Division 1: Sprig + Fern Tahuna 1st XI Division 2: Sprig + Fern Tahuna 2nd XI
Division 3: Sprig + Fern Tahuna 3rd XI Division 4:
Women's Premiership: Sprig + Fern Tahuna Breakers Masters Football: Sprig + Fern Tahuna Masters
1st XI 0-2 Golden Bay Mountain Goats
Location: Takaka Rec Center
Goals:
Match MVP: Josh Johnston
After plenty of debate whether the game would go ahead, the fellas were over the moon to hear it would be on and all jumped in cars to make their way over the Takaka Hill. After a bit of sightseeing the boys parked up at the very flash Takaka Rec center and got ready for the big game.
This was definitely a game we knew we could win, but not long into the first half we were set back from a goal through their young number 7, luckily enough, the flag was raised for offside - no goal. The home side did break the deadlock soon after though, with a whipped free kick flicked on for their forward to fire into the back of the net from point blank range. Another setback for the boys in blue saw Jamie Floyd forced off through injury 10 minutes in. A change in formation and young Toro on from the bench saw the boys gain a bit more control and spent a bit more time with the ball in possession. Unfortunately, their number 7 got his goal, he dispatched a bouncing through ball over the oncoming Joe very cooly, 2-0 at the break.
Plenty of chat at oranges about being more compact as a team and lots more positive chatter around the park.
Second half came and it felt much better then the first stanza, the visitors with most of the ball and keeping the Golden Bay attackers to minimal chances. Some good chances and some half chances later TFC just couldn't find the back of the net and the game ended 2-0. Some gutsy performances across the park, huge shout out to Kieron for his tireless effort in his first game back from injury. MOTM today went to Josh Johnston for a great display, playing in multiple positions and taking a few hits along the way, solid as!
The loss hurts, but the focus shifts to next weeks home game against Mot, and also the club party afterwards. UP UP.
2nd XI 3-5 Suburbs FC 3rd XI
Location: Tahunanui S1
Goals: Til Bahr, Simon Petch, Gary Walker
Match MVP: Til Bahr
It was a rollercoaster of a match as Tahuna 2nd XI suffered a heartbreaking 5-3 defeat against table-topping Seals, despite a valiant fightback.
The Seals caught Tahuna napping early on, scoring directly from an inswinging corner kick. Poor Will in goal was blinded by the low winter sun, leaving him clutching at thin air like a newborn infant. Tahuna regrouped and began knocking the ball around with some delightful tiki-taka football. However, the Seals then struck again through that fox-in-the-box Ben Wright, who slotted home following a through ball that carved open Tahuna's defence like a hot knife through butter. Undeterred, Tahuna continued to press forward. The introduction of Heyden in midfield provided some sharpness on the ball, and he combined well with Petchy to create good opportunities for the widemen Dan and Til, as well as strikers Raimund and Pedro.
Eventually, Tahuna found their breakthrough. Til went on a great individual run before firing a powerful drive past the keeper. Petchy then capped an entertaining first half with an outrageous outside-of-the-boot effort that arced its way into the top corner off the underside of the crossbar, making it 2-2 at the break.
Tahuna started the second half with confidence after their dominant first-half display. However, their optimism was cruelly shattered as a controversial goal made it 3-2 to the Seals amid furious protests of a handball from the Tahuna players. The wind then decided to have its say, whipping up into a frenzy and making Tahuna's attempts at clearances trickier than diffusing a nuclear missile. The Seals capitalized, winning multiple corners and a period of sustained pressure, which resulted in Ben Wright scoring again to make it 4-2. Shortly after, he had a chance for his hat-trick but directed an unmarked header wide of the post.
Tahuna refused to lie down, with Gary Walker firing past the keeper to reduce the deficit to 4-3. They continued to create chances, forcing good saves from the Seals keeper, who also had a lucky escape after fluffing a claim that hit the bar. However, controversy struck again when a huge penalty shout was not given after Pedro was taken down in the box. In a further setback, Eric, who had performed superbly all game, suffered a nasty-looking shoulder injury in an accidental collision.
With the play largely in Tahuna's favour and looking likely to equalise, there was yet again more controversy as the Seals scored following a quickly taken free-kick. Tahuna were furious, but the ref was having none of it. Tahuna continued to press until the end, but their efforts proved in vain as they couldn't find any more goals, leaving the final score at 5-3 to the Seals.
It was a disappointing result for Tahuna, who would have moved into second place with a win. They outplayed the league leaders for long periods but were ultimately undone by the clinical Seals, who showed why they remain undefeated at the top. Match report by Will.
3rd XI 2-3 Motueka 2nd XI
Location: Tahunanui S2
Goals: Sayha x2
Match MVP: Ralph Tahuna 3rds were amped up for their game at home to Motueka this past Saturday. With Tom Dunn out injured Josh Hindrup stepped up again to jump in between the sticks for the home side.
