Gillespie
5 Cherbel Khouchaba
It was obvious from the very beginning that this game was going to be NO cake walk so to speak. Andy Hedge was forced to make a number of changes and we all know how this disrupts a teams performance and Petone had obviously strengthened their team since we last played them. The first 15 or so minutes were best forgotten as we looked lethargic and and gave away too much possession. We did have a few shots saved by their keeper, we did strike the crossbar but never looked like scoring. That was until Xavier managed to score a goal and give us supporters somethink to cheer us up. We held on to our one goal advantage to a couple of minutes before half-time but sadly a defensive blunder allowed Petone to grab the equalizer. Yak.
We supporters were expecting some fresh legs to take the field for the second half, but I bet the coach gave his team a rocket or two re-that dismal first half and sent the players out with a crystal clear message; perform or else. The lads took the field and showed a lot more urgency and after 10 or so minutes Gianni put us in front after an excellent build up, sighs of relief from our supporters. Shortly after taking a 2-1 lead James McGarry was brought off the bench and boy-o-boy did this substitution work a treat. In no time at all a super individual goal from James, a left peg strike easily beat their keeper giving us a 3-1 lead. Shortly afterwards a precision cross from James and Xavier slotted the ball past their keeper, 4-1. Andy Hedge would have been delighted with his decision to bring on young James who will be called "super-sub" from now on. Petone did manage a late goal to make the score 4-2 to United.
This performance would have pleased their coach Scott Mcleod, a vast improvement on the 12-0 loss to United at the start of the season. For us United folk, a win is a win, still unbeaten and 3 points clear at the top of the table and hopefully all of our players will be back on board when their international duties are completed. The lads can take a well earned rest next weekend as Chatham Cup resumes, as we were edged out of this losing to Central League club Wests in the last round.
PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND 9
13th June, 2015
Upper Hutt 1 vs Wellington United 6 (G. Bouzoukis 2, J. McGarry 2, R. Cahill-Fleury )
Starting lineup:
G K Marcel Kampman
2 Sam Gillespie
3 Luke Tongue
5 Cherbel Khouchaba
8 Joe Bell
9 Ruairi Cahill-Fleury
10 James McGarry
14 Gianni Bouzoukis
15 Sam Phillip
17 Justin Gulley
24 Louis Evans
Subs:
G K Washington Bgoni
7 Xavier Pratt
11 Sarpreet Singh
19 Tamupiwa Dimairo
25 Ben Stroud
Coach: Andy Hedge
Assist.Coach: Valerio
Hopefully our Premier League team can continue their unbeaten run in the second half of the season. We had already beaten Upper Hutt 7 - 4 in the first game of the season, and on Saturday we beat them 5 - 1 at Maidstone Park. To be fair, the scoreline flattered us a wee bit, whereas we found the back of the net with most of our strikes on goal, Upper Hutt's poor shooting let them down badly or were saved by Marcel in our goal. In a fairly even first half, goals from Gianni Bouzoukis, Ruairi Cahill-Fleury and the consistent James McGarry gave United a 3 - 0 lead at the interval, and Upper Hutt would have been ruing their inability to score.
I am sure Andy Hedge and Valerio would have given our lads a rocket or two about our performance, even though we were 3 goals up. Our passing was poor, and it may have been the fact that our starting line-up was considerably different from the eleven that started against Waterside. The second half was similar to the first 45 minutes with Gianni scoring our fourth goal and James McGarry scored a superb goal, dribbling past 3 or 4 defenders and slid the ball into the net, 5 - 0 to United. Upper Hutt would have been shell shocked, they hadn't played too badly, but found themselves 5 - 0 down. However they did get a consolation goal late in the second half when Marcel, unlike him, fumbled a cross which allowed a Hutt player to tap the ball into the net. Fortunately for us no further scoring by either team eventuated, even though we were down to 10 players with Sarpreet Singh, coming off quite badly injured.
Our unbeaten run in the League continued albeit, this was not one of our better performances. Marcel, apart from his one blunder, played exceptionally well, but James McGarry was our best player by a mile, and scored 2 priceless goals. As mentioned earlier, we were happy winning the game, and maintaining our unbeaten run.
