Football: Entertaining matches dish up mixed results

Wanganui City Reserves players Jordan Hodgkinson and Crete Beamsley contest Wanganui City Hammers players Anthony Amera and Thomas Sinton, on Saturday, for the ball. Photo/Sharon Francis

It was a mixed bag of results with the men's and women's local leagues fixtures offering up some entertaining football for the afternoon at Wembley Park on Saturday.

The feature match between the Wanganui Athletic Cosmos and the new boys Castlecliff St Anthony's saw a mammoth battle of wile and guile against youth and pace, with the match closing out at 1-1 stalemate.

The Saints will be rueing not taking this opportunity to claim three points, as they have a tough run home, facing the three of the top eight teams in the final four matches of the round.

Marist Boys dominated the scoresheet 12-1 against the Wanganui High School Internationals, with Keegan Easton bagging five goals in a shaky performance by the boys in green.

St John Castlecliff 1sts also put a big score past the City Thirsties, giving themselves another well-deserved three points.

Marist Celtic likewise had a big scoring session, putting seven goals past a developing Wanganui Collegiate team.

The club derby between the City Reserves and the Total Automotive Wanganui City Hammers finished up 5-4 in favour of the Hammers, who will be happy not to have dropped any points this season even after what was a tightly fought match.

Castlecliff Braves were unlucky to go down 3-0 to the Wanganui Athletic Reserves.

Castlecliff United were finally rewarded for their persistence and determination this season, coming from behind to win their fixture against the Athletic Weekenders 5-4. The points will be little consolation for United, but the win will certainly have meant a lot more, after struggling this season.

In the women's fixtures for the day, the Castlecliff Scrappers kept themselves within reach of the top of the table with a 4-0 victory over Girls College, while the Wanganui City Women released their frustration after last week's loss, putting nine goals past the Clive Barritt Builders Marist Women.

Wanganui High School improved their goal difference at the top of the table with a 15-0 victory over the Castlecliff Saints. Goal difference could be important at the tail end of the season, as three teams look to be fighting it out for the top spot.