Country topple Town foes in decider

WGP 22Jul15 - COUNTRY'S Mathew Kelbrick (yellow and black) puts a pass through for William Marshall in the final Town vs Country match in Stratford on Sunday. PHOTO: ISSAC BURROUGHS.

Sunday saw the third, and deciding, game between Town and Country in the revised town and country series played at Stratford's Swansea Park. The first game had seen Town edge out Country 4:3 in a game that had been hard fought by both sides, but the second game saw a determined Country secure a 2:1 win over Town.

This set up a classic deciding game with both teams keen to take the trophy.

Weather was cold but clear and there was a moderate southerly blowing down the field which was going to make an impression on the ball in the air.

The game was originally set to be played on Pukekura Park, but due to the state of the field, and the fact that Team Taranaki would be playing on it later in the afternoon, it was decided on Sunday morning to move the game to Stratford.

The first half started with both sides moving at pace.

Luke Snellgrove, striker up front for Town, kept probing, looking for the breaks but the Country defence was up to the task with Daniel Hobman keeping close tabs, shutting him down.

Clearing the ball from the Country back line became a bit of an issue with any ball being kicked up hanging up in the wind and in some cases coming back at them. Town were quick to capitalize on these using them to put pressure straight back on Country.

However Country began to reshape their game, making more use of accurate passing to move the ball forward. Mustafa Can on the left wing showed good pace and skill on the ball, and excellent team work with William Marshall and Mathew Kelbrick saw more and more plays result in shots on goal.

The breakthrough came for Country when Kelbrick scored with a fantastic straight drive from the edge of the box into the top right hand corner. This was followed with a second, two minutes later, by Job Cadman who deftly beat the keeper from a cross. 2:0 to Country

Town seemed a little stunned at this turn of events and it was with some effort that the Town defence regained their composure.

Country weren't holding back and knew they had the upper hand.

Combinations in the midfield and the left wing kept probing but it was Ash Reader-Nooks who was given to much space on the right, who found the net for a third goal.

A fourth came all too easy for Marshall after an attacking move that started from the Country box with keeper James Burroughs feeding out to Can who took the ball up the left wing and then put a superb pass into Marshall who took it all the way. 4:0 at half time.

Second half Town came out with new vigour.

They looked as though they had a taken on board what went wrong in the first and were going to make a difference in the second. Their attacking plays began to have more energy with Drew Farnsworth and Ben Brett becoming making a big impression.

Keeping the ball on the ground and setting up attacks was starting to pay off with the Country goal coming under increasing pressure.

Finally it snapped and Snellgrove was able to break through and beat the keeper giving Town their first goal.

Now it was Country's turn to look a little stunned.

It wasn't just the Country defence that had dropped a little with several open opportunities being missed by the Country attack.

Town could sense they had a chance and were playing solid football but it was Country who scored the last goal of the game with Daniel Gut heading the ball in from a free kick.

Final score 5:1 to Country

Patrick Lawrence was voted Country's man of the series with Ben Furze receiving Towns vote.

The series was considered a huge success and Central Football were keen to see it repeated next year and become an opportunity for Taranaki football talent to shine.