Note:- We have a catch up game on Thursday against Island Bay at Wakefield Park, at 6.30 pm and more good news, we are back at our home, Newtown Park for our against Petone on Saturday.
Well done to our lads continuing their winning run in the League, lets welcome back Newtown Park with a good performance, and continue our winning form.
G K Marcel Kampman
2 Sam Gillespie
3 Luke Tongue
5 Cherbel Khouchaba
8 Joe Bell
9 Ruairi Cahill-Fleury
10 James McGarry
14 Gianni Bouzoukis
15 Sam Phillip
17 Justin Gulley
24 Louis Evans
Subs:
G K Washington Bgoni
7 Xavier Pratt
11 Sarpreet Singh
19 Tamupiwa Dimairo
25 Ben Stroud
Coach: Andy Hedge
Assist.Coach: Valerio
Hopefully our Premier League team can continue their unbeaten run in the second half of the season. We had already beaten Upper Hutt 7 - 4 in the first game of the season, and on Saturday we beat them 5 - 1 at Maidstone Park. To be fair, the scoreline flattered us a wee bit, whereas we found the back of the net with most of our strikes on goal, Upper Hutt's poor shooting let them down badly or were saved by Marcel in our goal. In a fairly even first half, goals from Gianni Bouzoukis, Ruairi Cahill-Fleury and the consistent James McGarry gave United a 3 - 0 lead at the interval, and Upper Hutt would have been ruing their inability to score.
I am sure Andy Hedge and Valerio would have given our lads a rocket or two about our performance, even though we were 3 goals up. Our passing was poor, and it may have been the fact that our starting line-up was considerably different from the eleven that started against Waterside. The second half was similar to the first 45 minutes with Gianni scoring our fourth goal and James McGarry scored a superb goal, dribbling past 3 or 4 defenders and slid the ball into the net, 5 - 0 to United. Upper Hutt would have been shell shocked, they hadn't played too badly, but found themselves 5 - 0 down. However they did get a consolation goal late in the second half when Marcel, unlike him, fumbled a cross which allowed a Hutt player to tap the ball into the net. Fortunately for us no further scoring by either team eventuated, even though we were down to 10 players with Sarpreet Singh, coming off quite badly injured.
Our unbeaten run in the League continued albeit, this was not one of our better performances. Marcel, apart from his one blunder, played exceptionally well, but James McGarry was our best player by a mile, and scored 2 priceless goals. As mentioned earlier, we were happy winning the game, and maintaining our unbeaten run.
Note:- We have a catch up game on Thursday against Island Bay at Wakefield Park, at 6.30 pm and more good news, we are back at our home, Newtown Park for our against Petone on Saturday.
Well done to our lads continuing their winning run in the League, lets welcome back Newtown Park with a good performance, and continue our winning form.
PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND 8
6th June, 2015
Karori 0 vs Wellington United 3 (Evans 2, Hailermariam)
Our visit to Karori Park to play Waterside was always going to be a "big ask" for our youngsters. Unbeknown to me the home team had protested to Capital Football claiming that Olympic had played an illegal player against Waterside and although the game ended as a draw, their protest was accepted and Waterside were given 3 points instead of the one for the drawn fixture.
A win for our lads was vital if we wanted to retain the top position as we approach halfway through the season. Our coaches had a full squad to choose their strongest team for this tough game, the under 17 National Reps. were back home and available for selection.
Starting line up:
GK Marcel Kampman
19 Tamu Dimairo
25 Ben Stroud
24 Louis Evans
6 Sam Wilson
17 Justin Gulley
7 Xavier Platt
10 James McGarry
5 Cherbel Khouchaba
18 Nathaniel Hailemariam
23 Logan Rogerson
SUBSTITUTES
Res. Keeper Washington Bgoni
3 Luke Tongue
8 Joe Bell
9 Ruairi Cahill-Fleury
13 Christian Johnson
Playing conditions were reasonable considering the torrential rain we suffered in the days before. The first 15 minutes of the game were untidy from a footballing sense. The Waterside lads tried to dominate the game both physically and mentally, but conceded too many fouls in the first 15 minutes, this however failed to stop United scoring in the 7th minute, Louis Evans was our scorer 1 - 0 to Wellington United. Not long after Waterside thought that they had equalized but, the linesman was adamant that the striker was off side and the goal was disallowed, sigh of relief. Phew that was a blessing for us.
