Ngongotaha player Dennis Essendam laments his sides loss yesterday. Photo/Ben Fraser
Ngongotaha player Dennis Essendam laments his sides loss yesterday. Photo/Ben Fraser
Ngongotaha AFC looked to be heading to a first home win of the season and taking the scalp of Northern League Division 2 leaders Fencibles Utd on Saturday afternoon, when it all went horribly wrong.
This morning coach Shane Davis was still scratching his head as he tried to explainwhat happened.
A first-half hat-trick to super striker Mitch Miller gave The Villagers a 3-0 half time lead and, with the visitors down to 10 men, the signs were good for a victory.
But the footballing gods had other ideas, and by the final whistle the away side had found the back of the net four times, while Ngongotaha hadn't put their chances away, the 4-3 win seeing Fencibles continuing their quest for promotion to division 1.
The visitors' recovery began in the 69th minute when James Davies opened the Fencibles account. Three goals in five minutes - two from Ben Allen in the 77th and 79th minutes and Sean Latimer's 82nd-minute net finder - undoing all the hard work.
"We pretty much dominated them in the first half," Davis said. "Everything they threw at us, we broke it down."
Tightening up the defence was a key aim going into the game with that side of things going well in the first 45 minutes, and when he was called on, goalkeeper and player of the day James Towers was equal to the task.
Mitchell Miller scored another hat trick for his side. Photo/Ben Fraser
"We had a chance early on in the second half where we should have sealed it at four and maybe if that had happened, they would have broken down, but we didn't actually finish that chance and they came back really strong."
By the last 20 minutes of the game, the boot was on the other foot and it was Fencibles who were bossing the game.
"It looked like they had an extra man all the time. They pinched four goals and that was it."
Davis said there was nothing Towers could have done to keep the ball out of the net for the four Fencibles' goals.
A chance to snatch a draw at the death was squandered with the choice to shoot for goal when a squared ball would have led to a tap in, proving to be the wrong one.
Beating the top team would have been a good scalp for the Northern League newcomers.
"They are a strong side and are aiming to go up this year. They've brought a lot of players in," Davis said.
■ In the WaiBOP Premiership, Rotorua Utd came away from Papamoa with a 4-2 win keeping them in fourth place on the table.
