Football
Douglas Villa continued their winning ways with a hard fought 3-2 victory over Wellington United in the Capital 2 division at Chanel College on Saturday.
This is the third victory on the trot from four outings for Villa who have put a lack of pre-season preparation and a first game loss well and truly behind them, sitting in second spot with nine points.
Played in almost perfect conditions and on an even and well-grassed pitch, Villa dominated the first half and deservedly took a 1-0 lead in to the break when Tim Burling netted. This scoreline was doubled when Tim Woodcock scored early in the second half but from then on Villa struggled and let Wellington back in to the game.
"We ran out of legs," coach Troy Burling said. "We were down a couple of players for this game and in the end it showed."
Wellington stormed back to level the scores 2-2 and it was left to coach Burling to net the decisive goal.
Burling singled out Tim Burling as man of the match for Villa. "He scored one, set up another and held the midfield together through sheer work rate."
Meanwhile, it was a case of one step forward followed by one step back for Wairarapa United whose heavy 5-1 away loss to Lower Hutt on Saturday in the Central League was described as "embarrassing" by coach Phil Keinzley.
Keinzley was in no mood to mince his words. "We gave the ball away cheaply and conceded sloppy goals," he said. In the coach's view, Lower Hutt deserved the victory because they worked harder for each other, played with determination and were up for the contest more than United.
"They were winning the 50-50 ball and even what should have been our 60-40 ball," Keinzley said.
Down 2-0 at half time, things might have finished differently if early chances to Seule Soromon and Jonatan Almendra hadn't gone begging.
"We were in the game until then and really their goals were against the general run of play," Keinzley said.
However, the need to make enforced changes during the game did little to improve United's overall performance or the end result.
Almendra was substituted before half time and after the break United lost centre back Esava Naqelecax to a leg injury which saw midfielder Nathan Cooksley drop back alongside Waisake Sabatu in defence.
Soromon netted for United to further revive his goal-scoring run but it was skipper Adam Cowan who was singled out as United's man of the match by his coach.
"He played a real leader's game. It's a shame the rest didn't follow," Keinzley said.
In Capital 3, Gardner Electrical Masterton could only draw 1-1 against Wellington-based cellar dwellers Marist at Hullena Park, a result which would have disappointed the home side.