Football: Fate has other plans for TCU

Tauranga City United's destiny has slipped from their grasp for the first time this season after being held to another inexplicable deadlock on Saturday, this time a 1-1 home draw against Hibiscus Coast in the Northern League second division.
Going into the game level-pegging in second with Fencibles United (the top two teams are promoted at the end of the 22-game season), CNS Clinic-sponsored Tauranga and the Coasters traded goals late in the second half to split the points in what was City's third consecutive draw at home.
League frontrunners Mt Albert-Ponsonby tripped up for only the second time this season, losing 3-1 to Waiuku, but still have a commanding eight-point lead at the top of the competition.
Fencibles bounced back from their 2-1 home loss to Tauranga to down Western Springs 3-1 and jump two points clear of their promotion rivals with nine games left.
As an all-in brawl erupted on the adjoining pitch in the top-of-the-table Federation league second-division clash between Tauranga City and Ngongotaha - with a player from each side dismissed after a running battle - Tauranga's top side could have done with a few fighting qualities of their own after peppering the Coast goal for nil reward for most of the game.
But hard-working Isaac Bright finally put them ahead in the 67th minute when, from a Josh Nelson freekick, Bright and Graham Craven had a crack before the ball fell free for the midfielder to bury it in the roof of the net.
But Tauranga's lead was shortlived, with Leo Neil equalising 6 minutes later, also from a freekick that wasn't cleared, with Neil's strike having more than a touch of freakishness about it as he stabbed his right hoof at the ball, Tauranga's defence watching wide-mouthed as it looped over goalkeeper Scott Robinson.
It wasn't the first time this season that Tauranga's inability to effect an adequate clearance has cost them.
But the drama wasn't over - far from it - with Tauranga awarded a penalty in the 80th minute when a jinking Ian Stringfellow was hacked down in the area by Coast's Mark Shearer.
With regular penalty-taker Tom Crawford having departed for Hamilton Wanderers a month ago, Ben Van Der Salm stepped up ... and promptly blazed his shot over the crossbar.
Tauranga still weren't done and pushed for the winner, with Stringfellow netting what should have been the clincher a few minutes from fulltime, only to be whistled back wrongly for offside, the most shocking call of a rollercoaster day with the Tauranga marksman clearly onside.
Although livid with some of the officiating, his disallowed goal being most obvious, Stringfellow was philosophical about Tauranga's inability to close out the game just a week after the upset away win over Fencibles put them in the box seat.
"There's nine games left and no need to panic, and I stand by what I told the guys at halftime which is we can only control and play as well as we can - which wasn't all that well today, admittedly - and just roll with it.
"We dominated most facets and created plenty of chances and looked reasonably solid at the back, apart from when their guy [Dan Cyra] got through and was brought down [by Ben Van Der Salm], although we got away with that one.
"Their guy scored a goal he'll probably never score again in his life and we missed a penalty, but that's football. Next week we might play poorly and win 1-0."