Whanganui Athletic slide by North End in scrappy contest

Winger Josh Ngapeka opened the scoring for Athletic with a swift finish. Photo / Lewis Gardner

After dropping their first game of the season against Peggy Gordons New Plymouth Rangers a month ago, GJ Gardner Whanganui Athletic have won four on the trot.

In what coach Tex Von Kwiatkowski said was maybe their weakest performance of the season, Athletic defeated North End Association 3-2 at Wembley Park despite controlling the vast majority of the game.

Winger Joshua Ngapeka quickly opened the scoring eight minutes in off a Josh Smith cross. Athletic doubled the lead at 42 minutes thanks to Jordan Candish getting on the end of a pinpoint Tesco Grunwald free kick from near the sideline.

In what was very much against the run of play, North End capitalised on the counter attack to score just a few minutes later to bring them within breathing room going into halftime.

The second half got chippy as both sides turned up the physicality, with numerous yellow cards coming out.

Athletic gave themselves some space off a deflected free kick from Martyn Freestone at the 80-minute mark to go up 3-1. North End did their best to ruin the day, scoring on the counter attack once again to give Athletic an anxious finish.

Von Kwiatkowski said they struggled to connect with each other all day, but was happy to get the win.

"A very positive aspect was giving 15-year-old Cade Knight 20 minutes of game time for his first game with the side. He is a very talented kid with his feet on the ground.

"You have games like this sometimes where nothing really works together. In the end we won this game, three more points so what the heck."

Athletic Reserves continued their fine form, winning 6-0 against Palmerston North Marist, making that seven wins in a row.