Match Report: Round 15 vs Auckland City
Northern League Round 15 Match Report: Auckland City FC vs East Coast Bays, Kiwitea Street, Sandringham, Saturday 13th July 2024.
Defensive mistake leads to a narrow defeat against Auckland City
East Coast Bays were on the road again, at Kiwitea Street, to take on joint league leaders Auckland City. A change of formation saw Jack partner James at the back with Nathan coming in at left back and Billy partnering Moses in the central midfield positions. On the bench in line to make his EC Bays First team debut was 15-year-old Damion Kim.
City was straight on the attack when a through ball by Lee to Tieku was shielded out of play by Thomson for a goal kick. A good intercept by Moses saw a dangerous ball from Gould to Lee cut out. At the other end an intercept by Guy saw him interchange passes with Malcolm before a shot was blocked by Lorenz for a corner. Malcolm’s corner was headed on to a defender for a second corner. Lagos made a fast break down the left wing and his cross to the back post was put behind by Nathan for a City corner. Another Bays break down the left side saw Guy & Malcolm away and then a long throw in by Jack was headed away.
A careless piece of defensive play saw the ball given away but Lee shot wide with his left foot. Jack almost made up for this when his long ball was headed over the top by Billy. Another break down the left saw Guy cross to the back post but the keeper got to the ball before it reached Callum. City almost took the lead with some great link up play between Lagos, Rogers & Garriga that led to a shot by Rogers going just wide. Nathan won a good challenge and progressed up field before finding Malcolm whose cross was blocked for a corner. The corner into the middle was taken comfortably by the City keeper.
Moses was the first into the referee’s notebook after a tackle from behind on Gould. City was playing their famous keep the ball possession game and it was quite hard to watch at times for both sets of supporters. But not nearly as bad as the singing from a small group of City supporters! A corner from Malcolm was cleared to just outside the box. Ryusei headed the ball back into the box & a shot was blocked for a corner. A cross in from Nathan was then headed wide by Moses. A ball down the left by Garriga was just a bit too far out of reach for Tieku to get to. A City corner was headed away by Jack and the ball was moved quickly up field. But the City defenders crowded out Malcolm in a two on one challenge. City almost took the lead just before the break when Ilich played a great ball down the left that Garriga raced on to. But Louie was up to it when he saved & pushed Garriga’s shot around the post.
The half time whistle went and Bays had done well to keep things level. The score was Auckland City 0 EC Bays 0 with both teams having a few half chances. Bays didn’t have a lot of possession, but they did well on the counterattack with the little possession of the ball they did get.
City should have taken the lead straight after the break when a cross into the middle found Garriga completely unmarked, but he blazed over from point blank range. Then a cross in from Rogers was headed away by James and eventually cleared. Another ball forward saw Tieku turn and shoot over the top. A poor back pass by Guy saw Tieku break free. His cross was headed down into the ground and straight to Louie. With being a bit under the cosh Bays made two changes in the 60th minute with Orlando & Will coming on for Nathan & Callum. Lagos spent a lot of the second half terrorising Thomson down the left wing. He beat his man and his cross in was met with a shot Gould that went high & wide.
That was the last action for Gould as he was replaced by Murati in the 64th minute. Tieku was then shown a yellow card for a late tackle. Lagos nutmegged Thomson but his cross to the back post evaded all of the City attackers. A cross in from the right side saw another poor header go wide by Lagos. City had certainly turned up the tempo but some of their finishing was a bit wasteful. City then made two more changes in the 70th minute with Kilkolly & De Vries replacing Tieku & Garriga. Bays had a rare foray into the City area down the left flank but Malcolm was eventually flagged for offside.
The key moment in the game came in the 76th minute when Gray played a long ball forward that went over Jack’s head. Louie came out quite a long way to intercept but a lack of communication saw Jack unfortunately head the ball past on the onrushing Louie. Murati had the goal at his mercy and all he needed to do was turn & roll the ball into an empty net. Straight after the goal, Bays made two changes with Nick & Damion coming on for Moses & Ryusei. Bays had to up the ante now and they did as a ball wide by Nick to Guy saw a cross that unfortunately ended up on top of the goal netting. The opening goal also seemed to spur on City as they had a number of attempts in the final ten minutes.
A break down the right wing saw a ball across that Kilkolly met with a left foot shot. Louie saved brilliantly to push the shot around the post. Another ball through saw a low shot by Kilkolly low down that Louie saved with his feet. And the next corner saw a downward header that Louie saved again with his feet before the ball was cleared to safety. Bays then launched a few long throws into the City penalty area and one of these was headed behind for a corner. With Bays needing more height for the corner we saw the rare sight of a substitute being substituted with Logan coming on for Orlando. Even Louie was up for the corner but there was to be no heroics this time (like the Hamilton game) as the corner was cleared and the referee blew his whistle for full time.
So, the fulltime score was Auckland City 1 EC Bays 0 and Bays had gone down to a narrow loss. City must have had around 65 to 70 percent of the possession but they were guilty of missing a number of relatively simple chances. Bays had done very well defensively for most of the game but came home empty handed. The after match was dominated by City welcoming back Daewook Kim and his speech was very entertaining. Billy was given the player of the day by the Boss Coach. And congratulations must go to Damion Kim on making his Bays First Team debut. Bays are finally back at home this coming Saturday with a 3pm kick off against Tauranga City. See you all there.
Final Score: Eastern Suburbs 1 vs East Coast Bays 0
Auckland City FC: C Tracey, M Ilich, C Gray, M Lorenz, C Gould (R Murati 64), G Garriga (R De Vries 70), J Lee, J Lagos, D Tieku (A Kilkolly 70), A Bell, A Rogers
East Coast Bays: L Caunter, N Maisey (W Stephen 60), J Edgeler, R Ishibashi (N Gaze 78), C Simmonds (O Thorpe 60, L Archer 90), M Akimana (D Kim 78), T Nkoy, M Young, J Caunter, B Jones, G-F E Penda
Goals: R Murati 76