Soccer: Ngongotaha are true conquerors

Like AFC Fury before them, WaiBop Federation League leaders Tauranga Old Blues came, saw and were conquered by Ngongotaha at Stembridge Rd.

The two teams produced an exciting game with plenty of good football and goals for the sizeable and enthusiastic crowd and to the delight of their home supporters the Villagers won 4-3 to move into second place on the table just one point behind Old Blues.

Both teams started positively but it was the home side who scored first when captain Josh O'Sullivan netted from the penalty spot in the sixth minute.

Old Blues bounced back from the early set back, hitting the post and just missing another chance before they split the Ngongotaha defence to score a deserved equaliser. They continued to the pressure and went ahead with a goal from one of the several corners they earned.

So Ngongotaha headed for the sheds knowing after a promising start they were lucky not to have been 4-1 down.

It took just a minute of the second spell for O'Sullivan to tie the game up and they started to take the game to Old Blues and were rewarded when they scored from a well taken free kick. With 20 minutes to play Ngongotaha were awarded their second penalty which O'Sullivan coolly converted to complete his hat trick and give his team a 4-2 lead.

Finding themselves trailing and time running out, Old Blues lost some of their composure while the Villagers were playing with confidence. A late goal to the visitors made for a tense final few minutes, as they pushed for an equaliser but the Villagers defended well to take three valuable points.

While disappointed with their first half performance Ngongotaha coach Shane Davis was delighted with the win.

"They all played well but Josh O'Sullivan, Isaac Haua, who was celebrating his 21st birthday, and young Jacob Davis were outstanding."

Taupo continued their roller coaster season, bouncing back from a 5-0 loss last week to beat AFC Fury 2-0.

Whakatane Town were untroubled to beat Melville 3-0 at Rex Morpeth Park, while Cambridge and Waikato Unicol battled out a scoreless draw.

The bottom two teams fell further adrift with Otumoetai losing 4-0 to Matamata Swifts and Rotorua United going down 2-1 to Tauranga City. In division two, it was nil-all between Matamata and Tokoroa, HRFC lost 2-4 to Te Awamutu, Tauranga Boys' beat Old Blues 5-1, Tauranga City lost to Rotorua United 1-0 and West Hamilton were beaten by Papamoa 5-1.