Athletic Reserve's Daniel Timmins gets his kick away in the challenge of Feilding United's Daniel Brown at Wembley Park on Saturday.
Athletic Reserve's Daniel Timmins gets his kick away in the challenge of Feilding United's Daniel Brown at Wembley Park on Saturday.
Failing to make hay during a dominate first half ultimately cost GVCA Wanganui Athletic Reserves as they limped to a 4-2 loss to Feilding United in the Horizons Premiership on Saturday.
Athletic were walking wounded come the final whistle with late injuries - including a suspected broken arm for firstteam regular Raymond Hove - coming after they'd cleared the bench.
It was a disappointing loss for Athletic following the high of tipping up second-placed Hokowhitu FC last week and means they are leapfrogged by Feilding and slip to seventh on the premiership ladder.
It was Feilding's second visit to Wembley Park this month having gone down to league leaders Big Orange Wanganui City in injury time two weeks ago. Athletic hardly put a foot wrong in the first half but still went into the break behind.
They held clear edge over the visitors and created a plenty of chances but could not find a way to convert one.
Instead it was Feilding who got the opening goal almost against the run of play. The ball fell to Philip Taylor in a fairly innocuous situation in the box and he was able to head in for a 1-0 halftime lead.
The game swung in Feilding's favour in the second half as they were able to get forward more regularly and frustrate Athletic into some hopeful shots.
Michael Lewis doubled Feilding's lead in the 60th minute but it lasted less than a minute as Athletic finally pulled one back through Tim Hayes.
Feilding retained their grip on the game though and restored their two-goal buffer when Samuel Cole chipped over Athletic's keeper in the 76th minute.
Again Athletic responded within minutes with what was probably the goal of the match. Hove gathered the ball deep in Athletic territory and used some fancy footwork to start a sweeping move upfield.
It ended with the ball back at Hove's feet, this time at the right end of the park, and he skipped past his marker to drive it into the back of the net.
As Athletic were pushing for the equaliser Hove collided in the air with the Feilding keeper as they were both going for the ball.
Hove went down clutching his arm and was driven off to hospital with a suspected broken arm.
After scoring a key goal, Raymond Hove had a nasty collision with the Feilding goal keeper, leaving fears of a broken arm.
Athletic had used their substitutions so were forced to play with 10 on the field - which then became nine when Richard Saunders came off injured - and Feilding made that advantage pay as Lewis collected his brace and the team's fourth two minutes from time.
Athletic captain Richard Dalby said it had been tough match against the physical Feilding side.
"I think we probably just didn't move the ball around enough today. When we did in phases it looked really good and we were actually quite sharp," he said.
"They restricted us to a few long-range efforts and while we dominated it for a good 30 minutes we just couldn't make it count unfortunately.
"It was one of those hard days. I think we were expecting a bit more of a footballing game like we got last week against Hokowhitu and I think it was just a bit more physical."
