MATCH REPORT: Round 6 vs Tauranga City AFC
NRFL Men's First Team Round 6 Match Report – Tauranga City AFC vs East Coast Bays, Links Avenue, Mt Maunganui, Saturday 23rd April 2022.
Bays Fail to Show Up leading to comfortable Tauranga win
Match day Six saw EC Bays travel down to the Bay of Plenty to take on high flying Tauranga City. A couple of changes to the starting eleven saw Codey come in for Oscar and Keegan returning up front.
The opening exchanges were mostly down the Bays end of the field and after only six minutes Bays had a lucky escape from going one down. A cross the right-hand side by Fisher-Vanderveen saw a shot by McLeod saved by Louie. The rebound fell to Molloy who slotted the ball home, but the goal was ruled out for either offside or hand ball. Two minutes later a cross from the right by Davidson was comfortably claimed by Louie. Three minutes later a break down the Bays left saw right back Brennan skip over a challenge from Mikey K and then rifle a right footed shot across Louie into the far corner. It was no more than Tauranga deserved as Bays were not in contest at all in the first twenty minutes.
Two minutes later Molloy had a shot blocked and Rostron hit the clearance over the goal. A minute later Brinkmann hit a left foot curler just past the post. Fisher-Vanderveen then made a run into the box, but his shot was cleared by Codey for a corner which led to a shot over by McLeod. Finally, Bays showed some attacking play in the 20th minute when a long ball by Zane found Liam on the right. His run & then cross was blocked for a corner. Another break down the right lead to a cross to the middle that was cleared away. Zane then went on a run and his left foot shot was comfortable for the Tauranga keeper. After only twenty-two minutes Bays were forced into a change with Oscar replacing an injured Codey. Bays finally awakened from their slumber. Keegan did a neat lay off to Liam who made a run down the right & his cross was cleared.
In the 42nd minute Liam shot well over. A minute later Bays should have equalized. A long throw by Mikey K was laid off by Nicolai and on to Judd. His point-blank shot hit the keeper and went out. Nicolai then went on a run, but his eventual shot lacked a bit of power. Just before half time Zane was shown a yellow card for a number of first half fouls. Half time it was 1-0 to Tauranga City as Bays took a long time to get going and did not really look after the ball very well in the time they did actually have possession. Some poor passing and retention of the ball.
Bays kicked off the second half and again it looked like the team had switched off. After 50 minutes a Tauranga corner was cleared and 5 minutes later McLeod turned inside of the box & was brought down by Bailey for a penalty. McLeod got to his feet and drilled his penalty into the bottom right-hand corner for 2-0 to Tauranga. A through ball was played through the Bays defence, but luckily Brinkmann fired well over. Liam was then clean through, but his shot was straight at the keeper. A minute later it looked like a foul on the left-hand side on Mikey K, but referee Chris Trent waved play on. Brennan picked up the ball, ran down the wing and delivered a perfect cross to the back post for McLeod to power a header past Louie for 3-0 to Tauranga.
Two minutes later another blow for Bays with Judd pulling up with a hamstring injury after chasing a through ball from Nicolai. A minute later a triple change for Bays saw James on for Mikey K, Josh Coe on for Zane and Dan Morgan replacing an injured Judd. In the 71st minute a shot by Brennan landed on the roof of the net. In the 67th minute Tauranga made their first two substitutions and followed that up with two more in the 72nd minute. In the 85th minute a break down the left by Oscar, pass to Nicolai and Josh’s cross went straight to the keeper. Then a left foot shot by Grieve was blocked and after a break down the right from Langton a shot from Landeg went over the crossbar. Tauranga made their last substitution with Bidois replacing Grieve.
With a minute to go Nicolai made a break straight down the middle and his pass found Liam whose shot went into the side netting. Tauranga then had a shot blocked & cleared. A cross was missed at the back post by McMullan and in the build up play Daewook was injured & could not continue. So, Bays were left to play the last 3-4 minutes of injury time with just ten players on the field. Tauranga had another free kick missed by their strikers in the middle and after a foul on Keegan a Bays free kick by Nicolai was cleared at the back post.
The full-time whistle went with the score line reading Tauranga City 3 East Coast Bays 0 in a game where Bays just did not get going for long spells in both halves. No after match speeches but Liam should get a special mention for running hard all day & putting in a great shift. After a dismal game to watch the highlight of the day was watching Russell Fisher & Nick King trying to eat lasagne with paper forks. Bend it like Uri Geller lads !!!!!
Final Score: Tauranga City AFC 3 vs East Coast Bays 0
Line Ups: Tauranga City AFC: B Pamment, G Moore, C Higgins, C Grieve (J Bidois 82), R McLeod, L Molloy (J Langton 67), B Fisher-Vanderveen (M Landeg 72), C Brennan (J McMullan 67), M Brinkmann (Z Maddox 72), A Davidson, N Rostron
East Coast Bays: L Caunter, B Stevenson, C Simmonds, DW Kim, M Kolston (J Edgeler 59) , C Phoenix (O Garcia 22) , N Berry, L Anderson, Z Olla (J Coe 59), K Kelly, J Baker (D Morgan 59)
Scorers: Tauranga City AFC: C Brennan 11, R McLeod 55, 60