MATCH REPORT: Round 09 vs Manurewa
NRFL Men's First Team Round 09 Match Report – East Coast Bays Vs Manurewa FC, Bay City Park – Saturday 20th August 2022.
Controversial finish to game ends Bays chances of Promotion
EC Bays played their last home game of the season at Bay City Park against second placed Manurewa in a must win game in the hope of promotion back to the Premier League. Mikey K was back in the starting lineup and after his excellent cameo last week Thomson started for Bays for the first time. Oscar dropped to the very youthful bench to join James, Matt B & Mikey W.
Manurewa started off quickly and a Mikey K clearance was volleyed wide of the goal by Monty Patterson. At the other end a Mikey K long throw was headed behind for a corner. Nicolai’s cross was headed wide by Keegan at the back post. A ball through to Keegan found him in lots of space. Keegan tried placing his shot into the corner but Kumar saved low down. Liam was then fouled and the free kick played in by Nicolai was comfortably cleared. Callum then played in the next free kick and Daewook headed wide when he probably should have scored.
Against the run of play Manurewa scored after some great team build up. Patterson played the ball out to the right and Foster put in a great cross which went right across the box. The ball found Perez just outside the box who planted a right footer past Louie for 1-0 to Manurewa. Five minutes later Manurewa should have doubled their lead when another cross from Foster found Bobadilla but he slipped when he was about to shoot. The teams went at it hammer & tongs in a very combative first half. Liam made a burst down the right & his cross found Sam at the back post. He controlled the ball but his right foot shot went straight to the keeper. Patterson then had a long range left foot shot go wide.
Around the half hour mark Manurewa started with the niggly stuff. Keegan was pushed in the back by Horgan & Callum’s free kick didn’t come to much. Five minutes later Filho was booked for a succession of fouls. Patterson was then fouled by a combination of Nick & Keegan. He tried his luck from the long range free kick but was well off target again. Estay was next in the book for a nasty foul on Keegan, who was taking a battering but not getting much help from the officials. Bays tried their luck again from another Mikey K long throw and it was headed behind for another corner. Nicolai’s corner was headed on by Daewook into & off one of the Manurewa defenders and caught by Kumar.
Muzakkir-Nabeel was then booked for a lunging, late tackle on Nicolai. Manurewa captain Perez was constantly in the ear of the referee, mouthing off, and should have been booked for dissent on a number of occasions. Bays were almost caught out again just before half time with Patterson through. His shot was smartly saved by Louie and Foster put the rebound wide. Another break down the right saw Foster’s cross blocked by Logan and the half time whistle went.
Half time saw the score East Coast Bays 0 Manurewa 1 and Manurewa were good value for their lead. As for the numerous fouls and constant badgering of the referee, that stuff shouldn’t really be happening. Five minutes into the second half a Mikey K long ball down the left found Thomson in space. His shot had no pace on it & was easily saved by the keeper. A minute later there was yet another foul by Perez on Keegan and two minutes later Perez was finally booked for a foul on Nick. Yet again the Manurewa players were abusive towards the referee and nothing was done. It was a shame this stuff was going on because when Manurewa did try & play football some of the team play was great to watch. A long diagonal ball was played down the Bays left side, Perez played the ball off to Estay and his pass was intercepted & cleared.
After 10 minutes of the second half Nick was booked for a late tackle. Nicolai put in a cross from the right that Liam shot wide. Callum then played in a corner that Liam headed goal wards before being cleared. Liam was then booked for a foul on Perez who dived in a pathetic display of play acting. Manurewa then made their first change in the 52nd minute with Castro Pereyra replacing M-Nabeel. Two minutes later Bays were level when a long ball forward by Liam found Keegan bearing down on Kumar. The Manurewa keeper fouled Keegan as he tried to go around him and was lucky one of his defenders was covering the goal line otherwise he would have been sent off. Instead, Kumar was Yellow carded and after three minutes of injury treatment Keegan stepped up to blast the ball into the top right corner from the penalty spot to make the scores level at 1-1.