This certainly did not make the Waterside Players and Fans too happy.
Fortunately for me, I was standing right opposite the action and the Linesman's decision was correct. With no further scoring, the Ref. blew for half time with our 1 - 0 advantage intact.
The second 45 minutes was a wee bit better from the spectators point of view, Waterside created more scoring chances than our lads, but poor finishing and outstanding goalkeeping from Marcel Kampman kept them from scoring. Louis Evans scored his second goal midway through the half, perhaps against the run of play, but United were now leading 2 - 0 and this probably knocked the stuffing out of the home team.
With time running out Nathaniel found the back of the net for our third time and the lads were delighted to have won this crucial fixture 3 - 0 and why not.
Summarising, the scoreline flattered us a wee bit, but that's football. As mentioned, Marcel in our goal was in superb form,
2 vital goals from Louis Evans and the consistent Nathaniel was rewarded with a goal to top off his good performance.
It is now the halfway stage of the season, and we are away to Upper Hutt next Saturday. If we as a team can maintain our consistent form, we will definitely be in the hunt to be League Champions. Well done lads.
A win for our lads was vital if we wanted to retain the top position as we approach halfway through the season. Our coaches had a full squad to choose their strongest team for this tough game, the under 17 National Reps. were back home and available for selection.
Starting line up:
GK Marcel Kampman
19 Tamu Dimairo
25 Ben Stroud
24 Louis Evans
6 Sam Wilson
17 Justin Gulley
7 Xavier Platt
10 James McGarry
5 Cherbel Khouchaba
18 Nathaniel Hailemariam
23 Logan Rogerson
SUBSTITUTES
Res. Keeper Washington Bgoni
3 Luke Tongue
8 Joe Bell
9 Ruairi Cahill-Fleury
13 Christian Johnson
Playing conditions were reasonable considering the torrential rain we suffered in the days before. The first 15 minutes of the game were untidy from a footballing sense. The Waterside lads tried to dominate the game both physically and mentally, but conceded too many fouls in the first 15 minutes, this however failed to stop United scoring in the 7th minute, Louis Evans was our scorer 1 - 0 to Wellington United. Not long after Waterside thought that they had equalized but, the linesman was adamant that the striker was off side and the goal was disallowed, sigh of relief. Phew that was a blessing for us.
This certainly did not make the Waterside Players and Fans too happy.
Fortunately for me, I was standing right opposite the action and the Linesman's decision was correct. With no further scoring, the Ref. blew for half time with our 1 - 0 advantage intact.
The second 45 minutes was a wee bit better from the spectators point of view, Waterside created more scoring chances than our lads, but poor finishing and outstanding goalkeeping from Marcel Kampman kept them from scoring. Louis Evans scored his second goal midway through the half, perhaps against the run of play, but United were now leading 2 - 0 and this probably knocked the stuffing out of the home team.
With time running out Nathaniel found the back of the net for our third time and the lads were delighted to have won this crucial fixture 3 - 0 and why not.
Summarising, the scoreline flattered us a wee bit, but that's football. As mentioned, Marcel in our goal was in superb form,
2 vital goals from Louis Evans and the consistent Nathaniel was rewarded with a goal to top off his good performance.
It is now the halfway stage of the season, and we are away to Upper Hutt next Saturday. If we as a team can maintain our consistent form, we will definitely be in the hunt to be League Champions. Well done lads.
Chatham Cup
30th May, 2015
Wellington United 2 (Hailermariam 2) – Western Suburbs 3
United were missing 5 players who were overseas with the
New Zealand under 17 National Squad and as it happened, Wests had a similar
amount of players unavailable and they too had many youngsters in their
team. Considering both teams were missing several players the quality of the
passing and ball retention was superb and in the windless evening it was a pleasure
to be at Wakefield Park watching the talented teams.
