Villagers return empty handed from trip north

SCORER: Alexis Pinto was on target for Ngongotaha on Saturday in their fruitless trip to Whangarei. PHOTO/FILE A_200517bf9.JPG

Whangarei is a long way to go to play football at the best of times - it must have seemed like it was a world away to Ngongotaha AFC's players on Saturday.

The Villagers travelled to take on Northland AFC, but returned empty handed after a 2-1 reversal, after leading 1-0 at the break.

"It was a disappointing result after another good display. It's annoying that we're not getting these ones," said manager Stephen Towers. "They never laid a glove on us in the first half, we were all over them."

Alexis Pinto scored for Ngongotaha. The hosts' first goal came after a innocuous ball into the box wasn't dealt with.

"It was a giveaway goal really, then we just hit the panic button again and we folded a bit and let them in for another goal," said Towers.

"We tried to press in the last 10-15 minutes and couldn't get through. They were a good outfit, but we played them off the park in the first half."

With just a day's rest, The Villagers are back in action this afternoon at Stembridge Rd when Beachlands-Maraetai are the visitors in the Chatham Cup.

Towers said there were no injury concerns from Saturday's game.

"But I don't know how much it took out of them. It will tell [today] how tired they are because they put a lot of effort in towards the end. Hopefully we've got enough to get through to the next round.

"We don't know much about this side, but they'll be tough."

Today's game kicks off at 2pm.