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Spirit 2, Northern 0; June 4th
No pics
for this one, I enjoyed just being a spectator on Saturday at the turf where
Thistle defeated Waihopai in their inaugural Jubilee Cup game 4-2.
The Thistle 75th Jubilee celebrations are just "oresum" and a real credit to
the organising committee...well done.
Big ups to Douglas Ballie who was awarded Life Membership at the banquet
function.
Well deserved and very well acknowledged by the large gathering.
And...big ups also to the bidders who made the auctions so exciting, especially
to the bidder
who "stole" the signed All-Whites Jersey for a "poultry" $1,000...magic stuff.
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Spirit FC moved from eighth to fifth on the Footballsouth Premier League
points table following its 2-nil win over Northern at The Gardens venue in
Dunedin on Saturday.
Back to back wins at Dunedin venues is uncommon for Southland football teams and
to keep a nil goals-against record in both encounters, which includes last
week’s 2-0 defeat of Grants Braes, speaks volumes for player coach Barry
Gardiner’s improving unit.
As they did last week, in that win over Grants Braes, Spirit began slowly in
Saturday’s game and suffered from a lack of coordination throughout the first
half.
So much so that Gardiner questioned the players approach to the game at the half
time break.
This had an immediate affect on the outcome as Spirit struck their first blow
just 3 minutes into the second half and it was Gardiner himself that set up the
goal.
From his perfectly placed long range free kick Spirit’s leading goal scorer
Andrew Ridden headed the ball over the advancing Northern goal keeper into the
net.
Spirit then began to dominate the game and with what was described by Gardiner
as “another fantastic defensive display” kept the Northern strikers at bay for
long periods.
The win may have come at a cost though as Gardiner left the field with an injury
late in the half.
As he did so he moved Matt Webb from the mid-field to a more attacking role in a
tactical change that led to the second goal.
Chatham Cup football takes centre stage this afternoon when Southland’s only remaining team in the competition Amcal Waikiwi Pharmacy Southend United takes on Caversham at Bain Park at 2pm.
It’s reported that the visitors, who have by far the most impressive record in the Footballsouth Premier league of any club since the inception of the competition, have a long list of injuries affecting their starting line up selection.
The problem though did not hinder them on Saturday as they accounted for Green Island 6-1 in their league game at Sunnyvale.
Southend on the other hand go into the game with the knowledge that they swept aside their more fancied rival Eyeview Queens Park 4-1 in the first round showing they are capable of turning on a top performance on a given day.
Although today’s task appears beyond the capability of Southend their coach Iain Walker knows what is required of his team in sudden-death knockout football and will also benefit from the return of in-form striker Andrew Ridden from his Spirit FC duties.