MATCH REPORT: Chatham Cup Round 2 vs Tauranga City
Chatham Cup Round 2 Match Report – East Coast Bays vs Tauranga City, Bay City Park, Monday 6th June 2022.
Fantastic Cup game ends with another Bays injury time winner
After a 99th minute winner on Saturday at Waitemata, EC Bays returned home for a second round showdown in the Chatham Cup against high flyers Tauranga City. Lots of chances were made to the starting line after illness & injury necessitated a number of squad players starting the previous game. Sam returned in goal, Julyan Collett made his starting debut and The Macca attacker led the forward line up front.
Tauranga started off brightly and after only five minutes a shot by Maddox went narrowly wide. Two minutes later a break down the Bays right by Brinkmann led to a shot that was palmed up into the air by Sam and a foul was called on the follow up challenge. Two minutes later a free kick from the right by Callum found Daewook who headed over. A great win in midfield by Declan led to a cross coming in from the left that was blocked out for a Bays corner. From the resulting corner by Callum Daewook rose unchallenged at the back post to head home for 1-0 to Bays. Only a minute later the Bays defence seemed to have switched off when a long diagonal ball to the right was not cut out. The ball found Maddox at the back post and he hammered a right footer past Sam for 1-1. Three minutes later a foul by Julyan just outside the box gave Tauranga a free kick. Molloy stepped up and his left footed curler went over the wall and crashed into the base of the right hand post & went out.
Three minutes later a great ball down the right found Liam. He brought the ball down expertly and his half volley was well saved by Pamment. Higgins was then booked for a shoulder charge on Keegan. Macca’s free kick to the back post was collected well by the keeper. Down the other end a ball by Brinkmann went to Davidson who headed straight at Sam. Maddox then broke up field and his shot was saved by Sam. Two minutes later a loose ball just inside the Tauranga half was picked up by Mikey K. He saw the Tauranga keeper off his goal line and tried an audacious long range lob that almost paid off. The keeper back tracked enough to just hold on to the ball just under his crossbar.
Liam then made another break down the right and his cross was cleared away by Routledge. From the resulting corner Daewook had a diving header brilliantly saved by Pamment as he palmed the ball over as he was falling downwards to the ground. The next corner was just headed over the corner of the post/crossbar by Sam. Tauranga then had six corners in a row as they bombarded the Bays goal from either side of the field. After 37 minutes Tauranga captain Grieve was forced to leave the field with what looked like a hamstring injury and was replaced by Rostron. In the 40th minute a ball was played up to Macca who shielded the ball really well before playing it over the top for Keegan to run on to. Keegan’s first shot was saved but from the rebound Keegan leaped to head the ball over Pamment into an empty net for 2-1 to Bays. Just before half time another free kick from Molloy went way over.
The half time whistle went with the score reading EC Bays 2 Tauranga City 1 in a highly entertaining & highly competitive Cup tie. Play went back & forth in the second half for the first ten minutes. Liam made a break down the right & his cross was met at the back post by Macca. He played it back to Sam who had his cross blocked and then Callum had his shot blocked. Liam then made a break straight down the middle, cut inside and his left footed shot went wide. A cross from Macca came in from the left but Callum’s header at the far post went straight to the keeper. Declan then had a cross blocked for a corner that was headed over by Julyan. A Tauranga mistake was intercepted by Liam who found Keegan on the outside channel and his cross was blocked out for yet another corner.
Tauranga then made two changes with Landeg and Moore coming on for Davidson & McMullan. Two minutes later Bays made a change as Oscar was on for Macca. A long diagonal ball by Logan saw a near post header by Keegan go just wide. At the other end a cross by Maddox found McLeod who shot just wide. Five minutes later Daewook gave away a free kick and was booked by the referee. From the free kick the ball was touched to McLeod and his right foot curler sailed into the top corner for 2-2 pretty much against the run of play.
Bays reaction was to bring on Zane & Nick for Keegan & Sam three minutes later. Unfortunately for Nick he received a yellow card after only being on the field for three minutes. A minute later the play was broken up in midfield leading to Declan charging through the middle. His shot was saved and the follow up shot from Nick went wide. A minute later a shot by Liam was saved and the rebound by Zane was tucked home before being wrongly chalked off for offside. A minute later Landeg was booked for deliberate hand ball.
With 5 minutes to go it was all to play for. Bays had another free kick by Callum come to nothing at the far post. Tauranga made two more changes with Schoonderwoerd & Carter coming on for Molloy & Fisher-Vanderveen. Two minutes later Liam went on another trademark burst, turned inside, and his shot went over. From the next cross Oscar had a shot go over. Four minutes into injury time Daewook was fouled just outside the box. Rostron was booked for that foul and Callum’s free kick was cleared by the Tauranga defence.
Five minutes into injury time Bays made their last change with Bailey coming on to replace a flagging Daewook. Zane played a great ball through to Oscar but his shot again went wide. Then, in the 97th minute a Bays corner was sent in to the middle of the box and a bullet header from Julyan rocketed into the back of the Tauranga net for the match winner. Tauranga had one last free kick from the right but it sailed over everyone in the middle and the referee blew his whistle for full time.
Bays had done it, winning 3-2 with the second injury time winner in the space of three days. For the neutral this was a cracking cup tie to watch with both teams attacking nonstop. Loads of goal chances for both sides and a great game as a spectacle. Well done to the lads for battling right to the end of the game. Next week it is back to league action with a trip to Mt Albert Ponsonby and the following Saturday it is Chatham Cup Round 3 with a trip to Melville, down in Hamilton.
Final Score: East Coast Bays 3 vs Tauranga City 2
Line Ups: East Coast Bays: S Carpenter, J Collett, K Kelly (N Gaze 70), C Simmonds, D Sweeney, J McKeown (O Garcia 60), M Kolston, DW Kim (B Stevenson 91), L Andersen, S Wilson (Z Olla 70), L Archer
Tauranga City: B Pamment, C Higgins, C Grieve (N Rostron 37), J Routledge, R McLeod, L Molloy (M Schoonderwoerd 80), B Fisher-Vanderveen (A Carter 80), M Brinkmann, X Maddox, A Davidson (M Landeg 58), J McMullan (G Moore 58)
Scorers: East Coast Bays: DW Kim 9, K Kelly 40, J Collett 97 Tauranga City: X Maddox 11, R McLeod 70