Wanganui City Big Orange 1sts (3) v North End AFC (4)

Jordan Joblin-hall (Chops) 2
Kyle Graham-Luke

Saturday 14th April saw The Big Orange Wanganui City 1st team take on Palmerston North End AFC 1sts.
Buoyed from last weeks solid start to the year although a loss we played well enough, the lads were keen to step up the intensity and not let an experienced North End dictate terms with players coming back from Central league and handy players like Zane Robinson and Willy Hodge in their ranks we knew we were in for a good old battle and this was proven correct .
We opened the scoring with Jordan Joblin-Hall(Chops) heading home after some good lead up play and a fine cross from Ants Bell in the 10th min.

Then after winning his team a corner with typical battling fashion Zaneo headed home said set piece in the 23rd min, we pushed the ball around well and made them chase shadows for good periods of the half but were unable to get another until on the back of a backline switch Max Davidson drove a great ball in for Kyle Graham-Luke to chest down at full speed, carry on running into the box and slot it past the keeper in the 44th for a well deserved halftime lead.

In second stanza we came out with the same intent in mind to push it around, open them up and kill off the fixture but they had other ideas and only 2 mins in after what we appealed for offside Zaneo was away on goal leaving Thomas Sinton who had stepped up to turn and chase and Zane being smart slowed and Thomas Collided with him on the D and in the laws of the game that’s a Big RED card  (three more steps and in the new rules its a PK and a yellow card) Oh No your kidding two weeks running down to 10. Nathan Cooksley knocked in the free kick with a healthy deflection leaving Glenn Graham stranded… 2 all we dropped Kyle into CB to sure up the line and he did an outstanding job but with one less in the middle it made everyone work hard to maintain the High press which had worked so well for us up to then then another deflected goal down 2-3 on the hour mark.
The lads showed super heart and drive to continue to play some of the best Football I’ve seen them play in a longtime  and we got a well deserved equaliser in the 89th min with an absolute rocket from Chops which brought the grandstand to their feet cheering and clapping OMG had we pulled it off a draw against the odds …………………..
In the 90+3 we gave away a silly free kick out wide and the resulting goal mouth scramble they toed in a winner …………NOOOO Gutted the lads were.
But from my point of view I’m so proud of the way they played and the High press and the ball movement all things we talked about and we did we will continue to look for the points we deserve and hope to see all those supporters at the park this Saturday as we take on New Plymouth Rangers 2.45 on No 1.
Thanks so much for Your Support 
Kelvin And the Lads

WCFC Wrightway Design Hammers (5) v Castlecliff Utd (3)

Dylan Howells
Mark (Knuckles) Hetherington
Bryan (Macca) Mackie
Chris Annabel
Eli Fleming

Coming off last week’s impressive opening day victory, the Wrightway Design Hammers juggernaut rolled on on Saturday making it a perfect 2 – 0 start to the season.  Playing with just the bare starting 11 and an injury to Shaynne Thompson which forced him to pull on the goalie gloves shortly after kick off, the boys were going to have to work extra hard for the 3 points.  First half goals to three Wanganui City journeymen – Dylan, Macca and Knuckles saw the Hammers up 3-2 at the break, after conceding a couple of soft goals through defensive errors.  An injury early in the second half to Bryan Mackie – who looked every bit his 49 years and then some, but still managed to battle away – meant the other 10 guys had to move up a gear.  A textbook Chris Annabell slide tackle sparked up a bit of a tussle on the field when the Castlecliff player retaliated.  The following few minutes resembled scenes from Gladiator, as players from both sides were coming from all over the field.  Shirts ripped and bloodied, this fired the boys up and goals to Chris and Eli finally put the Castlecliff boys out of their misery.
Next week, the club derby against WCFC Thirsties, is sure to be another unmissable game.

Repac Wanganui City Thirsties (2) v Athletic Weekenders (5)

Connor Piercy
Blair Davidson

2nd weekend back and a low numbered Thirsties team (8 players) went up against a young and confident Weekenders outfit, who were full of players, all eager to come on. After the weekenders opened the scoring, Connor Piercy channeled his inner Messi and went on a terrific run, scoring a goal and surprising our opposition. But as time went on the numbers game became apparent with the score being 4-1 to the weekenders at half time. Come the 2nd half we were reduced to 7 men for a while but kept our form. The weekenders scored again and after a clear penalty was given to the weekenders, Matthew Morley pulled off an amazing save with the athletic player sending the rebound over the bar from 5m away. Blair Davidson then struck at the other end with a thunderous free kick which found its way into the back of Athletics goal. Final score 5-2

Wanganui City Womens (1) v Wanganui Athletic (2)

Eva Thompson

This weekends game saw the City girls up against the defending Women’s senior cup winners, Athletic. City started off all guns blazing, playing some nice possession football and passing the ball around seamlessly. They were creating some really good chances and with our new signing Laura, showing her pace and determination up front, City were unlucky not to have scored already. Courteney was working hard in the midfield and the back line seemed to have everything under control, but after Nikki went down early with an injury and a lucky break from Athletic saw them get the 1st goal. City went into the 2nd half 1 nil down but still feeling positive with the way they were playing, you could sense the frustration when all their hard work wasn’t getting anywhere. Athletic managed to get a runaway goal, bringing the score to 2-0. Rose dropped back into the midfield to get a bit of structure there and to help out with defending. With about 20 minutes left, Mel ran on to a lovely throw from Paris along the left wing, got behind the defense of Athletic and played the ball into the box for Eva to run on to and score. The girls were pushing for an equalizer but time was against us and the final whistle blew at 2-1. Up next week City have the newly formed Whanganui combined team, which is a mixture of players from Athletic and Rivercity.