DOUGLAS VILLA
BROOKLYN NORTHERN
“It’s the best we’ve played in the
two years I’ve been with the club.”
That was Tumu Douglas Villa coach Mark Taylor’s assessment after the team’s 5–0 dismantling of Brooklyn Northern United [BNU] in a Capital Division One clash at Trust House Memorial Park on Saturday.
“We were pretty ruthless, played a lot of entertaining football, and we moved the ball about quickly, and we created numerous chances,” Taylor said.
“We really dominated the game and put Brooklyn under pressure from start to finish.”
Kurtis Paine opened the scoring after 16 minutes, and Ed de Lara-Bell doubled the lead 10 minutes later to give the home a comfortable halftime lead.
Both players found the back of the net again midway through the second spell before Isaac Higgins completed the scoring after 65 minutes.
Taylor was impressed with the players maintaining their high standards and keeping the pace up for the full 90 minutes, with BNU’s only chance coming late in the game when they hit the crossbar.
The veteran coach was also rapt to play on the Memorial Park artificial turf, saying it should be the team’s home ground, with Park Sports Ground unsuitable and dangerous.
“We’ve got some good quality players, and they need a decent surface to play on; there was a bit of crowd there, and they got behind the team, and it was an enjoyable game,” he said.
Douglas Villa’s next game on Saturday is away to Wellington Olympic, who were thumped 9–0 by Western Suburbs.
TAWA RESERVES
GREYTOWN
Greyfriars Motel Greytown coach Phil Keinzley was rapt with his team’s resilience in coming from behind to score a convincing 4–1 win over Tawa Reserves on their Capital Division Two debut.
Tawa dominated the opening 10 minutes at Redwood Park and took the lead after capitalising on a Greytown error, but from then on, the visitors dominated. Landon Palmer ran onto a through ball from captain Jarrod MacDonald to level the scoring, and not long after, another MacDonald pass led to debutant Jay Traill scoring his first senior goal for a 2–1 halftime lead.
Greytown held their ground against a Tawa onslaught early in the second half but slowly took the ascendency, and once substitute Gareth Gwyther banged in a goal from the edge of the penalty area, the game was Greytown’s.
MacDonald completed the game’s scoring a few minutes before the end with a well-taken penalty.
“Everyone pulled finger right across the field, and that’s what I was hoping that we would be a true team, and not relying on one or two players, and I can see that happening – the vibe is really good in the squad,” Keinzley said.
Greytown will have their first home of the season on Saturday against fellow promoted side Upper Hutt City.
