Loss moves Rotorua United closer to relegation battle

EYE ON THE BALL: Rotorua United's Jason Quinlan makes a run against Melville on Saturday. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

The battle to avoid relegation in the Loaded WaiBOP Premiership is well and truly on for Rotorua United.

With two catch-up games left to play they sit in 10th place out of 12 teams after a 1-0 loss to Melville at Neil Hunt Park yesterday.The bottom two teams at the end of the season will be relegated to the Championship. Papamoa, who have lost all 20 games so far, are bottom and will go down. That leaves United (17 points), Tauranga Boys' College (14) and Melville (19) fighting to avoid the other relegation spot.

A win over Melville yesterday would have been a big step in the right direction for United, but in the end it was a frustrating afternoon as they dominated play but were unable to find the back of the net.

At 0-0 with 15 minutes to play, United were throwing everything at Melville in search of the goal that would put them ahead. However, it was Melville who hit on the counter attack.

Having defused another United attack they sent the ball long and the United defender misread it, opening the door for Melville striker Luis John to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Having missed two similar chances earlier he made no mistake with his third as he lobbed the keeper to score.

United were without top scorer Jason Walker and it showed as they created chance after chance but could not score. Credit must also be given to Melville goalkeeper Stuart Campbell who made several outstanding saves to keep his side in the game.

United coach Ian Walker said he was a firm believer that "if you don't take your chances, you don't deserve to win".

"And we had our chances. The loss today is massive, we played good football but didn't put our chances away. It's a big loss but we get our premier striker back next week, which is a big one for these last two catch-up games. He's our golden boot by far.

"If we'd won this game we'd pretty much be safe, but we're still there, we just need to pick up a point or two in the next couple of games."

Despite the loss, Walker was pleased with how his side approached the game.

"I think the guys played really well, they knocked it around, dominated the game and created chances. The positive is we created chances and probably should've got home.

"Lawrie [Scott], our captain, had a good game in midfield, he played really well. He did a lot of running, he's a senior head and didn't lose his cool.

"Ben [Page] was good in defence. He's 43 years old and does an amazing job, he's a good strong player," he said.

Meanwhile, in the Northern Regional Football League second division, Ngongotaha AFC lost 4-3 at Albany.

The competition's leading goal scorer Mitch Miller gave Ngongotaha a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes. However Albany hit back with goals in the 20th, 40th, 66th and 77th minutes.

Luke Barker scored Ngongotaha's third but it was too little, too late. They play their final game of the season at home against Takapuna on Saturday.