Football: No win for Wanderers

Bailey Webster was sent off against Hawkes Bay United after kicking out at Kohei Matsumoto.

Hamilton Wanderers are still without a win in 2017 as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Hawkes Bay United in the ISPS Handa Premiership.

After suffering a heavy 4-1 defeat to Tasman United last weekend, Wanderers needed to find the mentality to bounce back and pick up a much-needed win.

However, a first half red card to Bailey Webster made that task more difficult as the team could not find the extra man up front to make a difference.

Marc Evans was silenced by the Hawke's Bay defence as he looked to add to his goal tally. Photo / Grant Stantiall

The game started with Wanderers on the front foot, however it did not take long for for Hawke's Bay to establish a lead.

In the 30th minute a Michael Built cross for Wanderers led to Hawke's Bay clearing the ball out and counter attacking on the Wanderers' goal

Hayato Wakino for Hawke's Bay was left with too much space to operate and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Matt Oliver.

Things went from bad to worse as Webster was red carded minutes later.

Kohei Matsumoto fouled Webster off the ball and Webster kicked out at Matsumoto.

The referee was quick on the spot and issued a red card for Webster and a yellow for Matsumoto.

Despite going down to 10 men Wanderers finished the first half only 1-0 down with Hawke's Bay not looking likely to score another.

In the second half Wanderers was able to maintain more control over the ball, however only moving side to side rather than having any real attempt on the opposition's goal.
Hawke's Bay did not look likely to score until former Wanderers player Liam Hayes was brought on for them.

Hayes captained the Wanderers youth side to a league victory last season before making the move to Melville United.

He was signed by Hawke's Bay for the summer season.

His introduction brought a much needed spark to the game as he tested goalkeeper Matt Oliver within seconds after coming on.

Hawke's Bay pressed for another goal but could not break a resilient Matt Oliver who was playing heroics in the Wanderers goal

Six minutes of added time was signalled by the game again died out with Hawkes Bay securing a 1-0 win.

The Wanderers youth side faired much better on Saturday as they secured a 4-2 win over Hawke's Bay's youth side.

Two quick goals put Wanderers in a comfortable position before Hawke's Bay scored two quick goals back leaving the game at 2-2 just after half time.

Aaron Bayliss who has returned to the squad for the 2017/18 season then put Wanderers back in the driving seat after scoring a penalty and another goal in quick succession.

The teams will now head to Auckland for two weeks in a row to face Eastern Suburbs and Auckland City FC