Men's Div 1: Sprig & Fern Tahuna 1st XI v Rangers Association Football Club - Blenheim
Men's Div 3: Sprig & Fern Tahuna 2nd XI v Taste of Turkey Motueka 2nd XI
Men's Div 4: Sprig & Fern Tahuna 3rd XI v Wakefield FC 2nd XI
Men's Div 5: Sprig & Fern Tahuna 4th XI v Helen Ruston Richmond Stags
Women's Friendly: Sprig & Fern Tahuna Breakers v Nelson Suburbs FC Swans
Photos by Ab's Snaps. For more match-day pics join the Facebook Group. To purchase photos or request your own photos at the next game contact Abbi Robinson.
1st XI 0-9 Rangers
Location: Tahuna Reserve
Match MVP: Josh Johnston
A bitter pill to swallow for the Blue Army on Saturday, beaten comfortably in the end by Blenheim Rangers in front of the home support.
TFC 1st XI started the match strong, holding possession and breaching the lines of the strong Marlborough side. Tahuna has historically been the bogey team for the dominant Rangers over the last few years and hopes were high of another result early in the season. The boys breached the lines and set up some early chances, but failed to convert while the pressure was on. Marlborough counter-punched with two goals in quick succession, one a thunderbolt from outside the box and a second from a defensive mishap. 0-2 at oranges but Tahuna still well in the fight.
Unfortunate injuries and illnesses forced changes in key areas at halftime. The second half saw Tahuna’s flow disrupted and Marlborough taking hold of the match. Failure to maintain possession proved the downfall of a resilient display from the lads, with wave after wave of attack from a quality Blenheim too much for even the most spirited defensive effort to withstand. Eventually, the floodgates opened, inflating the scoreline to unfairly reflect the effort seen on the day.
Final score 0-9, gutting for the lads who played some quality ball in parts but couldn’t match it for 90 minutes. Some lessons learned and sorrows drowned afterwards, back into next week seeking 3 points to re-ignite our season.
Man of the match - Josh Johnston for a champion effort at CB & a phenomenal work rate. Thanks as always for the loyal supporters and sponsors on the sideline. UP UP!
2nd XI 2-1 Motueka
Location: Tahuna Reserve Goals: Darryn Fitzgerald (2)
Match MVP: Will Murphy
Darryn Fitzgerald's two goals were the difference in a hard-fought victory over Motueka in the Nelson Pines 3rd Division's second round of fixtures.
The game got off to a fast start for Motueka, who were lively and aggressive from the start, causing Tahuna to allow a number of chances in the first ten minutes that fortunately went unpunished. Tahuna stalwart Garry Clarke marked his first outfield start after coming back from injury with a late tackle on the Mot center forward and earning him a yellow card in the process (it also saw the player leaving the field for the rest of the game much to the relief of the Tahuna backline). A few choice words and a quick change of focus resulted in the remainder of the first half being dominated by Tahuna, who played an attractive possession-based game which led to some great goal-scoring opportunities. Joe Walton and Jamie Floyd being stand out in this period which saw Patrick Connor coming closest, with a goal ruled out for offside and another effort landing on the wrong side of the bar when the keeper was beaten. For all the Tahuna pressure, they couldn't quite find a way through and the teams went in level at the break.
The second half started the same as the first ended, with Tahuna on top. Mot were sitting deep and playing on the counter, their centre back excelling as a sweeper and managing to sniff out the danger for the most part. Tahuna pinged the ball around nicely but were not able to make their dominance count. A couple of half-chances fell Mots way, but the Tahuna keeper was alert and dealt with them without too much issue. The breakthrough finally came with Dazza getting played through and finishing in the corner: 1-0. Tahuna continued to push on and were unfortunate not to go further ahead with a number of chances that couldn't be finished. Then, with about 15 minutes left to play and against the run of play, Mot capitalized on a poor clearance, striking an effort that was well saved by the Tahuna keeper but fell to their striker by the edge of the 6-yard box who squared it to an onrushing Mot attacker who buried his chance. 1-1 and game on again. Their mood lifted and sensing a chance to nick the game, Mot pressed on and played on the front foot. A dubious offside decision played them through but Will saved well and smothered the rebound. A couple of well-timed subs brought a calmness to Tahuna and they pressed forward again. Tahuna skipper, Neil, and the never-tiring IT combined well down the left-hand side before Neil unselfishly squared the ball to Dazza who, although looking like he let the ball escape him, managed to readjust and fire a shot past the hapless Mot keeper with only a few minutes left on the clock. The second goal completely deflated Mot and allowed Tahuna to see out the game and record a well-deserved first victory of the season.
