Match Report: Round 18 vs Auckland Utd
Dettol Northern League Round 18 Match Report: East Coast Bays vs Auckland Utd, Bay City Park, Saturday 2nd August 2025.
Game of few chances settled by first half penalty in narrow home loss
Bays were back in league action after the weekend off last weekend with a home game against highflyers Auckland Utd. Adam H returned to the defence after his one game suspension, Cam was at right back and James Elder started up front. Adam P & Nathan were on the bench. Nice conditions with a dry day but a bit of a cold breeze.
Bays started off brightly with a ball played down the left wing by Damion to Liam. His left foot cross was deflected behind for a corner. Orlando’s short corner was played back to him by Damion and his cross saw James Elder head wide. Down the other end Tade played a great ball down the middle that saw an excellent block tackle & clearance by Adam H. Utd concentrated most of their attacks down the Bays left wing and a cross in by Curry was turned behind by Billy. The corner was cleared away by a combination of James & Cam. Nice play in midfield by Chase saw a ball out to Cam on the right wing. He played it on to Guy and his cross into the middle was cleared away.
Another ball down the right wing saw James Elder play the ball against a Utd defender for a corner. The corner into the middle bounced up off a defender’s foot and James reacted with a reactive header straight at the keeper. Tade played another ball straight down the middle which saw Olaoye away before he was eventually flagged offside. Another ball down the middle saw Atkinson cut inside Billy before shooting wide. A Bays long ball down the right wing saw Cam play the ball off Curry for another corner. Jack’s corner to the back post saw Billy head back across the box but the keeper was alert to cut out the header & collect comfortably.
Good team play between Billy & Damion saw a ball forward to James Elder. He was pulled back by Haviland for a Bays free kick. Orlando managed to get the free kick over the wall, but it cleared the crossbar by quite a margin. Utd earned a free kick for a foul by Jack. The free kick in from the right cleared everyone and went out for a throw in on the far side of the field. Jack played the ball forward to James Elder who turned & burst away. He played the ball forward to Guy, but the pass was just a little too heavily hit & was cleared away.
A Utd corner was cleared by the Bays defence to outside the box. Lorenz turned and crossed in. The ball was cleared again, and Curry crossed into the middle for Louie to pick up comfortably. The game was meandering along as it approached half time. Atkinson picked up a cross from the right-hand side on the left edge of the box. After spending most of the first half diving this time Atkinson was clipped by Billy just inside the box in a needless challenge and a penalty was awarded to the away team. After quite a bit of a delay Tade stepped forward and as Louie dived to his left Tade hit the penalty straight down the middle to give Utd the slender lead. After 41 minutes gone the score was East Coast Bays 0 Auckland Utd 1.
Chase was continuing to have a big influence on the game, and he sent a great ball away down the right wing for Guy to give chase to. Unfortunately, Guy’s cross came back off him for a goal kick. Still time for a Bays corner just before half time. Jack’s corner was cleared to just outside the box and Cam took aim with a right foot drive that sailed high & wide. The half time whistle went, and the score was East Coast Bays 0 Auckland Utd 1. Bays were guilty of giving the ball away too often and not being accurate with their passing. In a first half with a lot of endeavour not many chances created by either side and in fact neither goalkeeper was forced to make a serious save.
Bays reacted to being behind at half time by bringing on Nicolai for Cam and this meant Guy was moved to right wing back. Despite most of the fouls being committed by Auckland Utd players (especially the pushes in the back with heading challenges) it was Olaoye who went into the referee’s book for overreacting to a one-on-one challenge. Jack launched a long throw into the middle that went over a defender. Orlando played the ball back to Nicolai who sent his drive wide of the post. Five minutes later Olaoye added a second yellow card to his earlier one with a nasty studs up challenge into Adam H’s midriff. The red card followed the second yellow and Olaoye was sent off.
After the amount of diving Atkinson was allowed to get away with it was a joke when James Elder broke into the penalty box and was brought down. Instead of a Bays penalty James was shown a yellow card for simulation (diving). Bays made their second change in the 62nd minute with Adam P coming on for Damion. Takahashi was very lucky to only get a yellow card in what can only be described as a brutal assault on Jack with a bad follow through sliding tackle where he wasn’t even looking to play the ball. Utd made two changes in the 71st minute with Mendoza & Pastinof coming on for Atkinson and Lorenz. Utd continued trying to thread the ball straight down the middle and a great intercept by Billy saw him get to the ball just ahead of Tade and play the ball back to Louie.
A switch of play from left to right saw Nicolai pick up the ball, exchange passes with James Elder, and unleash a shot over the top. Nicolai’s cross scoots right across the box and is put behind for a corner with Liam ready to pounce behind the defender. Orlando’s corner to the back post saw Adam H called for a pushing foul. Auckland Utd make two more changes in the 80th minute with Campbell & Anand coming on for Curry & Ingham. A ball down the right flank saw James Elder away and his snapshot was saved low down by the keeper. Another poor challenge on Liam saw Junior limping around before limping off with an ankle injury and being replaced by Nathan.
Bays were awarded a free kick for a hand ball offence just outside the box. Jack’s free kick clears the wall but collects the top of a defender’s head to go over the bar for a corner. Nicolai’s corner was low & poor. The ball was lost in midfield, and Anand has a shot that is blocked by Adam H with the deflection falling safely to Louie. Another ball was given away by Adam H just inside the Utd half and Takahashi tried an audacious lob over Louie from inside his own half. The ball did clear Louie, but it also cleared the crossbar, luckily. A cross in by Jack saw a half volley by Nicolai blocked and cleared away. With almost the last kick of the game Nicolai put a cross in from the right and found Nathan free at the back post but he couldn’t control his header and put it wide of the post.
Straight after that the final whistle went and the final score was East Coast Bays 0 Auckland 1. A very disappointing result as it now puts Bays a couple of games behind catching Utd & Eastern Suburbs. It was always going to be a close, narrow result but we were on the wrong side of the result this time. Chase was named Bays player of the day. Next Saturday Bays are back at home again taking on Tauranga City at Bay City Park with a 3pm kick off again. See you all there.
Final Score: East Coast Bays 0 vs Auckland United 1
East Coast Bays: L Caunter, A Huskic, J Elder, O Thorpe, D Kim (A Paulsen 62), GFE Penda, B Jones, C Taylor, L Andersen (N Maisey 86), C Brown (N Berry 46), J Caunter
Auckland Utd: K McLean, R Haviland, B Curry (S Anand 80) Khaled, B Izumi, D Olaoye, M Lorenz (J Pastinof 71), O Ingham (O Campbell 80), E Tade, D Atkinson (W Mendoza 71), H Takahashi
Goal: Auckland Utd: E Tade 41 penalty
Photo credit: Simon Harmer Photography
