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Home / Whanganui Chronicle / Sport

Questions after pitiful 7-1 drubbing

By Jason King
Whanganui Chronicle·
17 Apr, 2016 08:06 PM4 mins to read

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HEAD FIRST: Athletic Reserves Quinn Mailman gets the ball away from Massey's Springer Browne at Wembley Park on Saturday.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

HEAD FIRST: Athletic Reserves Quinn Mailman gets the ball away from Massey's Springer Browne at Wembley Park on Saturday.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

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THE DEVON Homes Wanganui Athletic Firsts were handed yet another 7-1 disappointing loss, this time at the hands of the Palmerston North Marist Reserves in the Lotto Federation League.

However the Athletic Reserves moved themselves up the ladder with a solid 2-0 victory over Massey Celtic in the Western Premiership.

It may only be three games into the competition, but the big questions must have to be levelled at Wanganui Athletic as to whether they were fully prepared, both on and off the pitch, for the demands of fielding two competitive teams in their respective leagues this season.

It was always going to be tough taking away only 12 players to face the reserve squad of Marist's Central League team but, more worryingly, was the inability of the club to promote players from their own Reserve squad to bolster the first team and ensure a strong squad travelled away.

That lack of support for the Firsts showed through in the final result, the pitiful seven-goal loss meaning the Reds stay rooted to the foot of the table and have shipped 27 goals in the past three games.

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Athletic started well, and seemed to be keeping themselves in the match until Marist bagged their first goal around the 20th minute.

The lead for Marist was not to last for long as the Reds finally opened their account in style with player/coach/manager Scott Burney burying a screamer from about 30m out from goal.

Unfortunately that highlight quickly dissipated as Marist found the back of the net twice more to leave the score at 3-1 at the half.

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Burney commented that while the halftime score was not what they were hoping for, the mood was still positive.

"We didn't feel we were outgunned at halftime and that we were still in it. There was still a lot of work to do, but it was still achievable if we knuckled down.

"Unfortunately, only having the one sub really took its toll as we moved into the second half. That, coupled with just a general lack of fitness throughout the team, led to some really tired legs out on the pitch and that's when things started to go downhill."

With four more unanswered goals added to Marist's tally, the Reds were left to reflect on yet another loss and ponder whether they'll soon be labelled the whipping boys of the league.

There is the much-heralded arrival of the first of the team's English imports this week and it will be interesting to see whether this one player can provide the much needed spark to turn their fortunes around and bring some respectability to the club's efforts in the league.

While the first team struggles to make any real progress, Cliff Hughes' pet development project in the Athletic Reserves seem to be finding their feet.

After starting with a heavy loss in the first round, then pulling a decent draw result against Levin, the Reserves managed to pick up their first competition victory for the season at home on Wembley's main ground.

The Reserves took the pitch buoyed in spirit, keen to mimic their strong performance from last weekend and give Massey a run for their money.

While the game was pretty open and fast paced at points, it wasn't the prettiest game of football to grace Wembley's main ground, yet the final result was still very effective.

The match was capped off by great goals from both Tesco Grunwald and David Glaister giving the Reserves a 2-nil victory at the final whistle.

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The Red Reserves are starting to show the promise of a side looking to grow their individual games, who could quickly make the supporting step to the first team to explore their capabilities further.

However, for the time being their focus will be on their trip to Skoglund Park next weekend, as they take on the current league leaders, the Hokowhitu Rangers.

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