Match Report: Round 17 vs Hamilton Wanderers
Northern League Round 17 Match Report: Hamilton Wanderers vs EC Bays, Porritt Stadium, Hamilton, Saturday 27th July 2024.
Bays Under Siege for the last twenty minutes but battle away for a crucial point
EC Bays travelled down to Hamilton to take on bottom of the table Hamilton Wanderers at Porritt Stadium. A very nice sunny day greeted us, and the pitch was immaculate for the game. Bays made one change with Moses playing left back which meant Nathan was left out and Orlando came into the starting eleven in midfield. Up against the Mighty Bays was former Bays player Brock Messenger.
Bays started off very slowly as they have done in a few of their recent games and were lucky not to be behind early on. First up a header on was passed inside to Mitchell who shot wide. Munoz then had a shot from just outside the box saved low down by Louie. At the other end a run & cross by Malcolm found Orlando who shot against a defender before the ball was cleared. A foul on Nick led to a free kick on the right-hand side. Malcolm played this to the back post where Ryusei played the ball back in and Billy had a shot blocked by a defender.
A long ball right through the Bays defence saw Hurd turn inside Billy and his right foot shot went straight to Louie. Almost the same move at the opposite end saw Malcolm through before he shot wide. A cross in from Singh was headed away by Billy just as he collected a boot in the head for his troubles. A clever turn & run by Orlando saw the ball played through to Malcolm but he shot wide of the far post. Some of the Bays defenders were guilty of giving the ball away cheaply in the defensive third and were lucky not to be punished. Munoz was a constant menace but left his shooting boots at home as he shot wide on a few occasions.
Hamilton took the lead in the 28th minute with a very simple but well taken route one goal. The ball was cleared from their own goalmouth. A long ball was played forward for Munoz to take on Thomson. He turned inside Thomson and played the ball the other side of Billy for Hurd to stride forward and clip a crisp shot past Louie. This made the score Hamilton Wanderers 1 EC Bays 0. Hamilton was playing for their lives and not like a team that was struggling at the foot of the table. A ball from Brown to Tekalion saw a shot deflected behind for a corner and from the corner the ball was cleared to just outside of the box from Brown to shoot over. J Clout was robbed of possession by Guy and his cross to the back post came off a combination of Malcolm’s shoulder & midriff to go wide.
Bays equalised in the 42nd minute with a great team goal. Nick played the ball forward to Malcolm. He in turn played the ball out wide to Thomson who played an excellent return ball into the box for Malcolm to latch onto and hit a rocket of a drive into the far corner giving the Wanderers keeper no chance at all. The score now was Hamilton Wanderers 1 EC Bays 1. Tekalion was guilty of a number of niggly fouls and late tackles and he finally received a yellow card for a poor push on Thomson as he was shepherding the ball towards the by-line. Tekalion actually injured himself in this poor challenge and was substituted at half time. Bays scored three minutes later with almost a carbon copy of the first goal. Nick played a neat around the corner ball and Guy went down the right wing. Guy beat Singh all ends up before crossing to Malcom. He took aim from nearly the same spot as his first goal and another drive across the keeper nestled in the far corner of the net.
The half time whistle went and after a very slow opening 20-25 minutes Bays had fashioned a narrow lead at half time. The half time score read Hamilton Wanderers 1 East Coast Bays 2 in what had been a very entertaining first half. Hamilton brought on Vhavha for Tekalion, and Bays brought on Peter Harrison to replace Orlando, who had been injured in the first half. The second half started off with a hiss & a roar. Nick turned well in the Wanderers box and his shot was blocked before Peter’s follow up shot was also blocked. Guy showed great tenacity in chasing down the loose passes and had to contend with a number of niggly fouls from the Wanderers defence. A free kick from Malcom saw Ryusei have a shot blocked and then the next shot by Peter went over.
Wanderers sort of equalised against the run of play when a route 1 ball down the middle saw Louie out to collect. But he collided with one of his defenders and the ball dropped to Hurd who gratefully tapped the ball home to make the score Hamilton Wanderers 2 EC Bays 2, in the 52nd minute. A foul on Billy saw Callum take a free kick that was fractionally too far forward for Billy to get to. Callum & Jack were guilty of giving the ball away or stray passes to the opposition. One of these saw Munoz toe poke a shot just wide of the right-hand post.
The next twenty minutes were quite a hard watch as Hamilton laid siege to the Bays goal and how they didn’t score again was quite a shock. A fast break down the left by Singh saw a cross into the middle. Munoz cut inside and his shot was blocked & then cleared. Guy let his frustration get the better of him after being tackled from behind he left his boot in for a bad tackle that saw him receive a yellow card. Hamilton made a second change in the 70th minute with Wadda replacing P Clout. Munoz was linking up the Hamilton attack very well. He set up Mitchell for a long range shot that was deflected wide for a corner.
Bays reacted to being under the pump with two changes seeing Liam & Will coming on for Guy & Nick in the 79th minute. In the next 5 minutes Hamilton had a number of corners but the plucky Bays defence held strong. A foul by Thomson on the left saw a Munoz free kick in to Wadda, who headed wide. Hamilton then made two attacking changes with Campbell & Fellowes replacing Mitchell & Singh. Bays bolstered their already under pressure defence replacing two goal Malcolm with Mikey K in the 87th minute. Hamilton were unlucky not to take the lead when Munoz shot over Louie, but the shot came back out off the underside of the crossbar. Louie chased after the ball and was fouled when he was trying to clear the ball away.
Liam was shown a yellow card when he took a shot after being flagged for offside on a quick break away. Wadda was shown a yellow card for diving when Hamilton were on the attack. Bays made their last change with James coming on for Peter in the 90th minute. Hamilton were now on an all out attack and from a cross in from the left a low shot was heading into the far corner before a fantastic save saw Louie dive full length to push the shot around the post with his outstretched hand. Even the Hamilton defenders were on the attack at the end and one run by Messenger saw a shot with the outside of his foot go way over the goal. Things were getting a bit feisty by now as well as it getting rather dark with both half’s starting late. Moses was shown a yellow card for dissent as tempers & frustrations rose.
Luckily, referee Nick Waldron blew for full time before it reached Sunday and before everyone started freezing to death in the dark. Final score was Hamilton Wanderers 2 EC Bays 2 in what was a very entertaining game played for the points for differing reasons. Give credit where credit is due as Hamilton went for the jugular in the last twenty minutes, but it all ended square, and the points were shared. Malcolm was named Bays player of the day for his two fantastic finishes. This Saturday Bays are back at home, at Bay City Park, to face Auckland Utd, with a 3.00pm kick off. See you there.
Final Score: Hamilton Wanderers 2 vs East Coast Bays 2
Hamilton Wanderers: C Jamieson, J Khatkar, J Clout, L Mitchell (O Campbell 84), M Brown, E Tekalion (D Vhavha 46), R Munoz, P Clout (M Wadda 70), R Singh (L Fellowes 84), A Hurd, B Messenger
EC Bays: L Caunter, R Ishibashi, C Simmonds, M Akimana, O Thorpe (P Harrison 46, J Edgeler 90), N Gaze (W Stephen 79), T Nkoy, M Young (M Kolston 87), J Caunter, B Jones, G-F Essome Penda (L Andersen 79)
Goals: Hamilton W: A Hurd 28 & 52
EC Bays: M Young 42 & 45
