Men's Div 1: Sprig & Fern Tahuna 1st XI v Suburbs Under 23's
Men's Div 3: Sprig & Fern Tahuna 2nd XI v FC Nelson 3rd XI
Men's Div 4: Sprig & Fern Tahuna 3rd XI v Mapua FC
Men's Div 5: Sprig & Fern Tahuna 4th XI v Wakefield 3rd XI
Women's Div: Sprig & Fern Tahuna Breakers v Suburbs Swans
Photos by Ab's Snaps Photography.
1st XI 1-3 Suburbs Under 23s
Location: Ngawhatu Recreation
Goals: Will M
Match MVP: Seth Watson
Tough outing for the blue army, narrowly going down to the youthful suburbs outfit. The game started well with TFC mounting pressure and dominating the play early, piecing together some good rhythm and crafting some tidy chances. Sadly Suburbs struck first against the run of play, profiting from a goal mouth scramble. Tahuna were not deterred though and continued to press, more chances came before Will Matthews broke through with a drilled finish from a tight angle. 1-1 at oranges. The torrential rain continued and took a hefty toll on the pitch. Tahuna still looked sharp, but were unfortunately unraveled by a goal keeping error from a stand-in shot stopper. A third came through as the Suburbs winger latched onto a through ball, rounding the advancing keeper and slotting home to seal the deal. The lads kept fighting and were pushing hard to mount a comeback, but the game was ended early fearing safety concerns with the bog worsening. So it was, the last league game of the year ended in disappointment but with plenty of positives to take out, heading in to the cup rounds. Up up!
Match report by Heyden.
2nd XI 4-3 FC Nelson 3rd XI
Location: Neale Park
Goals: Duane, Gaz, Gary, IT
Match MVP: Garry Clarke
What a perfect day for a game of football, slight drizzle and a nice green surface (to start with anyway). We started as we normally do and went 1 down early on from a goal that looked offside but our experienced linesman said no. The pitch started to turn into a mud bath pretty quickly and made it impossible to play footy in the middle of the field. We used our wings and from a good bit of play the ball landed at Duane's feet and he coolly slotted it home. It was to and fro for a bit longer until another through ball by them met a vain effort from Sam to clear it. He played in their striker for a cool slot home. 2-1 down, we had numerous chances to get back level and should have gone in front but the mud was causing us problems in front of goal. Finally a great corner from Neil with a flick from Duane and Garry was there to slot home his 1st goal of the season. 2-2 at half time. Bit of a scrappy 2nd half from us which put ourselves under pressure. We did manage to get ourselves in front from a scrappy goal by Gary walker, which had us all confused as to whether the ref had given it or not but he did. We held onto it for a while until an unlucky own goal from Eric made it all square with 10mins to play. It was looking like a point each but then up stepped IT with an absolute blinder into the top bins. 3 points in the bag and onto next week and the unbeaten season continues. A win next week with give us the title!
Match report by Gaz
3rd XI 1-1 Mapua (Friendly)
Location: Avery
Goals: Sayha
Match MVP: Football spirit
Don't trust that traitor Kylie who said it was 2-1. It was very wet, so much so that the ref called it off (first time we've had a ref in months).
So we decided as we were all kitted up and not made of anything that would melt in the rain to have a friendly.
Bahahahahahah, everyone got very wet and had a great time. Played in great spirit by all. I think we needed a nothin on it game, the guys had fun and a relaxed semi serious game. Everyone played reasonably shit because every time you kicked the ball it didn't go anywhere.
We played a backward formation with Peds and Sayha CBs and Matt and Adam CFs.....not sure where I was supposed to be....just runnin round like a friendly dog chasin a ball.
Funniest moment....Coach gasping for air with his hands on his hips telling everyone to work harder........you've got some hard training to do coach before next season, good to see your knee can support all that weight though.
