Match Report: Round 21 vs Melville United
Northern League Round 21 Match Report: Melville Utd vs East Coast Bays, Gower Park, Hamilton, Saturday 24th August 2024.
Poor start leads to agonising defeat, in must win crucial game
Bays travelled down to Hamilton to take on Melville Utd, at Gower Park, after the disappointment of the injury time loss against West Coast Rangers the previous Saturday. Mikey Williams was in goal for his 50th game for the Bays first team, so congratulations Mikey on your milestone game. Billy was back from a one game suspension, so he joined James in the middle of the Bays defence and Callum & Malcolm were back in the starting line up meaning Ryusei & Logan were on the bench.
Melville started off the brightest of the two teams. Lawrence jinked across the defence and his right foot shot was pushed around the post by Mikey, who would have seen the shot very late. The corner went all the way over the back of the goal for a goal kick. On a quick break down the right Malcolm played the ball to Guy who in turn found Liam. His cross was deflected behind for a corner. Will’s corner saw a header by Billy back across the goalmouth and all the way through to the keeper.
Melville took the lead in the 7th minute when a long throw into the Bays box was flicked on. The flick on wasn’t cleared and after some poor defending it was gratefully fired home by Jama Boss. Melville 1 EC Bays 0. Some more poor defending saw a ball by Billy to Nick cannon off Callum for a Melville corner. The corner was cleared to the wide right and after the cross into the middle wasn’t cleared properly the ball made its way to the back post where an unmarked Panzer fired a left foot shot back across Mikey into the far corner of the net. Melville could hardly believe their luck as they were already two to the good after only 9 minutes played. A very slow start and some average defending saw the game effectively over after 10 minutes played. Melville Utd 2 EC Bays 0.
Bays then tried to get back into the game. Nick had a smart turn before setting Liam off down the right wing. Liam’s cross to the back post flicked off a defender and out for a throw in on the far side. Mikey K found Nick and he tried to slip a through ball to Malcolm, but it was just a bit too far in front for Malcolm to get to. Melville used the breeze to their advantage with a number of Route 1 hoofed long balls from their keeper. One of these saw Lawrence make a run forward before shooting wide. A cross in from the right wing saw Mikey push a header over the crossbar. Another cross in was headed away by James and Leadley shot straight at Mikey. Lawrence played in Knox and his right foot shot skimmed all the way along the ground to Mikey.
Most of the action was with Melville as Bays were still struggling to get into the game. A cross in from C Brown saw a shot on the run blocked before being cleared away. In a rare break away Guy was away down the left wing, but the ball just ran out of play before Guy could get a cross in. Just before half time Will made a break down the left wing and crossed into Guy. He played a square ball across to Liam who slipped before shooting. This gave the keeper a chance to come out and block the next shot by Liam that went straight into the keeper’s midriff. The half time whistle went and the score was Melville Utd 2 EC Bays 0. Melville were well worth their lead at half time. Bays were poor at both ends of the pitch and it was probably the worst first half performance of the whole season so far. You could see some of the Bays players getting frustrated with their own team mates not making runs and the front three were guilty of standing around instead of making runs into spaces.
The second half started off quickly and it was pretty obvious the Bays players had been given a rocket at half time. Billy played a long ball down the left wing to Will. He sent in a pacy whipped in cross that was a bit much for Liam to head as the ball pretty much smashed into Liam’s head at pace and out for a goal kick. Will played in Malcolm and after beating a defender, Malcolm let fly with a wild left foot shot that went well wide to the other side of the field. Melville made their first change in the 57th minute with Lim coming on for an injured Barrymore-Uden. Lawrence was lively all game and he had a shot blocked by James. A poor crossfield ball by Callum was picked up by Boss and he tried a cheeky long-range lob over Mikey. Billy found Callum who tried to play in Moses, but the ball was too far forward for Moses to get to.
A foul on Liam on the right side gave Bays a free kick. But Malcolm’s free kick was poor as it didn’t even clear the first defender in the wall. Bays were guilty of poor delivery with crosses and free kicks for most of the game. Bays needed to make changes and they made three of them in the 72nd minute with Logan, Peter & Ryusei coming on for James, Moses & Mikey K. Nick was trying to get more into the game and one good run into the box saw Nick crowded out before he could shoot. Another through ball saw Peter away but the keeper was out smartly to collect the ball ahead of Peter. A great ball down the left wing by Nick was taken down well by Will. He found Malcolm, who turned inside before having his left foot shot blocked. Callum took a free kick and Guy tried his luck with a partial bicycle kick that went wide of the goal.
Bays had turned up the heat on Melville as they continued to try & claw their way back into the game. Will found Nick, who gave him back a great return ball. Will’s shot was blocked by a combination of the defence & goalkeeper. Peter then played Callum in, but before he could shoot the keeper cleared with his feet. Melville thought they were away with a long ball, but Leadley was flagged offside. He was then yellow carded for stupidly kicking the ball away.
Nick made a run down the left-hand side which led to the ball being cleared for a Bays corner. The corner was headed wide by Peter. The Melville keeper then tried a bit of time wasting and Joe could be clearly heard calling out a hurry up to him. Another one of Will’s runs down the left saw his pass bounce off a defender and back into his path. The keeper did well to save a point-blank shot from Will. Malcolm then had a shot that was saved.
Ryusei then had an excellent right foot shot pushed around the post by the very busy Melville keeper. Bays then made one more change with YS Chang coming on for Callum in the 90th minute. At the same time Melville made two substitutions with Oakman & Opperman coming on for Ranui & Leadley. One more loss of possession saw Boss away and he tried another cheeky chip that went over Mikey’s goal. Shortly after, the final whistle went, and Bays had slumped to a very disappointing 2-0 loss. The final score read Melville Utd 2 EC Bays 0 and with the other results not going Bays way Bays had slipped to third from bottom of the league (10th place in the table). This Saturday Bays finishes off their regular season games with a home game against local rivals Birkenhead Utd, with a 3pm kick off at Bay City Park. This is probably a must win game to stay in the Northern Premier League or to play off in the promotion/relegation game against Manukau Utd so get down to the game to support the lads. See you all there.
Final Score: Melville United 2 vs East Coast Bays 0
Melville Utd: M Tommy, A Scott, C Brown, C Ranui (J Oakman 90), J Boss, I Bates, R Lawrence, E Panzer, S Leadley (C Opperman 90), J Barrymore-Uden (L Lim 57), R Knox
East Coast Bays: M Williams, J Edgeler (L Archer 72), C Simmonds (YS Chang 90), M Akimana (R Ishibashi 72), N Gaze, M Kolston (P Harrison 72), W Stephen, L Andersen, M Young, B Jones, G-F E Penda
Goals: Melville Utd: J Boss 7, E Panzer 9
