Right time, wrong side of the island

ANENDRA SINGH
It's not always easy to find an interesting angle to a match report, especially when the home team's had an off day.
So this one SportToday must credit to the hearty soul at Marewa Park, Napier, yesterday during the Central League women's match between Cape Physio Hawke's Bay and Miramar Rangers.
"Hey, I know how you can write your report. The flock was here but where were the shepherds?" the spectator yelled out following the final whistle after the Wellingtonians won 3-0.
To be precise, the fan was referring to the Sheppards - vice-captain/sweeper Meghan, her elder sister, Jess, and dedicated dad and designated driver Lindsay - but the godsend pun wasn't lost.
Like most of their soccer playing lives, the trio were nice and early for the match. The problem was no one else was at Donnelly Park, Levin, at 12.30pm for the 1.30pm kick-off.
At some stage they had received emails from coach Bob Morgan (pictured below) telling them to be at "the park" but, according to Jess, nothing to suggest it was just a few minutes drive from home.
"We drove back quickly here but found our names were not on the card so we couldn't get on (the park) for the remaining half hour," Jess told SportToday.
Thinking the Sheppards wouldn't be able to make it back on time, Morgan said he hadn't put their names on the card.
Who's at fault hardly matters but it should go down as an unforgettable lesson off the field.
For the record, SportToday's match report the previous Monday and the Soccer Hawke's Bay draws in Wednesday's edition of the newspaper had clearly stated the match was at the Porthill club's home ground.
The unfortunate scenario was had the Sheppard sisters been on the card they would have immediately made an impact in helping salvage the game about 10 minutes into the second half as the visitors' led 2-0.
With the predominantly young Bay women's maiden Central League victory this season against Wellington Marist last month and a 3-all draw against Upper Hutt City the previous match, a sizeable fan base had turned out at Marewa Park to see the hosts perform.
It was not to be. In fact, it was perhaps their worst performance of the season.
All the players were guilty of not moving towards the ball when receiving passes and not creating space or running the lines on an angle for those in possession to feed them in attacking situations.
Not taking touches to lay passes often saw frustrated midfielders and defenders trying to launch aerial speculators to strikers who lacked hunger and were bereft of ideas to out-smart Miramar centrebacks Sophie Hudson and skipper Jennifer Graham.
The stand-outs were the defensive foursome of centrebacks Larissa Hamlin and Amanda Hynes, goalkeeper Sian Withers and a flu-stricken left back Felicity Robottom.
It is hard to believe that Miramar is second on the league table and had the Sheppards and speedy midfielder Claudia Crasborn been available it would have been an interesting encounter. Crasborn is touring in Australia with her Woodford House school team.
Miramar's Graham opened their account in the 12th minute from a Liz Milne cornerkick after the Bay defence failed to fire. Hamlin's feeble clearance from the left upright was never going to be enough.
An inspirational Milne featured again in the 26th minute for a 2-0 lead when keeper Withers parried her 21m drive but Terri-Amber Carlson followed up like all good strikers should.
It was 2-0 at halftime but it should have been at least 5-0 with the sticks denying the visitors more goals.
Coach Morgan said some soul searching at the break revealed his predominantly young players weren't communicating on the field.
The second half was marginally better but Milne's well-hammered final nail in the coffin from the top of the 18m box summed up the blase mood of the Bay side.
Commenting on the venue mix-up, Morgan said it was a wake-up call for the Bay team to appoint a manager.
"We play Massey University at 1pm at Marewa Park next Sunday and they all know about it," he said.