Match report by Cole
4th XI 0-0 Wakefield 3rd XI
Location: Wakefield Domain
Goals:
Match MVP: Keris Lilo
This weekend’s game saw us out at the Wakefield Bakery Arena to play a must win game to secure 4th place on the table. We had yet to play against this team due to a mid-season cancellation. Unfortunately, it appears we underestimated how close in skill level this Wakefield team are to us and was not the pushover game we had expected. Weather and field conditions were very poor as we got underway. Tahuna holding most of the possession in the first half with a fantastic passing game. Macca, Glenn, Justin & Woody controlled the midfield wonderfully and helped ensure the defence wasn’t called into action nearly as much as they usually are. Defence was also a tight unit with Daniel and Shiv holding the middle and feeding any ball that came their way wide to Jake, Banic, and Jared. Zach also made his presence known to the Wakefield striker, charging out of goal to collect/dispose of any through balls. The second half saw Wakefield step up their game and brought about a much more balanced half with both teams getting their share of plays in. The midfield continued to be the glue holding the team together ensuring the likes of Thomas, Jacob, Alister & Keris were fed plenty of chances up front. We didn’t capitalise on these as we should have and when the final whistle sounded, we were still level. Quite a few opportunities for both teams throughout the game including a brilliant sliding shot from Keris and a header off a corner from Wakefield but the keepers ensured the game stayed level. Points shared and a fun and positive game despite the weather. The team played wonderfully all around and were unlucky not to come away with 3 points. Did my best to mention everyone who played as you all had great games, however MOTM goes to Keris for having his best game of football for the club so far and covering in defence when Banic was wiped out. Thanks to Ben for once again volunteering his time to officiate our game. And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our coach Taylah. All in for the rematch at Tahuna next week. See you all at training.
Match Report by Zach.
Breakers 3-4 Suburbs Swans
Location: Saxton Field
Goals: Keryn, Shannon, Sophie
Match MVP: Amelia Law
This weekends match saw the Breakers take on top of the table Swans at their home pond, or as I'd like to rename it, "Covid Park". Weather warnings no match for the TFC ladies, warming up was borderline impossible so we huddled in the safety and dry of the public toilets nearest the nasal penetration station. Before and after photos really should have included the pitch, as it progressed from pond to mud pit, and everyone was a winner taking home a piece of turf in their underwear. Act one of Swan Lake included many slips, trips and cold nips. Oh and getting the ball stuck in a tree. Having to adjust from balls coming to you, to going and fetching the ball from the nearest puddle really put a spin on the game. A challenge to move in any direction, most of the game was played around the centre circle. A couple of early opportunities for a goal were denied by some stellar defending by Amelia, with Bob spending far too much time on her knees in puddles wondering where the ball had ended up. A crafty corner ball and a well-placed header into the top corner gave the Swans their first goal. Their second goal was borderline offside, with Bob going out to kneel in the mud and being dribbled around, the ball passed off and last Breakers defender potentially forward of the attacking Swan. The Breakers had several opportunities on goal, Ruth narrowly missing a shot from a well placed pass. TFC didn't go scoreless for the first half, oh no, a guest appearance upfront and standing in the exact right spot, Keryn made us all so damn proud as she chipped in a cross from Shannon and slotted her first ever goal! Backline doing some quick math, figured she'd actually spent more time up front, and spared us from having to take our tops off in celebration! Act two, Breakers defence finally got a dry piece of land and sent the attacking players into the drink. This half I think we actually had more shots at goal, but the puddles made it hard to hit with accuracy so most went wide. Another corner at Tahuna's end saw the same Swan and her Cygnet-ure move - a header, land another ball in the back of TFCs net. A breakaway player was no match for Anita and Michelle, making a Swan sandwich of her. The Swan disappeared, but our center backs lay on the ground for a bit of indulging in a mud angel sprawl. The Breakers attack never gave up, played to the whistle, made the best of the weather and kept the Swans on their toes. Two further goals, one each from Sophie and Shannon, plus an extra from the Swans left the final score at 4 - 3 to the Swans. An absolute upset of a game for a usually impenetrable Swans goal, the Breakers continue to improve week after week. Player of the day went to Amelia, who had a solid game in defence, and for sure reduced the number of goals we would have conceded. A funny exchange before the game saw her asking "do I have permission to just boot it?" - a necessary and valuable skill with the pitch conditions on the day! Tit of the team went to Shannon for her involvement in the following: Marama was tripped by a Swan, fell over, the whistle blew for a foul but simultaneously Shannon attempted to clean up the ball and sent it flying straight into Ma's face.
Match Report by Bob.
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