Northerly Chaos!

The Marist Skins went down to Tawa Saintz in the gale force northerlies at Cobham Park 2-1 on Saturday. The visitors won the toss and played into the two goal wind first half. The first quarter was relatively even and the speedy young Tawa Saintz took the lead after about fifteen minutes with an attacking raid which saw them find space up the field with the ball. They suddenly were left with an overlap in the middle and a nice pass and shot scored a clinical go ahead goal. This gave the Skins the kick in the pants they needed and some great keeping by the Tawa Saintz goalie kept the home team honest. Finally from a cross, Mark Crooston's flick on got high with the wind and Ray Hardy headered the ball into the net. The home fans were cheering at this stage. There were plenty of opportunities for the Skins who had a great finish to the first half, but finding the target without being stopped by the fists of the Saintz goalie proved difficult.

The second half was dominated by the increasing wind and uneven pitch conditions which combined to make passing difficult. Tawa grabbed a second goal ten minutes into the second half when the ball boggled around the Skins defence before falling into the path of a Saintz striker who made the home side pay. The Saintz had more chances with the wind, but again some stoic goal keeping by Ray Hardy kept the Skins in it. The long range shots were the order of the day. The re-jigged Skins created half chances, but the game was ruined as a spectacle by the conditions.

The Saintz took their chances better and played better into the wind. The Skins really needed to be up at halftime, but battled well with the tough wind. It was almost a case of the wind being too strong to exploit effectively. Player of the game went to Dan Popham who was often the thorn in the side of the Tawa attacks. Aaron Watson worked industriously in midfield, while Ray Hardy was going well at both ends of the field. Capital 8 is a tough competition, so the Skins shouldn't lose heart.

Things don't get any easier next week as we play Stokes Valley the top team away. The positive is that we play better away from home, usually!