Tahuna started incredibly well with a lot of decent passing that set Motueka on the back foot for the get go. The backline of Stu, Kez, Angus and Michele really looking strong with a lot of good passing and movement from all 4, something that seemed to have been missing in previous games recently. Ralph really did the CDM role a solid as he commanded the lads further up the pitch but also dropping back to sure up the defence whenever Stu or Michele made a charging run down the wings.
Tahuna were very unlucky in the first 20min with Luca, Diego, Sayha, Sobi and Ralph all coming close. Michele was a beast on the LB position and made quite a few lunging tackles on the Motueka RW. Unfortunately Michele did make an incredible tackle inside his own area to stop the RW but the ref blew for a penalty much to the amazement of the home team. Unfortunately even with Josh Hindrup at full stretch Tahuna found themselves 1-0 down midway through the 1st half.
Straight from the restart Tahuna again displayed some monumental possession based play with Binh unlucky not to find the net. Sobi, Ralph and Stu were making the Motueka left side work overtime with some brilliant breakaway play with Stu going managing to plough through 3 challenges and find himself 1 on 1 with the keeper, unfortunately his last touch edged it too far from himself and the keeper cleaned it up.
Motueka then started targeting Sobi and trying to get in his head by making multiple fouls on him in the space of 5 mins, subsequently Sobi was lucky not to get a yellow for lashing out after a challenge. That seemed to be Motueka's plan of riling up the homeside any way they could.
The first half drew to a close as Motueka tentatively saw out their slender 1-0 lead. All Tahuna for the first half and unlucky to not be level if not winning at the break.
After a rousing team talk the lads took to the field once more with no changes from the home side as they looked to capitalize on their dominant possession play. Again Tahuna went really close with again the link up from Ralph, Sobi and Stu on the right playing a massive part. A quick change around from Tahuna with Ralph giving way to Blessings and Binh dropping back into the CDM role. Stu lunged into a tackle to wipe out the Mot LW and by all accounts he should have been booked for the challenge, the LW managed to get the ball away and cause a 4 man overlap against Tahuna's 3 and Josh at full stretch again was unfortunate to not keep it out 2-0 to Motueka.
Despite Tahuna being 2 goals down that did not deter them one bit. As straight from the kick off and awesome bursting run from Michele saw Luca link up with him down the left. Getting the ball into Diego who instead of unleashing a furious strike did one of the CB's and played a beaut of a pass straight into the onrushing Sayha to bring the score back to 2-1. Tahuna again getting under the skin of the Motueka backline almost had a break on goal until Diego was fouled just outside the box. The Mot CB tried walking away with the ball but was stopped by Diego as the game looked like it was about to become an all out brawl with the referee dishing out multiple yellows at the Motueka team. Stu stepped up to take the free kick but put it agonizingly wide. Don't think he'll be taking any free kicks anytime soon.....
Some more changes from Tahuna saw the inclusion of Owain for Stu and Luca off for Dong. Again Tahuna pressed trying to find a way through but agonizingly could not get it in the net. Blessings having a good on the edge of the box but finessing the shot the keeper had an easy pick up. The backline had become silent during this time for the home side, a long cry from the solidity they had shown in the first half. A few brilliant runs from Owain, linking up with Sobi was not enough unfortunately. The Mot players then tried bullying Dong off the ball but much to their surprise the little man wasn't having any of it and giving it back 10 fold!!
Another change from Tahuna saw Binh come off and Ralph coming back onto CDM. Straight away Tahuna looked lively again with Ralph, Kez and Angus moving the back around the back and getting the ball up to Blessings and Diego. With the latter putting another beautiful ball through to Sayha who rounded the keeper and took the shot only to be denied by the Motueka CB going full stretch to get it out for a corner. Tahuna again made a sub and Michele came off to a raucous home support to be replaced by Stu. The corner was taken and Kez managed to get a head to it but it was sent out by the keeper for another corner. This time though Tahuna got their big break, Diego floated a beautiful in swinger straight onto Sayha's head who fired it direct at the keeper, so much so the keeper only managed to parry it high into the air. With players jostling underneath the incoming ball Sayha managed to out muscle the keeper and the CB to get another header and send it straight into the back of the net!
2-2 with 15mins to go. Stu's booming voice could be heard as cries of "110% lads" roared across the pitch. Tahuna again were showing their resilience and made life tough for the visiting side as Ralph went in to try and steal the ball off the mot midfielder, he was getting guarded pretty well then all of a sudden Dong comes in from nowhere and boots the Mot player right in the back of the leg! Yellow card for that challenge!
Motueka then got a lucky corner and while everything looked in place a mix up between Kez and Angus saw the ball fall in between them with the looks of handball from the Motueka player inbetween them mangaing to get the ball in the back of the net! 3-2 Motueka.
