Football: Hawke's Bay rebound for win

After falling behind in the sixth minute, Hawke's Bay United recovered to record a 3-1 victory over Southern United in the seventh round of the ASB Premiership at Bluewater Stadium on Sunday.

Southern United's Tom Jackson gave the visitors a dream start and they could have been 2-0 up two minutes later if not for an offside flag ruling out the second goal.

The home side stabilised from that point and Ryan Tinsley pulled Hawke's Bay level from the penalty spot just before the half hour and within 120 seconds Facundo Barbero had Brett Angell's team in front.

Saul Halpin's well-taken second half strike gave the home side an insurance goal they didn't need as they earned their second win of the competition, moving them into the top four.

Angell said that after a sluggish beginning, the team did well to turn things around and play with positive intent in possession after last week's 5-2 loss to the Wellington Phoenix.

"We started very poorly," Angell said, "we seem to give teams a bit of a head start.
"But we recovered from that and started to get the ball down and play and we got the due rewards.

"Going in 2-1 up at halftime, the thoughts were we just need to keep going and make sure we focussed defensively and not be caught out and we applied that well and got a great strike for a third goal."

"We've picked up the three points and we've bounced back from last week and now it's all systems go for next week and we'll see what we can get down at WaiBOP."

Angell says the team are focussed on securing a top four berth and Sunday's victory has the Hawke's Bay squad in the discussion as the competition nears the Christmas break.

"Our aim has always been could we make the playoff areas and we're in and around there but so are lot of clubs as well. It's just that consistency now of putting a series of wins together to push you on."

Meanwhile, Southern United coach Mike Fridge was honest in his appraisal of his team's effort.
"I'm very disappointed," Fridge said, "I don't think we played well at all."

"It's the first time this season I've been really disappointed in the performance. Other times we've battled away and I've given these guys praise. But today, I don't know. It was a poor day at the office."

"Two goals in two minutes knocked the stuffing right out of them but in the first half we weren't closing down and pressing and we were playing against the wind and our selection of pass was terrible."

"Hawke's Bay kept the ball on the deck and were passing and moving and we had a few words said at halftime and we even changed the system and eight minutes into the second half we lost another goal.

"We didn't create many chances today at all and we got what we deserved from the game; which was nothing."