APRIL
22nd
Green Island 4 v Spirit 0
Spirit
FC suffered its third successive loss when it was outgunned 4-nil by Green
Island in their Soccersouth Premier league clash in Dunedin on Saturday.
To
its credit Green Island is beginning to reap the rewards of its youth
development programme, and it was youthful enthusiasm that helped inflict the
defeat on Spirit FC.
Green Island ‘s tactic was to play long balls behind the Spirit defenders for its pacey strikers to run on to.
However
the Spirit back four was strong in the first forty-five minutes with Scott
Rogers at right full back giving a player of the day performance in the role.
Unfortunately for Spirit it conceded the first goal at the twenty-five minute mark when its pivotal left back Stephen Black was off the field for injury treatment.
The
defence failed to deal with a cross to Ryan Atherton and the Green Island
leading goalscorer gave it a 1-nil lead.
Fifteen
minutes into the second spell Green Island increased the margin to 2-nil with a
classic goal when Sam Dallamore was on hand to head home strongly following a
swift passing move from defence.
Two
minutes later Mike Bell put the game out of reach for the Spirit visitors when
he slotted home to give Green Island a 3-nil lead.
Spirit lacked cohesion in attack throughout the game and what chances it created the strikers failed to capitalise on.
Nathan
Gunn completed the day’s scoring for Green Island with a well-placed goal mid
way through the second half to seal its 4-nil win.
Southend
United continued its charge toward the early season Charity cup title when it
overcame a shaky start and a two-goal deficit to beat Ascot Tavern Queens Park 5
goals to 2.
Queens Park took a 1-nil lead into the half time break with a Cory Johnson goal then increased it to two when Mark Pearson scored.
The
masterstroke for Southend though was the introduction of Scott Morton to the mid
field and he once again had a telling affect on the outcome.
Morton
settled the Southend play down and notched two goals as Southend began to
dominate. Goals from Damond Hedges (penalty), Carl Lambert and Matty Wahren
completed the Southend comeback.
In
the other fixture Old Boys ran up a 9-nil win against Waihopai.
The
preliminary round of the NZ wide Chatham Cup knock out competition will be
played tomorrow with Southland teams having drawn home games.
Old
Boys will meet Dunedin team Redemption at Waverley Park at 2:00pm while Waihopai
will face its Otago Fletcher Cup opponent Mornington at the same time at Surrey
Park.