Spirit 4, Northern 2; July 18th

Spirit FC completed its home game campaign in the Footballsouth Premier league with a well deserved 4-2 win over Dunedin visitors Northern at Surrey Park in Invercargill on Saturday.

Next week’s away clash with Grants Braes will bring the curtain down on a season in which the team failed to make the top-four cut at the midway point but from then on showed improved form to run up to the last game of its round two bottom-six section unbeaten.

Perhaps the telling point for Spirit was the fitness regime that player-coach Barry Gardiner demanded.

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This may well have been the reason that the problem of serious injuries, causing continual forced selection changes, which has plagued the squad for several seasons was noticeably absent this year.

All up, Gardiner has used just 21 players for this season’s games as opposed to 30 to 35 in previous years.

On Saturday Spirit opened the game in sensational style when after just one minute of play during its first attack on the Northern goal Shae Wyering fed the ball to the waiting Jason Cocker in front of goal who steered it into the net to give the locals a 1-nil lead.

Creative football on the muddy Surrey Park No2 surface was not the order of the day but surprisingly that’s what both teams attempted to do and for the best part succeeded as the game ebbed and flowed in the challenging conditions.

In a word..."challenging"

The small windswept and very wet gathering of spectators often displayed their appreciation of both team’s positive attitude.

The improvement in some of the younger Spirit players, notably Mark Pearson, Cocker, Josh Frewen and Carl Henderson was in evidence as they worked hard to help build up the momentum that Craig Milne, Wade Griffin, Brendon Lloyd and player-of-the-day Dion Cameron were building from defensive situations.

Skipper Lloydy takes them all on...as he does

And it didn’t stop there as goalkeeper Mark Bugden had arguably his best game of the season in goalmouth area’s which can only be described as bogs.

One of many Bugden goalmouth efforts

 Ironically though it was Northern that struck the next blow with a well taken accurate strike from Darren Hart to level the scores at 1-all right on the half time break.

Spirit opened the second spell with an attacking intent and just three minutes into the half was awarded a penalty which was entrusted to Gardiner to take.

Gardiner’s kick was superbly kept out by the Northern keeper but the canny wee Scotsman was alert enough to pounce on the rebound and stroke the ball home to give Spirit a 2-1 advantage.

Then came perhaps the goal of the season for Spirit that was engineered through the muddiest part of the field but completed with sublime skill as the ball moved from player to player before Carl Henderson slotted it to Gardiner who finished the move with a clinical strike to give his team a two goal buffer at 3-1.

Back came Northern with all guns blazing and when Craig Wilkinson netted a powerful free kick to reduce Spirit’s lead to 3-2 it was game-on for the last ten minutes.

oops and now it's 3-2

Fittingly though Spirit’s leading goal scorer Henderson had the final say when he showed why he is just that with a calmly taken approach to angle the ball into the Northern net and seal Spirit’s 4-2 win in the last minute of play.

Carl Henderson (2) he's everywhere he's everywhere but he's no Chicken Man

Locally the Donald Gray cup favourite Old Boys retained its eight point gap on the rest in the Southland men’s premier competition when it came from behind to keep a gallant Waihopai challenge at bay by 2 goals to one.

Chris Jones gave Waihopai a 1-nil lead that it held to the half time break but goals from Brook Arminshaw and David Wadsworth saw Old Boys home safely for another day.

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