Match Report: Round 8 vs Auckland FC Reserves
Dettol Northern League Round 8 Match Report: East Coast Bays vs Auckland FC Reserves, Bay City Park, Saturday 2nd May 2026.
Moment of madness by AFC Keeper hands Bays very late win
EC Bays returned home after back-to-back away wins to take on Auckland FC Reserves at Bay City Park with a 12.30pm kick off due to Auckland FC’s A League side playing their elimination final later at Go Media Stadium. Cam returned to the starting line up at right back and Zaba was back up front after his recent break. Guy was injured with a tight hamstring after his cramp problems down at Melville. Ben & Jack joined Ryusei, Gogo & Mitch on the bench. It was a welcome back to former Bays 1st team players James Elder & Damion Kim and former Bays junior Finn McKenlay.
James played a good through ball forward to Cam, but it ended up being just a fraction too far ahead of Cam to get to. AFC had some good early changes with Prins having a shot blocked by Moses before being cleared by Cam. Two minutes later Prins jinked his way into the box and was brought down by Billy. The referee awarded a penalty. McKenlay put the penalty into the bottom left corner with Louie diving the wrong way. After 6 minutes the score read East Coast Bays 0 Auckland FC Reserves 1. Orlando sent a ball down the left wing, Nathan was away, and his cross was blocked for a corner. Orlando played the corner short to Louis who returned the pass and after making his way into the box Orlando looked like he was tripped. He went down, handled the ball, and a free kick was given against him.
Auckland FC had a number of good chances in the opening twenty minutes of the game. One corner was headed away by James and then a shot from Martin went well over. Down the other end Zaba robbed a defender of the ball and tried to square the ball to Ihaia but it was just out of Ihaia’s reach. A ball down the left saw Mick away and he cut inside & down the byline before having his cross blocked for a corner. Orlando played another through ball to Cam but his cross in went straight to a defender who cleared. A through ball to Ihaia saw the ball returned to Orlando and it looked like he was brought down again. But again, no penalty given. A shot by Naidoo was then blocked.
Louis then played a one/two but sent his right foot shot well over the goal. Prins was then shown a yellow card for dissent after a foul on Ihaia. A loose pass by Moses to James saw Billy make a great tackle to get the ball back. Naidoo then put on the jets to surge past Moses and then tried to pass his shot wide of Louie but Louie was alert to make a fairly routine save. Bays should have equalised when Nick was through. His shot was saved and from the rebound Zaba saw his shot cleared off the line. Bays did equalise in the 44th minute when Orlando played a long ball forward. Ihaia headed the pass down for Louis to volley home with a great strike. Congrats to Louis on his first EC Bays 1st team goal and after 44 minutes the score now read East Coast Bays 1 Auckland FC Reserves 1. There was still time for Prins to send a long ball forward for Naidoo to turn & send a left foot shot over.
The half time whistle went, and the scores were level at 1-1. After a slow start to the game Bays turned up the heat and were doing most of the attacking towards the end of the half. Auckland FC made two changes at the start of the second half with Hill & Wenceslao coming on for Prins & Naidoo. Bays were straight into it in the second half with good link up play between Nick & Zaba setting up Ihaia for a shot over. Nathan made another break down the left and his cross in saw Zaba send a glancing header just wide. AFC played one of their corners short and the cross in saw a header by McKenlay blocked before being cleared away. A shot by Hill was then cleared by a combination of James & Billy. James Elder then had a shot from the left wing go well wide.
Billy then sent a ball out to Nathan on the left. He found Louis who found Zaba who cut in and shot wide. The next cross in from the left wing was headed wide by Zaba at the back post. Bays made their first two changes in the 61st minute with Jack & Ryusei coming on for James & Nick. AFC then had another corner with Zaba on defensive duties to head away. Down the other end Nathan tried his luck from long range as a slightly deflected shot off a defender saw the keeper down smartly to save. Good team play by Bays saw Louis link up with Orlando. He sent a ball down the right wing for Cam to chase. His cross in saw a shot from Ihaia saved. Ihaia then played a ball back to Orlando and he tried to thread the needle to Zaba. Again, just a fraction too far ahead of the Bays attacker.
Lots of back & forward play from both sides over the next 10-15 minutes as the sides tried to get the advantage over the other. After 80 minutes AFC brought on Wong for Martin.
A ball out to the left saw Zaba cut in before sending a right foot shot over. A ball out to the right wing saw Cam away. His cross in was headed away and from the rebound Cam shot well wide. Jack played a ball to Orlando that was mis controlled and lead to a shot by Hill going wide. Mitchell then pushed & collided with Louis leaving Mitchell injured before being subbed off for Dalziell in the 86th minute. From the resulting free kick Orlando played the ball forward and Jack headed wide as the flag went up on the far side for offside. Louie Couldn’t continue and was replaced by Ben in the 87th minute.
Ben was straight into the action as he played a ball down the right wing. Cam was away again but his shot lacked composure (we so want you to score one day mate) as the shot was skied high & wide. Just as the game was meandering to a disappointing draw Bays conjured up a half chance. A long diagonal ball forward from Jack saw Ihaia head the ball past the onrushing keeper, and the keeper made an error of judgement with his punch missing the ball but collecting Ihaia in the box. The referee awarded Bays a penalty and then took quite a lot of time consulting with the assistant referee before showing Jones a yellow card.
Zaba had waited a wee while to take the penalty, but he held his composure and placed his shot into the bottom right-hand corner before celebrating wildly in the corner. With 92 minutes on the clock the score now read East Coast Bays 2 Auckland AFC Reserves 1. There was still time for an AFC free kick for a foul on James Elder. The ball was played forward and James Elder shot over the Bays goal. The final whistle went, and Bays had narrowly scraped to a win and for a few hours they were top of the Northern League. Lots of good performances by the home team players and Louis was named Bays player of the day after his debut Bays goal.
Next Saturday Bays are away at Kiwitea Street to take on Auckland City with a 3pm kick off. Get across there to support the team and if selected both Billy Jones and Nathan Maisey will play their 50th games for the Bays First team. See you all there.
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Final Score: East Coast Bays 2 vs Auckland FC Reserves 1
East Coast Bays: L Caunter, N Maisey, J Edgeler (J Caunter 61), I Delaney, O Thorpe, M Akimana, N Gaze (R Ishibashi 61), B Jones, M Zabarauskas, C Brown, L Wicks (B Hooper 87)
Auckland FC Reserves: E Jones, A Coubilay, F McKenlay, C Ranui, I Prins (H Hill 46), J Elder, M D’Hotman, J Mitchell (R Dalziell 86), D Naidoo (J Wenceslao 46), D Kim, N Martin (M Wong 80)
Goals: EC Bays: L Wicks 44, M Zabarauskas 92 pen
Auckland FC Reserves: F McKenlay 6 pen
Photo credit: Simon Harmer Photography (www.instagram.com/simonharmerphotography)
