Match Report: Round 7 vs Melville Utd
Dettol Northern League Round 7 Match Report: Melville Utd vs East Coast Bays, Gower Park, Hamilton, Saturday 25th April 2026
Another battle sees another hard earned three points on the road for Bays
Fresh off a narrow win against Bay Olympic, Bays were away again with a trip down to Hamilton to take on Melville Utd at Gower Park. A number of changes to the starting line-up after a couple of serious injuries last week saw Liam (torn ACL in his knee), Jackson (broken bones in his foot), & Harry sidelined, and Cam was on the bench after getting injured in training. James joined Billy in the centre of defence, Moses came in at right back, Nathan was at left back, Nick started in midfield, and Ihaia started up from in the absence of Zaba. Yun & Gogo joined Cam & Ryusei on the bench. Again, a good number of Bays supporters made the trip down to support The Mighty Bays.
Bays started off well with Nathan making some breaks down the left wing and linking up well with Ben. His first cross was headed away in the middle and the second cross was blocked for a corner. Orlando’s corner into the middle was headed up in the air by Searle before being cleared. Moses was fouled on the right and Orlando’s free kick was headed over by Ben. Orlando played a ball to Louis and his back heel through was just a fraction too far ahead of Orlando’s run through. Chetty was shown an early yellow card for pulling back on Ben’s shirt when he was trying to get away.
Ben’s left footed free kick was headed away by the defence. Louis found Guy on the right, and he sent the ball down the line to Nick. Nick played the ball off a defender for a throw in. Guy made a break down the right wing and his cross to the back post saw Ben shoot over from a handy position. Billy was making a few breaks forward out of defence and one return ball from Nathan was blocked when Billy was through. Orlando was making some breaks from midfield and on one of these runs he was brought down for a free kick. Orlando sent the free kick over the wall but well wide of the goal.
On a rare Melville attack a cross was blocked for a corner that was eventually cleared away. Austin tried his luck from long range, but the shot did not trouble Louie. Ben then tried to send Guy away but again the through ball was just a bit too far ahead of Guy. Nathan played a ball into Ben who turned and saw his right foot shot roll slowly through to the keeper. Louis played a ball from the right wing, Guy sent a chip into the middle, but it was just a bit too high for Ben to get to. Billy sent a long ball down the left wing and Nathan’s cross was blocked by a defender for a corner. Orlando’s corner to the back post was headed back across goal by James where Billy had a massive air swing at it. He stubbed his shot into the ground and straight to the home keeper.
Unlike Liam’s injury the week before, Ben went down as if a sniper had got him holding his knee after turning awkwardly. A reasonable injury break ensued. Austin was then shown a yellow card for a cynical trip on Louis. A long range shot by Lim was blocked by Guy and from the rebound Dowling shot well wide. Nathan played a ball into Louis, and his right foot shot was blocked. Guy set up Ben at the back post and his shot was blocked. The rebound fell to Guy in the box and his shot was also blocked. Billy played a ball into Ihaia who was having a great physical battle with his defender. Ihaia played the ball back to Nick who saw his shot blocked. Nathan then played the ball on to Orlando who sent a through ball through to Nick who saw his shot blocked by the goalkeeper’s legs.
The half time whistle went, and the score read Melville Utd 0 East Coast Bays 0. Louie did not really have a lot to do with only a couple of shots from long range whereas Bays were guilty of missing a number of chances and half chances in the first half. Ben was not able to continue because of injury and was replaced by Ryusei just after the half time break.
Early on in the second half a ball over the top saw Tommy out quickly to thwart Moses who had to hurdle the keeper in order not to collide with him. Another ball over the top saw Ihaia away. He laid the ball back to Louis who had his shot blocked. Billy played a great ball down the left wing; Nathan broke away and sent a pinpoint cross into the centre for Ihaia to power a header into the top corner. After 52 minutes gone Bays had finally opened the scoring, and the score now read Melville Utd 0 East Coast Bays 1. Two fouls on Louis led to a free kick that Louis sent over the wall but wide of the goal. Melville made their first change in the 59th minute with Leadley coming on for Gurnick.