While Stu explained that it was handball in the build up the ref acknowledged that he did not see it unfortunately. Tahuna played valiantly to the very end and will feel slightly robbed after this game as they were by far the better side throughout.
With that loss sees Motueka still at the bottom of the ladder but 1 point behind our heros. Next up for the 3rds is an away trip to Richmond Bogans. With Tahuna reeling from this setback don't be surprised to see a fired up 3rds this coming weekend.
Match report by Stu Mountain.
Tahuna 4th XI 2-3 FC Nelson 4th XI
Location: Victory Square
Goals: Keris, Jonny Corry
Match MVP: Zach
The wet weather staved off on Saturday and football was given the go ahead by Nelson Bays football. With the ground softer than it has been all season, sprigged boots were finally able to be donned.
The 4th XI lads had a daunting match ahead of them against the top of the table FC Nelson squad held at the reputable Victory square grounds.
With the Tahuna Masters playing alongside them it must have been a stripey affair at 1pm.
A hard fought game as always, the lads found themselves down by 3 with 10 minutes to go. Not a bad score against the top team. To Tahunas delight however, Keris made a break away, outrunning the defenders and sinking one into the net for the visiting team.
That wasn't the end of the excitement as Keris tried to recreate his last goal scoring effort!
But FC Nelson were having none of it and in their desperation to stop our very own Harry Kane from reaching the goal again a couple of players coming in from behind saw Keris hit the deck.
Jonny stepped up to take the penalty and the match wrapped up with a 2-3 result.
A well played match by all the Tahuna lads, Zachary having his best game of the season in goals nabbed him man of the match.
Match report by Abbi.
TFC Breakers 1-0 Suburbs FC Reserves
Location: Tahunanui S2
Goals: Ruby
Match MVP: Emily
The game between Tahuna Breakers and Suburbs Reserves was one on the calendar that our ladies were waiting for. Ruby Cunningham scored our only goal on Saturday to secure a 1-0 lead over Suburbs and move Tahuna into 4th place on the seedings.
From the very start, Tahuna controlled the tempo of game thanks to a strong well synchronized defensive line up of EJ, Miho, Michelle & Monique. Unfortunately, Monique’s previous niggles in her calf resurfaced in the 15min, she was unable to continue the game, bringing Jenna into the back line to ensure the defensive line stood strong.
EJ came up with some big tackles and put her body on the line throughout the game to secure the MVP for the day.
With no remaining subs, the Tahuna Ladies had to dig deep and rely heavily on their physical fitness to stay strong and counter any advances by Suburbs.
Our strategy to use pace and long-range passes, paid off in the 30 min with a long pass by Michelle from halfway to send Ruby sprinting around her defender and pick the ball up on the 18-yard box to take control and send it into the back of the net. “GOOOOAAAALLLL”
The game went back and forth with relentless offensive and defensive encounters in the midfield, pushing Sophie, Sayaka, Ruth, Hannah, and Bailey to the limit. The physicality of the game resulted in many players on both sides feeling the effects of the strong encounters.
Suburbs were fast and relentless on their attempts at our goal and Arin stood strong against their advances, with some massive saves and many close encounters with the attacking players, including one where the ball was kicked from her hands.
The game was truly a spectator’s game, with advances on each other goals swapping every couple of minutes. No one, on the sideline was able to predict the outcome of the game until the final whistle. The final 10 minutes of the game had us all on the edge of our seats and when the game ended the jubilation of the win was celebrated by all.
Well, done ladies – one of the best games I have watched.
Match report by Cris.
TFC Masters 0-1 FC Nelson Masters
Location: Victory Square
Goals:
Match MVP:
A bad day at the office, our first touch was crap, second not much better. We were not our calm usual selves, we got rattled from the kick off and didn't really recover.
We had 4 clear chances to put the game to bed and didn't. It was a scrappy game on a turnip patch, we didn't get on the ball for the first 20 mins and then only 3 or 4 sporadic breaks, me n Gaz got onto 2 of them but didn't put them away.
Defensively were pretty solid, they kept pumping long balls in which we dealt with, but we couldn't get hold of the game. So despite having the better chances we finished the half 0-0. The second half wasn't much different.... except they scored.
They got a corner and Waz who had a great game didn't quite catch it and it went in. We were constantly making subs because of injuries and that didn't help the flow much.
Daz came on with about 15 to go and got hold of the midfield. We created 2 good chances late in the game, Ed pinged the cross bar and Patty got through and smashed one.....apparently the ball has been found on D'Urville Island. Awwww it just wasn't our day and even though we played a sub par game we were unlucky not to get something out of it. I think we are going to smash them when we get them at home and I can't wait.
Big thanks to Waz for putting in a good shift and welcome back Steve. Those of you with injuries, rest up and take care of yourselves we have a lot of players who will not be available for a chunk of the second half of the season. Match Report by Cole.
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