Soccer: Tauranga claim win as chances go begging

Their promotion hopes have long since ridden off into a sunset but Tauranga City United can at least take bragging rights into the offseason after battling back from a 2-1 deficit to win their "derby" against Matamata Swifts yesterday 3-2.

In an inane 90 minutes of football from two sides occupying the bottom half of the Northern League second division, Tauranga should have lashed seven or eight past a Swifts side who were hardly that.

They had 10 shots on goal to Matamata's one in the first half, which was locked up at 1-1.

Left-sided midfielder Xavier Pratt, one of the best on the park for Tauranga, netted Tauranga's first when he propped off his right foot and buried his left-footed shot high into the top corner of the net.

In between time defender Graham Craven had his header from a set piece cleared off the line, Jordan Culpepper drove wide, Ben Van Der Salm booted the ball over the crossbar after a scything run into the penalty area and several more goals went begging when crosses were swung across with no-one to latch onto them.

Matamata's reply, one of their few forays into enemy territory, was fortuitous, with striker Jack McNab's low cross into the penalty area was toe-poked into his own goal by sliding Tauranga defender Nathan Farey.

Tom Livesey squandered a gilt-edged chance to put Tauranga ahead right on halftime when his penalty attempt after Stu Watene handled the ball was saved by Matamata keeper Tom Pamment.

Matamata went ahead in the second half when Mark Van Der Salm's poorly-weighted back pass (not the first this season) was intercepted by McNab, who had his first shot blocked but buried the second.

Matamata's defensive quartet, who'd stopped running midway through the first half, were laying on chances think and fast, with Tauranga squandering them as quickly as they came until Craven burst forward, beat three and watch as his shot deflected off Mackenzie Smith past a despairing Pamment.

Pratt got his second and to Tauranga ahead again when Dwayne Signal's header back to Pamment was short of the mark, with the nippy midfielder getting in behind the defence to get a toe on the ball and watch as it dribbled over the goal-line.

Matamata had long run out of steam to launch any meaningful comeback but the chances didn't stop coming for the home side, although you can only wonder what sort of havoc Jindrich Hahn and Conor Irvine might have wreaked had they been given more than a token 10 minutes at the end of the game.