May
27th
Spirit v Northern
Spirit
FC players and supporters will say that a huge stroke of luck gave Northern a
late equalising goal in Saturday’s Soccersouth premier league 2-all draw
between the teams at Surrey Park.
Northern
players and supporters will argue that it was a sublime piece of skill with a
clinical finish.
Whatever
the view the teams shared a point each in a game that Spirit fought back from a
1-nil deficit to take a deserved lead before Tim Hodgson's ambitious and
speculative overhead-kick nestled into the net to give Northern it’s face
saving goal.
With both teams in the bottom half of the points table and needing the three win points there was a nervous start to the game.
Players on both sides were often guilty of giving away possession and restricting play to midfield exchanges.
The
first forty-five minutes was notable for the little work each goalkeeper was
required to do.
The linking of the Black brothers Stephen and Marty in central defensive roles by head coach Ken Cresswell was a highlight of the ILT sponsored Spirit FC first half effort.
The
twin brothers constantly repelled the lively Northern attack of Greg Chitty and
Ali John.
The
nil-all half time score was a fair reflection of the play.
Seven
minutes into the second spell Northern finally found a way through the Spirit
defensive line and John Borley was lonely as he beat the offside trap and
stroked the ball past Spirit keeper Shane Elliott to put his team 1-nil ahead.
At
the seventy-minute mark a fine piece of ball winning and distribution from
Spirit’s Wade Griffin set up Ryan O’Connor for a chance on goal.
O’Connor shook off his marker with ease and volleyed an unstoppable shot into the Northern net to tie it up at 1-all.
Eight
minutes later Tom Kent struck the ball through a bevy of Northern players from a
free kick to score and give Spirit the lead 2-1.
With
just three minutes remaining and Spirit appearing to have finally gained control
of the situation Northern turned defence into attack with a swift move and
Hodgson struck his timely equalising goal to complete the day’s scoring.
Southland Soccer can be well pleased with the first round scores in the inaugural combined Premier league first round games.
The
three Donald Gray teams Ascot Tavern Queens Park, Southend United and Old Boys
all won their respective games but in each case met with plenty of resistance
from their lesser-ranked rivals.
Waihopai fought back from a goal down, went to a 4-1 lead and then needed to desperately hang on to finally win by 4 goals to 3 in its Otago Fletcher cup game against Northern reserves.
The
game was notable for the high quality finishing for all the goals.
Chris
Jones, Brent deRuyter, Mark Buchanan and Quinton Wicks were on target for
Waihopai.