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Spirit FC 0, Dn Tech 3; Apr 3rd
As expected Dunedin Technical was superior to Spirit FC in the opening Footballsouth premier league game of the season on Saturday winning the encounter 3-nil at Rugby Park in Invercargill.
The Rugby Park ground handled
the persistent rainfall with ease and as a result the good turnout of spectators
that braved the overhead conditions was treated to an open flowing game of
football.
The Spirit players showed enough signs during the game to suggest that with
expected improvement both individually and as a team it will not be an also ran
in this season’s competition.
New goalkeeper Oswaldo Rodriquez was steady if not confident in the role for
Spirit and while some of his reflex saves were outstanding he will clearly
benefit from some fine tuning on his commitment to dominate the penalty area.
The back four of Daniel Turnhout, Dion Cameron, Stephen Black and Wade Griffin
gave their all for the full ninety minutes and were for the best part
responsible for Tech’s potent strike force not scoring from an out-field
opportunity.
In mid field skipper Brendon Lloyd led by example with some great ball control
and delivery while Barry Gardiner had a quiet game by his standards but was
obviously a key target for the visitors and subsequently often isolated when in
possession.
Considering he had the long trip
from the UK and on arrival here was whisked away to a Spirit training session on
Thursday evening new import Mark Caldow had some moments in the first half that
indicated he will add value to the team.
He worked hard, as did Morgan McCarrison, Jason Cocker and Carl Henderson, to
help Spirit get something from the game but all four were often restricted to
midfield sometimes defensive work to keep the dominant Tech unit at bay.
Naturally Caldow slowed markedly in the second half.
From the outset of the game the visitors had their Spirit opponents on the run with some slick passing moves that confirmed their pre competition build up had fitted them for a confident first up game.
To their credit the Spirit players stuck to their game plan and held the Tech attack at bay for thirty minutes at which time midfielder George Milne fired a low volley from some twenty metres past a multitude of players legs into the Spirit net to give Tech a 1-nil lead.
Seven minutes later Tech doubled that advantage to 2-nil when a clumsy rather than cynical tackle by a Spirit defender led to a penalty kick that Aaron Burgess stroked home with confidence.
Spirit by determined effort and with lots of luck that fortunately for them seemed to desert the visitors restricted any further scoring until six minutes from full time.In a rare Spirit defensive lapse Andy Coburn was left unmarked in the penalty area and from a Tech corner powered a header past Rodriquez into the Spirit net to complete the 3-nil score-line.