Phoenix Fourths
Douglas Villa
Seven different players got on the scoresheet for Tumu Douglas Villa as they romped to victory over a young, inexperienced Phoenix Fourths at Fraser Park on Saturday.
Impressive captain Chris Cox got the ball rolling after six minutes when he bundled the ball into the goal for the opener, but it took more than half an hour for Kurtis Paine to double the lead before Josh McMenamin gave Villa a three-goal buffer at the break.
Goals to Andrew Cox, Simon Mazey, Ed De Lara-Bell, and Alex Cox [his first in two years, a screamer from 25m] completed a trifecta of goals for the Cox brothers and wrapped up a pleasing day for coach Mark Taylor.
“They were a very young side, so physically we were able to outplay them,” Taylor said.
“We pressed them and made it difficult for them to play, and they came back into the game a wee bit and kept possession well, but we still had that threat of being able to score and pretty much dominated large parts of the game,”
With Villa four goals up, Taylor rang the changes to give all the players good game time and an opportunity to impress.
“We’ve got a good strong starting XI, but also, we’ve got guys coming off the bench who just keep going, and we need to see them play.
Taylor was impressed with the effort throughout the field and said, “Defensively, we were tight, and we probably gave them one chance, which was good. The midfield were excellent, and we got three goals from them, and that is what we ask from them; it gives us goal-scoring options from different areas.”
Villa are a clear second in Capital Division One, three points behind unbeaten Western Suburbs, and six points ahead of third-placed Island Bay.
Villa have next week off with the first round of the Chatham Cup to be played.
Greytown
Te Kotahitanga
Two outstanding saves from goalkeeper Taylor Harvey spared the blushes of Greyfriars Motel Greytown as they held on to beat bottom-of-the-table Te Kotahitanga [TK] from the Kāpiti Coast in a nailbiting finish at Soldiers Memorial Park, reports Ian MacDonald.
Having had very little to do in the game, Harvey’s two saves, one from a one-on-one breakaway, threatened to derail the match for the home side as TK took the game to Greytown after being behind 2-0 at the break. In between Harvey’s two saves, TK did manage to break through to score in the 81st minute to give the game a grandstand finish.
The hosts took control of the game in the first half and could easily have been five goals up, but had only Andres Gomez’s first goal for the club and Brodie Palmer’s strike to continue his hot start to the season. Skipper Jarrod MacDonald had a prime chance to put the game out of reach from the penalty spot but his attempt went the wrong side of the post.
While Greytown had the best of the first half, which coach Phil Keinzley felt was the best 45 minutes of the season, the visitors fought back into the game but, despite not troubling keeper Harvey till late in the game, had more than their fair share of the ball before their late onslaught.
For Greytown, MacDonald was his usual busy self along with fellow midfielders Harvey Parker and Andy Traill who got through a tonne of work and fullbacks Alex Penman and Jay Traill were both busy up and down the wings.
The win has given Greytown the lead in Capital Division Two, one point ahead of Miramar Rangers, who they will host in the next round on May 18.
It’s back to Chatham Cup duty this week for Greytown as they travel to Tawa’s Redwood Park for their first-round proper fixture.
