Douglas Villa 4
Stokes Valley 2
Tumu Douglas Villa secured promotion to Capital Division One with a come-from-behind victory over a gutsy Stokes Valley on Saturday.
Douglas Villa went into the game on a bumpy Park Sports Ground, knowing that a win or draw would lock in second place in Division Two. Their dominance was evident from the first whistle, but they failed to make the most of the early chances.
“We started on top and created probably four good chances in the first 20 minutes that we didn’t take, and as the game wore on, Stokes Valley became more lively and more competitive, and then they scored against the run of play,” Douglas Villa coach Mark Taylor said.
“That galvanised them, and they said they wanted to come over and ruin the party and just about did, and then they went up 2-0, but we don’t panic, and we were creating chances, so when we scored, there was the likelihood we’d get ourselves back in the game, and we did.”
The home side’s first goal came in spectacular style, with Tremaine Rimene-Albrett acrobatically hitting an overhead from outside the box into the top corner of the net.
Josh Logan equalised early in the second half. Douglas Villa struggled to play their usual possession game on the bumpy pitch and break down the stubborn Stokes Valley defence, but the pressure finally told after 77 minutes when Rimene-Albrett scored his second. Josh McMenamin then finished off a break from Willy Syben and sealed the three points in the 88th minute.
Taylor singled out captain Chris Cox who was outstanding on defence and in marshalling his troops when Stokes Valley were applying pressure.
“It wasn’t comfortable, but we did what we needed to do.
“About a month ago, we looked at the way things were going, and we’d been in second place for a while, and we just wanted to make sure that we didn’t leave it to the last game of the season and put ourselves under pressure, so it’s good to be able to play the last two games knowing that the pressure is off from that point of view.”
Douglas Villa are away to Miramar Rangers in their penultimate game of the season on Saturday.
Brooklyn Northern Utd 3
Greytown 6
It took some choice words from Greyfriars Motel Greytown coach Phil Keinzley to fire up his side and walk off with a 6-3 win away to Brooklyn Northern United.
“The first half was our worst half all year,” Kenzley said, “but we played extremely well in the second half and scored four goals.”
BNU took the lead after eight minutes, only for Andy Traill to draw Greytown level almost immediately. Two more goals to the home side and one to Gareth Gwyther saw Greytown trailing 3–2 at the break.
Whatever Keinzley told the players worked, and they responded with two goals to sharpshooter Josh Stevenson, while Traill and captain Jarrod MacDonald also found the back of the net.
Traill’s second strike in the 53rd minute was described by Keinzley as probably the goal of the season.
“It came out of defence and probably had nine passes put together and was then just put into the goal by Andy.”
Keinzley named Ryan Butler, who came on as a first-half substitute at centreback and played a blinder as the player of the match.
Greytown entered the game with an outside chance of claiming the Capital Division Three title, but leaders Upper Hutt City defeated Naenae 7–3 and wrapped up the championship.
Greytown will host Upper Hutt in their final game on Saturday.
WOMEN
Miramar Rangers 3
Wairarapa United 0
Wairarapa United’s chances of winning the Capital Women’s Division One championship have taken a hit with a 3–0 loss away to Miramar Rangers Seconds on Sunday.
United took an understrength team into the game with six new players lining up, and captain Holly Rausch said the lack of combinations showed, although she praised Miramar for putting on a strong performance.
Despite the setback, United maintained a share of the lead and need to win all three remaining games and hope that Miramar Rangers, who have a game in hand, and joint leaders Wellington United Opals slip up.
United play Tawa at Trust House Memorial Park at 12.30 pm on Sunday.