3rd XI 4-4 Wakefield
Location: Wakefield Reserve
Goals: Sayha Men (2), Luke Mincher, Pedro Ivo
Match MVP: Sobi Han
Another action-packed game for the fans. Everybody worked very hard, but like in all games, we had a bit of a brain fart through tiredness. So once again we had most of the play and were in control for most of the game. Luke put the first away on his first game back. Then they equalized...1-1. We then went 2-1 up when Sayha got onto a through ball and put it to bed. We were moving the ball well and got their attack under control. We also were denied an obvious penalty when Luke got kicked, but the ref missed it. So all in all a good half.
We came out in the second half with more of the same. Pedro got on the ball and did his thing to bring the score to 3-1. They brought on a South American guy at halftime and he was good. But between Matt and Luke, they had him covered. They scored again, unfortunately, as Pedro started to get cuddled out of the game. Anyway, the ref didn't give anything and they broke and scored. Sucks. But then a magical once-in-a-lifetime moment happens and Sayha scores a header from a corner... magic! 4-2.
That was with about 10 mins to go... guess what happened next. Yeah, they put 2 past us 4-4. We had so many chances to put the game out of reach and on other days those would have hit the back of the net. I think when we are 2 up with 15 to go we should just stick to a more defensive formation. No mass migrations up the pitch, trust Pedro and Sayah to do their thing and stay strong defensively. The goals that hurt us came from them punting it out from their box when our attack broke down and by-passing our midfield. If we had held our shape that wouldn't have happened. I'm not saying don't attack, but you have to prioritise defence when we're 2 up. The same thing happened last week, we're unlikely to get any fitter (well I might be able to squeeze a bit more out of my body...but it's not looking too flash...), but we can get smarter.
Great job guys despite dropping a few points we're going in the right direction, we are gelling well as a squad. We score goals, we don't give up, and have awesome team spirit.
Man of the Match... aww this was a tough one, but I'm going with Sobi – he ran the midfield and got 2 assists.
Goals: Sayha 2, Luke 1, Pedro 1. Assists: Sobi 2, Pedro 1, (who took the corner for Sayha's??) 1. See you at training.
4th XI 1-7 Richmond Stags
Location: Tahuna Reserve
Goals: Scott Mackenzie
Match MVP: Zachary Troy
After the debacle of last week, the team fronted up on a glorious day for football at the S&F #2 pitch, to play against the strong Richmond Stags side. With a number of regulars back who were missing last week, and numbers on the bench, an improved performance was demanded and we got this in the first half.
A fast-paced game saw play switching from end to end with both teams creating chances, but it was your local team that took the lead when a corner from Macca somehow deceived the keeper and crept in at the near post. There were a number of various descriptions as to how it found its way there but we're going with Macca's version. Richmond pushed hard for an equaliser but some resolute defending by the team, assisted by some outstanding keeping from Zach kept them out and the 4ths took a hard-fought 1-0 lead to the break.
A similar effort would be required in the second half if we were to get a result from the game, as we knew this Richmond team would come out firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately, we let ourselves down, dropping off the work rate, making poor decisions and, to a certain extent, capitulated after the score got to 3-1. In reality, to concede 7 goals in one half is not acceptable and we have to have a good hard look at ourselves, as a team and as individuals, to see what we could have done better prevent this. The game lasts for 90 minutes, not 45, and all the hard work in the first half counted for nothing ultimately. Harsh words maybe but reality.
So let's get a big turnout at training and be prepared for some hard work and maybe some home truths from the coaching team. We have FC up next and we need a big effort from everyone for 90 minutes if we are to get a result, we can do this.
Up Up Tahuna!
Friendly: Breakers 0-4 Suburbs Swans
Location: Saxton Field
Match MVP: Paula Muddle
Today's post is brought to you by the letter F!
Friendly.
Fun.
Fingertips.
Fitness.
Face-ball.
Frigging small socks.
Goals: well, who's counting
Goals conceded: again... who's counting... (4 apparently)
Assists: let's change this to assets coz damn do we have some!
Player of the day: Paula, for her Hunting and Fishing attitude "out there doing it"
With but one sub, two new girls with questionable hair cuts, and a team of highlighter pink all-round good biatches, what wasn't to like about today? OK, some of us realised a full pitch is a smidge bigger than the training pitch... but we've got like a whole week to work on our fitness so we'll be sweet.
Some awesome moments when the ball was under control: Muzz and her fancy footwork, team K&K using their backline assets, and stringing together some great passes. I could almost smell the ball hitting the back of their net a few times. Bet Mich wishes she could still smell.
A few panic moments led to more ping-pong than football, and blue was more common than pink towards the end of the 1st half, but overall in the eyes of the beer holder "we did a'iiiiight". Remember these guys smashed us something silly last year, so to lose 4 nil is a win in my books! Let's pull those size M socks up ladies and show Wahine Toa what we are made of next week!
Bob out.
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