Two minutes later Bays made their first change with Matt Beaton coming on for Nick. Just when Bays had got themselves back in the game they were almost caught out again when a diagonal ball to the left found Filho who set up for a left foot drive for Perez that was blocked with the rebound falling to Louie. Four minutes later Keegan played a ball across the box and as he did this he was clobbered from behind by Hunt. Neither the referee or the assistant on our side saw this incident and Hunt didn’t even receive any booking when he should clearly have been sent off for violent conduct. The other part of this was that Keegan’s cross found Thomson at the back post and as he was about to shoot he was fouled. Another penalty awarded. Keegan stepped up again but this time he drove the ball low to the keepers right and Kumar made a smart save to deny Bays top scorer. Bays had another corner and from this Keegan was booked for a supposed foul in the box. Bays then made a second change with Oscar coming on for Thomson. Manurewa then made their second change with McCoy coming on for Filho.
Manurewa than had a fast break with Horgan setting up Patterson, who shot wide again. In the 84th minute Bays scored a great team goal. Liam made a great break down the right, he whipped in a low cross and Nicolai was at the near post to tap home between the keeper & his post for 2-1 to Bays. Manurewa then had it all to play for. Firstly, an acrobatic clearance by Daewook was then given away by Mikey K & luckily Bobadilla shot wide. Bays weren’t so lucky a minute later when a cross from the left hand side found Bobadilla who shot home for 2-2. Patterson then tried his luck from another free kick from long range but was wide again. At the other end Keegan played in Nicolai but his left footed shot sailed high over the goal. Manurewa then had a counter attack that lead to Logan blocking a shot for a corner. Oscar then made a break down the left and was wrongly flagged for offside when Hunt was playing him onside on our side of the field (and right in line of the assistant referee). Oscar then made another break and his pass found Nicolai. His cross into the middle unfortunately didn’t reach any Bays players.
Just when it looked like the game was heading for a draw the most controversial incident of the match happened. Daewook fouled one of the Manurewa players 30 yards out from goal. The referee blew the whistle for the foul and all the Bays players stopped for the free kick. While everyone else had stopped play Patterson kicked the ball forward (it was never stationery) and as Louie came out to block his path to goal Patterson flicked the ball sideways to Bobadilla who volleyed the ball into the empty net. The goal should never have been allowed as the ball was never still (which it should be for a free kick) and it was played ahead of where the free kick should have been taken. But the referee & his assistant on that side bottled it in allowing a blatant piece of poor sportsmanship on Manurewa’s part.
The goal was given even before the referee came back to book Daewook for the foul and then booked Bobadilla for taking off his shirt down by the corner flag in an outrageous celebration. Bays assistant coach Nathan was also booked for protesting the goal with being miles out of his technical area, right down the sideline. Manurewa now lead 3-2 and this unsavory incident had completely spoiled what was a great battle of a game. Bays still had one more chance as a free kick took a deflection for a corner and after a second corner was blocked the final whistle went. Major disappointment for Bays knowing there was now no chance of being able to achieve promotion. On the other hand, Manurewa celebrated their come from behind 3-2 win that almost seals their promotion.
Mikey K was named Bays player of the match and now with two away games left before the end of the season hopefully the lads can get up for those games to hopefully finish as high as they can in 3rd place. Next week it’s a trip over the bridge to take on struggling Ellerslie.
Final Score: East Coast Bays 2 vs Manurewa 3
Line Ups: East Coast Bays: L Caunter, K Kelly, C Simmonds, N Berry, N Gaze (M Beaton 65), M Kolston, T Nkoy (O Garcia 73), DW Kim, L Andersen, S Wilson, L Archer
Manurewa FC: R Kumar, P Day, B Hunt, M Muzakkir-Nabeel (T Castro Pereyta 52), D Horgan, M Patterson, M Filho (J McCoy 76), B Foster, A Estay, N Bobadilla, J Perez
Scorers: East Coast Bays: K Kelly 64pen, N Berry 84
Manurewa FC: J Perez 11, N Bobadilla 89, 90
Official attendance: 108,975
