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Caversham 12, Spirit 0; June 21st

Saturday’s 12-nil
drubbing of Spirit FC by Caversham in their Soccersouth Premier League clash at
Tonga Park Dunedin was more a case of the home team being far more skilled and
focussed than of Spirit being completely out of touch.

However on the
scale of personal and match fitness the Dunedin unit was clearly streets ahead
of Spirit FC and in the second forty-five minutes it was all one-way traffic as
its players queued up to add their name to the score sheet.

Subbed off late in the second half George Hercus and Fabian Wanjura
had the best seat in the house...as they say.
Those that did were
Tim Cook 3, Tom Jackson 2, Carson Gorecki, Patrick Fleming, Seamus Ryder, Daniel
O’Kane, Rhys Henderson, Darren Overton and Croyden Wheeler all one each.

The half time score was 3-nil and at that stage two of the Caversham goals had a hint of fortune about them.
The first coming after an out of position referees assistant failed to pick up an offside offence and the third gifted to Caversham by a direct pass from a Spirit player.
That said the second half onslaught was pure clinical football by a team that contains a bevy of young players who seem to be heading to the top their chosen sport.
To emphasise the depth of talent Caversham has, when its coach Steve Fleming made his three substitutions early in the second spell he replaced an already talented trio of players with Tom Jackson and Seamus Ryder two former Otago Youth development players and Daniel O’Kane who is on semester from his football scholarship in the USA.
Ironically Spirit’s
best chance of a goal came seconds into the second half when Scottish import
Barry Gardiner burst clear of the Caversham defence only to send his attempt
wide of the goalmouth.

Gardiner, central defender Adam Letts and, hard to believe that it is, goalkeeper Chris Pearson were Spirit players whose work rate and effort on the day deserved a better fate.
Pearson made many
fine saves and although there were no spectacular goals among Caversham’s haul,
as they carved up the Spirit defence and positioned themselves to score
relatively easily, he was guilty of a lack of concentration on a couple of
occasions.

Spirit remains in a dog-fight with four other teams for a crucial top-six position and its next game against Green Island in a fortnight in Invercargill will be a must win for it.
Locally the joint Southland Finance senior men’s competition leaders McLellan Motors Queens Park and AMP South Old Boys had identical 6-nil wins against Tansley Electrical Waihopai and Southend United respectively and now head to a much anticipated clash next Saturday.
Domnik Katvick 2, Jason Gold, Jonny Cox, Danny Rosel and Troy Pliesupab were on target for Queens Park while it was Gordy Lamont 2, Andrew Elder, Simon Maddison, Jason Cocker and Reuben Lindsay who did the damage for Old Boys.