January 18, 2014Score: 0 – 2
Match Report
John Kerkhof Park, Cambridge. Kick-off: 5pm. (ASB Premiership)
It was a case of same story, different day for WaiBOP United as the team put in a competitive showing against title favourites, Auckland City, but again came out on the wrong side of the ledger.
The first half got off to a flyer and the score should have been 1-1 inside five minutes. First WaiBOP’s Nik Robson had a shot well saved by Tamati Williams then within a minute Andy McNeil got a hand to the ball to deny Daniel Koprivcic who was clean through on goal.
The rest of the half didn’t quite live up to the frantic beginning, with Auckland prepared to be patient with the ball and WaiBOP proved nice and competitive.
The opening goal came in the 38th minute from a contestably awarded free kick out wide. Emiliano Tade stepped up and lashed the ball in, through a gang of players in the box and into the back of the net. It was a disappointing goal to give up in an otherwise promising half of football.
Half-time: 0-1.
Mostly the second half continued in the same vein. Auckland had a decent chunk of possession, occasionally did something with it but weren’t quite clinical enough to grab the second goal they wanted. United battled hard and you felt it was the sort of game that had an equaliser in it… but we never quite got there.
McNeil pulled off several good saves before finally being beaten in added time when City’s Darren White drilled the ball home to complete the scoring.
United was able to hand debuts to Sam Messam and Florian Matk, both off the bench. They showed some glimpses of what will be possible in the coming weeks.
McNeil, again, was strong for WaiBOP, while youngster Tom Probert was superb beside Tyler Lissette in the heart of the back four.
Lineup
| 1. Andy McNeil | |
| 2. Liam Higgins | |
| 3. Aaron Scott | |
| 5. Tyler Lissette | |
| 6. Masaki Nomoto | |
| 7. Mark Jones | |
| 10. Nik Robson | |
| 12. Jack McNab | |
| 18. Alexis Varela | |
| 23. Tom Probert | |
| 17. Reid Drake |
Subs
| 14. Sam Messam | Sub12 |
| 17. Florian Matk | Sub7 |
| 16. Scott Hilliar | Sub3 |