Both teams had glorious chances of scoring in the first half and unfortunately the orange and blues missed many easy chances but our visitors capitalised on some poor defending and managed to score twice in the 45 minutes and at the referees half-time whistle, Wests held a 2-0 lead at the interval.
The coaches would have been happy with our 1st half performance except for those couple of errors, could we make up for the 2 lapses in our concentration? The answer was yes, two superb goals from Nathaniel Hailermariam within the first 15 minutes levelled the score at 2-2, fully deserved and we supporters were in for an exciting 30 minutes. This is where we needed Logan Rogerson and James McGarry to give us a tad more experience up front. With time running out Wests brought on a more experienced striker and unfortunately for us, the fresh legs of an experienced player was a little bit too much for our defence to cope with and it was he who scored on the break and we lost the game 3-2. So near yet so far for our youngsters, they can be proud of their performance on the day. I thought Nathaniel was outstanding, Marcel Kampman in our goal was very good and were our two outstanding players.
It would have been nice to have progressed into the second round of the prestigeous Chatham Cup, we did our best, and losing by only one goal against a top team playing in the Central League we have to be proud of our youngsters.
Our coaches must have been proud of the effort, and with 5 players returning from their under 17 National duty just in time for the clash with Waterside Karori, the current league leaders, I guess they may have a sleepless night or two.
Both teams had glorious chances of scoring in the first half and unfortunately the orange and blues missed many easy chances but our visitors capitalised on some poor defending and managed to score twice in the 45 minutes and at the referees half-time whistle, Wests held a 2-0 lead at the interval.
The coaches would have been happy with our 1st half performance except for those couple of errors, could we make up for the 2 lapses in our concentration? The answer was yes, two superb goals from Nathaniel Hailermariam within the first 15 minutes levelled the score at 2-2, fully deserved and we supporters were in for an exciting 30 minutes. This is where we needed Logan Rogerson and James McGarry to give us a tad more experience up front. With time running out Wests brought on a more experienced striker and unfortunately for us, the fresh legs of an experienced player was a little bit too much for our defence to cope with and it was he who scored on the break and we lost the game 3-2. So near yet so far for our youngsters, they can be proud of their performance on the day. I thought Nathaniel was outstanding, Marcel Kampman in our goal was very good and were our two outstanding players.
It would have been nice to have progressed into the second round of the prestigeous Chatham Cup, we did our best, and losing by only one goal against a top team playing in the Central League we have to be proud of our youngsters.
Our coaches must have been proud of the effort, and with 5 players returning from their under 17 National duty just in time for the clash with Waterside Karori, the current league leaders, I guess they may have a sleepless night or two.
PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND 7
16th May, 2015
Wellington United 7 (Pratt 3, Bouzoukis 2, McGarry, Bell) – Wellington Olympic 1 (Gerondis)
This fixture promised to be a top class game. Olympic, like ourselves, are a team of youngsters with just a couple of oldies in their squad. United have demonstrated already this season that they can play attractive possession based football and our opposition have been improving week by week. The one thing that might spoil the game is the gale force winds that Wakefield park is subject to, add the cold air temperature to this making conditions yak for players and spectators.
