Havelock North Will Fridd (left) beats Hawke's Bay-born Luis Toomey, of Miramar Rangers, to the ball in the 1-all stalemate during the Napier City Rovers U19 tournament today. Photo/Paul Taylor
Havelock North Will Fridd (left) beats Hawke's Bay-born Luis Toomey, of Miramar Rangers, to the ball in the 1-all stalemate during the Napier City Rovers U19 tournament today. Photo/Paul Taylor
Warm today, a sizzling 27C tomorrow in Hawke's Bay and that's what players involved in 130 games expect to mirror at the three-day annual national under-19 football tournament despite some players cramping in Napier.
Havelock North FC, who are in the main draw after winning the satellite section last year,have kept a clean sheet as the flagship Bay team in the male competition with a win and two draws.
"The pool we're in is outrageously strong with Hamilton Wanderers a national league outfit so that's really awesome for our guys," said Havelock North spokesman Bruce Barclay after they pipped the Wanderers 2-1 first up in the Napier City Rovers-organised tourney.
The sides were locked 1-all at the break of the 25-minute halves with the Wanderers drawing first blood in the 11th minute before striker Liam Shackleton equalised in the 21st minute before centre-mid Kenny Willox clinched the winner with a header from a Shackleton cornerkick five minutes into the second half.
Barclay said the Dion Adams-coached villagers were well drilled in the triangular passing game to dominate possession against a physical Hamilton.
Havelock North players Aiden Roberts (left) Luca Barclay and Lachlan McGrath ignore Miramar Rangers player Dei Gatkek's instructions to defend gallantly today in Napier. Photo/Paul Taylor
Barclay said Miramar were "amazing" and would go deep into the tourney although Havelock North had shown tenacity while trailing.
"They dominated us but we defended really, really well ... and we fed off scraps and if there were opportunities we took them, managing to get a result," he said.
Despite a scoreless stalemate against Lower Hutt City to finish the day, Barclay emphasised the Central League club where Wellington Phoenix run their academy.
"So that's a great result for us but it's a shame not to get the three points," he said, revealing the villagers had three golden chances which would normally have been put away.
Barclay said it was reasonable to suggest Havelock North were pushing for victory against Lower Hutt, who lost 2-1 to Miramar, in the second half but couldn't put the ball into the net.
He said Havelock North had found the main draw a giant step up from the satellite grade but they were relishing the fight.
Havelock North play Forest Hill Milford tomorrow morning and Western Springs in the arvo in group B.
Hosts Rovers, in the satellite section for the third year, are undefeated in group H with two wins and a draw in their quest to gain promotion to the main draw as the finalists after bowing out in the semifinals last year.
The Chris McIvor-coached Blues beat Franklin United 3-0, after leading 1-0 at the break.
Napier City Rovers striker Kaykay Adeyinka keeps his eye on the ball despite the ambush from Levin today. Photo/Paul Taylor
Striker Kaykay Adeyinka and centre-mids Isaac Milley and Ethan Clarke found the net.
McIvor said after the 11am kick-off against undefeated North Wellington tomorrow they should progress to the quarterfinals.
"We got so close to it last year so all we have to do is make it to the finals to go back up so that's exactly where we need to be," he said.
The Rovers beat Levin 2-0, with Adeyinka and left wing back Sam Gilbert scoring, before a nil-all result against Lower Hutt Development in their final outing today.
In group E, Napier Marist emulated the feat of the other Bay campaigners with a 1-all stalemate against North Shore and a 2-1 victory over the Cory Chettleburgh and Paul Ifill-mentored Wairarapa United.
The Glenn Restiaux-coached Napier Marist conceded a 21st-minute penalty in each game to the opposition, according to team manager Carl Hunt.
Striker Zack Taylor (2nd minute) drew first blood against North Shore while right wing back Ian Cutler got one just before halftime against Wairarapa and midfielder Harry Lack got the winner 13 minutes into the second spell.
Hunt said the penalty kicks were warranted but not a reflection of ill discipline on Marist's part but simply a case of the teens finding themselves a split-second late on 50-50 tackles.
"It would be the opposite if we weren't 100 per cent committed," he said after they had a bye today.
Franklin United player Caolin Hewitt-Swaine puts his body on the line against North Wellington during the Napier City Rovers U19 tournament at Park Island today. Photo/Paul Taylor
They had had 70 per cent possession against North Shore whose only chance came from the spot kick, he said.
"We should have won that game but we're happy with a point."
Hunt said the game against Wairarapa was tougher and quite even on the statistics sheet.
Napier Marist, who agonisingly missed the quarterfinals by a point last year, will try to redeem themselves when they play Taupo at 9am and Otumoetai (Bay of Plenty) at midday tomorrow. Otumoetai lost 1-0 to Taupo today.
In group G, Taradale FC went down 1-0 to Kapiti Coast United in their opener before a 4-1 victory over Wainuiomata and 3-1 over Seatoun.
"The first game was sort of jitters because there was a lot of argy-bargy around with five yellow cards - two to us and three to them – so a lot of excitement," said Taradale coach Ricky Foote.
Foote, in his pep talk before the Wainuiomata match, had urged his charges to sidestep the potholes and focus on their game plan.
It paid dividends with nephew striker Baylee Foote, centre-mid Jared Coutts, left midfielder Jayson Gerbes and centre-mid Ayden Jones got on the ref's score card against Wainuiomata.
"The boys stepped up to play to their abilities with a lot more entertaining football and some massive support [on the sidelines]," he said.
Foote found the net again and so did Gerbes against Seatoun with Liam Hall joining the party.
The North Wellington goalkeeper can only watch the ball hit the net during the Napier City Rovers U19 tournament at Park Island today. They play the hosts tomorrow. Photo/Paul Taylor
Coach Foote said they had created a lot of chances but felt they hadn't taken them perhaps due to a bout of nerves.
"We have a pretty young team with everyone eligible to play next year so we're in rebuild stage," he said, adding not progressing to the playoffs wasn't an issue.
Taradale play Stop Out (Wellington) at 10am and Bucklands Beach in a 2pm kick off tomorrow.
In the only Bay side in the women's draw, Port Hill United posted don't-argue 5-0 and 3-0 victories against Palmerston North Marist and Kapiti Coast United, respectively, today in group one.
Darby Lambert scored twice while Rachel McDougal, Abigail Kilkolly and Emily Watt got one each against Marist,
Lambert and Kilkolly got one each again and Guinvere MacDonald claimed the third against Kapiti Coast.
Coach Steve Doyle said his teenagers were entertaining in their cohesiveness although accuracy of the first game was missing in the second match.
"I feel lucky to coach such a great bunch off girls with such a positive attitude," Doyle said, lauding the Rovers for staging a fine tourney that offers Bay teams the opportunity to gauge their worth against other sides from mostly North Island.
Port Hill play unbeaten Hibiscus Coast at 10am tomorrow before finding out who they play from group two.
Havelock North spectators show their support against Miramar Rangers. Photo/Paul Taylor
