Football: Hamilton premier men's teams claim wins against Auckland sides

Both Hamilton Wanderers and Melville United came away with big wins in the premiership. Photo / Grant Stantiall

It was a victory for all three of Hamilton's premier football clubs in the LottoNRFL on Saturday, as Melville United, Hamilton Wanderers and Claudelands Rovers all notched up important wins.

Melville United v East Coast Bays

After a stunning campaign in 2018, Melville United has struggled to get going in their return to the LottoNRFL Premiership this season, but against East Coast Bays the side showed the grit to claim a 3-2 win.

It may not be the football that coach Sam Wilkinson wants his side to be playing, but the claiming three points at this stage of the season is the more important goal, and one that Liam Hayes helped start when he opened the scoring only minutes after kick off.

Melville would go on to have multiple chances on goal, but failed to add to Hayes' goal before half time.

It would come back to haunt them as East Coast Bays equalised early in the second half, however parity did not last as Josh Davies put Melville ahead again.

Conceding late goals has become somewhat of a reoccurring narrative for Melville, and it happened again when East Coast Bays scored again through Kieran McMinn in the 84th minute.

However, it was now Melville's turn to have the last laugh as Marc Evans produced a moment of magic to score a free kick in the final minutes of the game, giving Melville the 3-2 win.

Hamilton Wanderers v Central United

Hamilton Wanderers are fairing slightly better than their cross town rivals, and on the weekend secured another three points against Central United, thanks to their goal-scoring machine Tommy Semmy.

The game was a cagey affair in the first half with few chances falling to both teams, however like many of the other teams in the league, Central United were unable to contain Semmy completely.

As game moved into the 80th minute, Semmy was able to fire Wanderers in front to give them the 1-0 win on the day.

Claudelands Rovers v Greenhithe FC

The goals keep on coming for the Claudelands Rovers premier men's side as they continue their push for promotion to division one.

Penalty by Captain Bailey Webster

Posted by Claudelands Rovers on Friday, 3 May 2019

In this case, the goals came very early on as Kyle Kirtsen notched home the opener within a minute of the game being played.

Just two minutes later, Jono Vivani, who is playing some of his best football under Mark Cossey, doubled the lead to give Claudelands an early 2-0 advantage.

In the second half, Bailey Webster would go on to score a brace to put Claudelands 4-0 up, before a late consolation came from Greenhithe FC.

The result keeps Claudelands in the top two of the LottoNRFL division two league.