Starting line up: Washington Bgoni (GK) 2 Sam Gillespie 6 Sam Wilson 8 Joe Bell 10 James McGarry 11 Sarpeet Singh 13 Christian Johnson 14 Gianni Bouzoukis 23 Logan Rogerson 24 Louis Evans 25 Ben Stroud Substitutes: 3 Luke Tongue, 7 Xavier Pratt, 9 Ruairi Cahill-Fleur, 5 Cherbel Khouchaba, Reserve keeper Marcel Kampman. The game kicked-off at a hectic pace, which was good in these really cold windy conditions, it might warm the players more quickly. And, to be fair, Olympic looked the sharper of the two teams initially and had a couple of early chances of grabbing a goal but young Washington made sure this never eventuated. It took United lads 20 or so minutes before we put Olympics's keeper under threat and fortunately Gianni Bouzoukis out-sprinted their defence and slotted the ball into the net. Soon after Olympic was reduced to ten players after having a player sent off for ungentlemanly conduct. So although we were 1-0 up, we would have to consider ourselves a bit fortunate at this stage of the game. United scored again in the 42nd minute, finishing of lovely move with James McGarry slotting the ball home doubling our lead. With the halftime whistle only seconds away, Olympic scored a superb goal to close our advantage to 2-1 at the refs whistle for the end of the first 45 minutes. I think both coaches would have been reasonably happy with their teams performance in the first half, I do have a feeling that United's lads are extremely fit and with Olympic having only 10 players on the paddock and being a goal behind, this was going to be a long 45 minutes for them. The second half commenced at the same pace as the first and the youthful enthusiasm from both teams was a pleasure to watch. Quite early in the game Logan Rogerson had been very subdued in the first half, but now showed his pace and skills in the Olympic half and set up Gianni Bouzoukis to score his second goal, and this made it 3-1 to United. This was not what Olympic would have wanted; 3-1 down and only 10 lads on the paddock. United brought on Xavier Pratt in the place of Sarpeet Singh in our midfield and boy-o-boy was this inspirational for United. I believe the lad scored 3 goals in 10 minutes and another from Joe Bell and we finished our scoring achievements at 7 goals without Olympic adding any further goals to their tally. The 7-1 scoreline probably flattered us a wee bit, but we took the advantage well of the opposition being down a player for 70 or so minutes. Interesting,I was having a wee chat with our coach Andy Hedge and he informed me that we will be without 6 of our regular team for two games as these lads have been selected for the New Zealand under 17 National Squad. Hopefully we can get permission from the New Zealand Football Association to postpone the games in question, as its wonderful to have players selected to play international football, but why should any club have to suffer the downside of players being unavailable when there is ample time at the end of the season to catch up? Fingers crossed something can be worked out. Finally a big congratulations to the lads selected for the NZ Under 17's for 2015; Logan Rogerson, Sarpeet Singh, James McGarry, Sam Wilson, Ben Stroud and Joe Bell. |
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CHATHAM CUP 1st ROUND
9th May, 2015
Nth Wellington 1 vs Wellington United 6 (James McGarry 3, Ben Stroud 1, Logan Rogerson 1, Cherbel Khouchaba 1)
Premier League football was put on hold for round one of
New Zealand's most prestigious sporting events, the Chatham Cup. United had been
drawn against North Wellington, to be played at Alex Moore Park. From United's
point of view, we probably had the youngest ever squad playing in our orange and
blue colours, and this fixture would certainly test our "young fellas"
ability to compete with the older opposition.
Starting Line-up:
Gk Marcel Kampman
2 Sam Gillespie
3 Luke Tongue
7 Xavier Pratt
8 Joe Bell
9 Ruairi Cahill-Fleur
10 James McGarry
11 Sarpeet Singh
15 Sam Philli
23 Logan Rogerson
25 Ben Stroud
Bench:
Washington Bgoni (Res. keeper)
Cherbel Khouchaba
Christian Johnson
Gianni Bouzoukis
Merlin Luke-Miney
As expected, the older players of North Wellington were far more physical than our youngsters and were very strong in the tackle which on occasion I thought left a lot to be desired. I was hoping that the referee would have been a little stricter than he was early in the game, fortunately he gave Nth Wellington a yellow card and things settled down.
The home team scored early after a corner kick was floated into our 6 yard box, which was scrambled into our net. Yak, and we were a goal down but probably fair enough. The goal against us gave us a bit more desire to attack which we did and we were awarded a penalty for a wild tackle on Logan Rogerson. James McGarry slotted the ball home superbly well to make it 1-1. Logan Rogerson had a couple more chances to put us further ahead but could not find the target. Having said that seconds before the half-time whistle, Logan managed to beat the keeper which gave United a 2-1 lead at the break.
Not sure what our coach's said to the lads in the dressing room, but whatever it was it worked wonders. Within a minute of the re-start we scored again and at 3 - 1 our lads showed their youthful arrogance and completely dominated the game which resulted in 3 more goals and a 6 - 1 victory for their efforts and ensured that United's name will be in the draw for round 2.