Melville then turned on the pressure on big time with a series of back-to-back corners. Orlando sliced his clearance up in the air and the next corner from Lim was eventually cleared, with Melville claiming hand ball. Dowling let his frustrations get the better of him as he was shown a yellow card for dissent. Nick then played another chipped ball forward that saw Guy chip the keeper on the run but again the shot went wide. The ball was won in midfield by Nick, and he sent Ryusei away. The keeper was out quickly to save with his feet. Lawrence was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Louis. Orlando’s free kick was fired across the box but evaded everyone and went out for a corner. Melville made two more changes in the 72nd minute with Blackhall & Harrison Old coming on for Mitchell & Bell.
Nathan made another break down the left flank and found Louis who sent a crossfield ball across to Moses who shot wide. Bays made their second change in the 75th minute with Cam coming on for James. Cam went to right back while Moses joined Billy in the centre of defence. A ball out to the right wing saw Cam’s cross/shot hitting the crossbar before going out for goal kick. Melville made their last two changes in the 79th minute with de Roo & Alamshah coming on for Chetty and Lawrence.
A long throw on the right-hand side by Searle saw a header blocked before Moses cleared. The ball was played up field quickly to Ryusei who was away before being cynically brought down by Austin who was shown his second yellow card followed by a red card. A rare attack by Melville saw a shot by Alamshah saved by Louie. Bays were still dangerous on the counterattack hoping to extend their slender lead. A long ball forward saw Guy beat his defender. He squared the ball to Ihaia who placed his shot, but the shot came off the underside of the keeper’s body for a corner.
From Orlando’s corner Ihaia volleyed his shot into the ground and over the goal. Louis then had a shot blocked from close range. At the other end, a combination of Cam & Guy blocked a dangerous cross in. We were well into injury time (5 or 6 minutes) when a ball down the middle saw Ryusei challenge the keeper one on one but the keeper did well to block the shot with his legs. To the surprise of everyone Ryusei was shown a yellow card for a supposed dangerous tackle. Orlando won the ball again in midfield and sent Guy away. He cut inside and saw his shot blocked. Guy then decided to have a rest!!!! Seriously, Guy went down with cramp and after a short massage he got back up. Instead of going off to the sideline Guy was still on the field and was awarded a yellow card for his efforts. Two minutes later Guy was down again with cramp and had to be replaced by Yun in the 96th minute.
Shortly after, the final whistle went and Bays had all three points in the bag with the final score reading Melville Utd 0 East Coast Bays 1. The scoreline made the game look a lot closer than it was but it was pretty one sided game with how many chances Bays created and Louie did not really have many difficult saves to make. So, back-to-back 1-0 wins on the road and Bays stayed second on the table. Ihaia was awarded the Bays player of the day by Joe and Tommy was named Melville’s player of the day (rightly so) for keeping his side in the game with his many saves. Next game up sees Bays at home against Auckland FC Reserves at Bay City Park with an early kick off of 12.30pm. See you all there.
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Final Score: Melville Utd 0 vs East Coast Bays 1
Melville Utd: M Tommy, L Searle, C Brown, C Austin, R Lawrence (M Alamshah 79'), L Lim, J Bell (N Harrison Old 77'), S Chetty (A de Roo 79') S Dowling, M Mitchell (T Blackhall 77'), M Gurnick (S Ledley 59')
East Coast Bays: L Caunter, N Maisey, J Edgeler (C Brown 75'), B Hooper (R Ishibashi 46'), I Delaney, O Thorpe, M Akimana, N Gaze, B Jones, L Wicks, G Essome Penda (Y S Chang 90+6')
Goals: I Delaney 52'
Red Cards: Melville Utd: C Austin