Football: All Havelock North Wanderers need is big ticker to slay Greeks says Nick Hayward

Nick Hayward, 27, of Levin, travels to train and play for the Havelock North Wanderers as goal keeper in the Ultra Football Central League. Photo / Warren Buckland

Heart. That's what goalkeeper Nick Hayward reckons the Havelock North Wanderers will not be short of in trying to stave off relegation on debut in the premier winter league in Hastings tomorrow.

"They are a great bunch of guys. It's hard to come by a team who can play with such heart and for one another so the boys know that's all we need and I'm 100 per cent sure we'll beat them," says Hayward.

The Chris Greatholder-coached Building King Wanderers host Wellington Olympic in the penultimate round of the Ultra Football Central League in a 1pm kick-off at Guthrie Park tomorrow.

The Ethan Dent-captained villagers, sitting last on the table, lost 2-1 away to the Greeks on May 19. Hayward missed the game due to injury.

"If we don't end up winning the game and don't stay up, it's part of soccer so you just have to pick yourself up to carry on," says Hayward as they face Advance Electrical Western Suburbs away on Saturday, August 18 in their final game.

"You can get down and out about it but you can always tell yourself you can be better the next time."

The 27-year-old qualified builder from Levin travels every Thursday afternoon to train, arriving here just before 6pm and returning home about 10.30pm. He does that on match days, too, either here or in Wellington.

Countless people ask him how he manages it and he quietly reminds himself it's what he has to do if he wants to play at a decent level.

Former Team Taranaki coach Ian McGrath and captain Scott Manson contacted the Wanderers to recommend the Whanganui-born goalkeeper and the rest is history.

"Chris gave me the opportunity to go over for a trial and, of course, I wanted to keep playing in the higher league so I took the opportunity and gave it everything I've got ... I'm still here so ... , " says Hayward who isolates himself for a few minutes to remind himself not to impose pressure on himself.

"I just tell myself 'Go out there but don't expect to save everything because you won't save everything'," he says, finding that serenity enables him to let the butterflies in the tummy settle.

He also has played for Palmerston North Marist, Wanganui City FC and Wanganui Athletic.
Unsure what to expect when he first arrived to train here, the passion and commitment of the young talent at the village just blew him away.

Hayward broke a bone in his foot in the colossal 6-2 victory over Wairarapa United here on April 25 and returned against Lower Hutt City at the village on July 1.

He is no stranger to accidents and has grappled with his share of injury demons. On August 1, 2011, the keeper had come off second best in Palmy North Marist colours after an aerial clash with former Rovers striker Andy Pickering. Then then player in his late teens was stretchered to hospital with a suspected neck injury but didn't sustain anything serious.

"I'm a bit of small fellow so when I take a knock I feel it a bit more than other people," says the bloke who stands 1.8m tall.

"To walk out back on the field again, it did cross my mind but now I've blocked out that sort of stuff from my head and it doesn't affect me.

"It took me a while to get my head around being able to jump in the air to catch a ball again."

It was a six-month hiatus that time and it took about five months of training to find the courage to regain his confidence.

"It took a lot of people to get behind me to push me to remind me that's my job and it's what I'm good at."

He is mindful Wanderers reserve goalkeeper Shaun Peta underwent a similar ritual in the Blues strip when he smashed his eye socket, cheekbone and broke his nose after a collision with a Lower Hutt City player on May 23, 2009.

"That's not what you want to find out — another goalkeeper injured, you know," he says, sympathising with Peta.

Havelock North Wanderers goalkeeper Nick Hayward never puts pressure on himself because he knows he can't stop everything going into the net. Photo / Warren Buckland

However, Hayward is programmed to go for anything that poses a threat to his goalmouth because that's all he's ever played since his father, Karl Hayward, an ex-goalkeeper, slipped gloves on his hands at 4.

"I absolutely loved it. I loved the adrenalin. You know, a team wants to score but you'll do anything to save it so it's just a good feeling being in the goal."

A laughing Hayward acknowledges keepers flirt with a two-edged sword because howlers can instantly turn them into villains.

His father often wonders, after injuries, if he did the right thing in exposing him to a position where the player takes more hits than a tequila bar.

"He's always been worried about wrecking my soccer career," he says. "I've always been knocked down with injuries but I've picked myself up to come back stronger."

His last year at Team Taranaki, who he had helped regain promotion to Central League in 2016 with a player of the match performance, was a tough one.

Hayward is indebted to "a great" partner, Elise Sinclair, of Levin, who pushes him to strive to be his best.

Table-topping Thirsty Whale Napier City Rovers play Lower Hutt City at Petone Memorial Turf at 2pm today, after a 5-2 win at Park Island on May 20.

Player/coach Bill Robertson says with Suburbs winning, the pressure is on the Blues to do the same.

"Lower Hutt are not a bad side and there are no easy games in this league and we saw that against bottom side Havelock North last weekend when we had to work all the way to the 85th minute to score a goal," says Robertson.

Closing out the two games, including the last game against Wairarapa United at Bluewater Stadium, is imperative to finish a fantastic season.

Wind was a factor against the villagers and he expects it'll be no different, with rain, on the artificial surface today in Petone.

"We had a couple of penalties that were turned down and on review on the video that looked like clear-cut penalties to me," he says.

The onus today, Robertson says, is on why the second half against the Wanderers was better than the first.

"We need to focus on our work in possession a little bit more to create those chances and we'll look to do that [today]."

It is imperative the James Hoyle-captained Blues adapt to the conditions smartly to the grass surafce they are accustomed to.

"It's been all about getting four points in the last two remaining games now and that'll give us the title."

Robertson says it's important to face Wairarapa knowing the crown isn't still on the line on Saturday, August 18.

"It'll be another big game, like the most of them have been all season, so we'll have to make sure we win."

The league has deferred the final round of games by a weekend to ensure all the teams finish at the same time, as three catch-up games have been scheduled next weekend.

Blues defender Danny Wilson and midfielder Karan Mandair have the measure of Wanderers winger Liam Shackleton last Sunday. Photo/Paul Taylor.