August
19th
ILT Spirit FC 3, Sth Canterbury United 2;
At
last Spirit FC was able to field its strongest starting line-up since the very
early days of the season and as a result etched out for itself a well deserved
3-2 win against South Canterbury United in their Soccersouth premier league game
at Rugby Park, Invercargill, on Saturday.
Gone
was the early match uncertainty and gone was the reluctance to rein shots at the
opposition goal and in their place came a resolve and determination that has
been missing from its performances.
Perhaps at times Spirit’s strong play was a little too strong with some of its
tackling earning the wrath of referee Wayne Rayner but in the heat of battle it
proved to be the key to containing the South Canterbury strikers and winning
much needed ball possession.
To
use the words of South Canterbury coach Pat Collins. “When Spirit was warming
up I looked across and thought this isn’t the same team we played in Timaru,
and that proved to be the case. Scoring goals is what the game’s all about and
you did that better than us.”
The first 45 minutes was scoreless as both teams traded shots on goal and attempted to gain domination over each other.
But
the score line suggested perhaps Spirit was on target for a win.
Early into the second spell two incidents occurred which indicated maybe it wasn’t to be Spirit’s night after all.
First
John Schol left the field with an ankle injury and then when Hamish Low was
up-ended from behind in the penalty area Rayner elected to play on when a
penalty to Spirit seemed a more logical and correct outcome.
However this was a different Spirit and it responded in the best possible way with Low clinically hammering in its first goal five minutes later.
At the 25 minute mark the visitors replied when Todd Burtenshaw floated a perfect free-kick away from Spirit keeper Chris Pearson to level the score at 1-all.
Keith Hawkes who was subbed on for Schol and had provided Low with the final touch for his goal then scored one of his own after good work and an unselfish pass from Tobi Reid to give the lead back to Spirit at 2-1.
It was then Reid’s turn to get on the score sheet and he did it in style with an exquisite deflected header from a Karl Hawkes free-kick well wide of visiting keeper Fred Morgan to give Spirit a two goal cushion.
Spirit’s approach to this game was epitomised two minutes from time when Tom Kent cleared the ball from defence almost onto Elles Road rather than give away possession in front of goal.
South Canterbury did have the final say though when Burtenshaw stroked home another free kick with the last kick of the game to end the scoring at 3-2 to Spirit.
Locally Old Boys went to the top of the top-5 senior competition with a good 3-1 win against the more favoured Southend United team.
Defender Gordon Lamont, with a man-of-the-match performance, was the destroyer netting twice for Old Boys while Reuben Lindsay added a third and Nick Barclay struck home Southend’s goal.
Two
goals from skipper Dion Cameron and one from Dion Phair were enough to see
Waihopai home safely and maintain its mid-table position with a 3-1 win against
Caversham reserves in their Otago competition game.
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