As I mentioned earlier, the half time lecture from Andy and Valerio worked wonders and some credit must go to the Referee for his much tighter control of the game in the second half.
Bobbys Player of the Day:- James McGarry scored 3 goals and displayed a high work rate for the whole 90 minutes.
Well done guys, Olympic next week.
Starting Line-up:
Gk Marcel Kampman
2 Sam Gillespie
3 Luke Tongue
7 Xavier Pratt
8 Joe Bell
9 Ruairi Cahill-Fleur
10 James McGarry
11 Sarpeet Singh
15 Sam Philli
23 Logan Rogerson
25 Ben Stroud
Bench:
Washington Bgoni (Res. keeper)
Cherbel Khouchaba
Christian Johnson
Gianni Bouzoukis
Merlin Luke-Miney
As expected, the older players of North Wellington were far more physical than our youngsters and were very strong in the tackle which on occasion I thought left a lot to be desired. I was hoping that the referee would have been a little stricter than he was early in the game, fortunately he gave Nth Wellington a yellow card and things settled down.
The home team scored early after a corner kick was floated into our 6 yard box, which was scrambled into our net. Yak, and we were a goal down but probably fair enough. The goal against us gave us a bit more desire to attack which we did and we were awarded a penalty for a wild tackle on Logan Rogerson. James McGarry slotted the ball home superbly well to make it 1-1. Logan Rogerson had a couple more chances to put us further ahead but could not find the target. Having said that seconds before the half-time whistle, Logan managed to beat the keeper which gave United a 2-1 lead at the break.
Not sure what our coach's said to the lads in the dressing room, but whatever it was it worked wonders. Within a minute of the re-start we scored again and at 3 - 1 our lads showed their youthful arrogance and completely dominated the game which resulted in 3 more goals and a 6 - 1 victory for their efforts and ensured that United's name will be in the draw for round 2.
As I mentioned earlier, the half time lecture from Andy and Valerio worked wonders and some credit must go to the Referee for his much tighter control of the game in the second half.
Bobbys Player of the Day:- James McGarry scored 3 goals and displayed a high work rate for the whole 90 minutes.
Well done guys, Olympic next week.
PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND 6
2nd May, 2015
University 1 vs Wellington United 4 (Xavier Pratt 2, Gianni Bouzoukis, James McGarry)
So, a huge welcome to the coaching staff, Andy and Valerio, Team manager, Justin and of course the squad of 20 something talented young players.
Lets not forget David Dome of the Phoenix, for his support in giving Wellington United AFC the opportunity to join forces with the Phoenix, and have their youngsters wearing United's orange and blue strip.
So far so good, the youngsters have played 6 games already and won all of them, and, scored 39 goals and 9 against, this is a great achievement for these kids. However, we still have to play two of the better teams in our league, namely Waterside and Island Bay' s first teams, and these will be tough to say the least.
RESULTS SO FAR:
United 7 vs Upper Hutt 4
Petone Res O vs United 12
BNU 0 vs United 8
Kapiti Coast 1 vs United 3
Miramar Res 3 vs United 5
University 1 vs United 4
Last Saturday's game against University was a good test for our youngsters. They have had some good results so far, could we continue our unbeaten run having won our first five games? Unfortunately United had to leave Logan Rogerson out of the starting line-up, struggling with a leg injury.
Logan has been outstanding for us from day one, and has scored many goals and has set up many golden opportunities for his team mates, we were also without our regular goalkeeper Marcel Kampman, and young Washington Bgoni was brought in as Marcel's replacement.
Fortunately Washington was outstanding. Xavier Pratt scored 2 goals, Gianni Bouzoukis and James McGarry scored a goal each, and a 4-1 victory against the more experienced University team, was a great achievement.
Premier League football takes a wee break on Saturday, our youngsters will be playing in the Illustrious "Chatham Cup", probably this will be most of the lads first introduction to New Zealand's famous Cup tournament, I am told that we are away to North Wellington and a repeat of our previous performances could see our name going into the draw for round two.
Good luck guys, continue playing as you have so far this season, and we will enjoy a good cup run, that would be superb.