Horowhenua Coastal 0
Douglas Villa 6
Josh McMenamin led the way with a hat-trick for Tumu Douglas Villa in their comfortable 6-0 win over Horowhenua Coastal at Waikanae on Saturday.
The win extended Douglas Villa’s unbeaten run to eight games and avenged their 2-0 third-round loss to Coastal in April. Since then, the only glitch has been a 2-2 draw with league leaders Wellington Marist.
Douglas Villa controlled proceedings from the outset and took a 2-0 lead into halftime. The dominance continued in the second spell, with McMenamin adding two goals to complete his hat-trick and substitute Jordan Young wrapping up the scoring with his first goal for the team in the 90th minute, a pleasing result for coach Mark Taylor.
“We knew if we could get a couple of goals and just get rid of the threat, it would be a reasonably comfortable game for us, which it was,” Taylor said.
“We could’ve possibly had another four goals added to that, but that’s the way it is, and we scored six, and the players played well to get that result, so I’m pleased with that.
“They had some possession, and we still had a bit of defending to do, but we really restricted their chances to some long-range efforts and probably the one-half chance they had, so that was pleasing as well to get a clean sheet.”
In an all-round team effort, Andrew Cox stood out with an exceptional game in midfield and was named man of the match.
Douglas Villa’s promotion credentials will be put to the test on Saturday, away to unbeaten league leaders Wellington Marist on the artificial turf at St Patrick’s College Town. Douglas Villa are comfortably in second place and trail Marist by eight points with a game in hand.
Greytown 4
Vic Uni Accies 2
There was relief in the Greyfriars Motel Greytown camp after they got their Capital Division Three campaign back on track with a 4-2 win over a valiant Victoria University Accies on Saturday.
Greytown went into the game at Soldiers Memorial Park on the back of three straight losses and having slipped to second in the league, but there was plenty of motivation with the players dedicating the game to their injured teammate, last weekend’s hit-and-run victim William Newton,
In the end, the margin was comfortable, but it took until the 87th minute for the league’s leading marksman Josh Stevenson to secure the three points with his second goal of the match.
Stevenson and skipper Jarrod MacDonald each scored a brace, and while the home side were never behind, the Accies caused plenty of headaches right across the park.
MacDonald got the scoring going early with a left foot strike from the edge of the penalty area in just the fifth minute and added his second direct from a corner and, along with Stevenson’s first goal, the home team led 3-2 at the break.
The second half proved a real battle royale on a bumpy and sticky pitch, and on a number of occasions, both sides looked likely to score, but Greytown held on with some scrappy defending before Stevenson put the game to bed with a well-taken goal.
Greytown remain second on the ladder, six points behind Upper Hutt City, but have a three-point buffer and superior goal difference to third place Naenae. Greytown are back at Soldiers Memorial on Saturday with the struggling North Wellington Thirds making the trip over the hill.
WOMEN
Island Bay Makos 1
Wairarapa United 2
Wairarapa United came home with a valuable 2-1 Wellington Division One win over Island Bay Makos at Wakefield Park on Sunday.
United had won their first-round encounter 7-0 but found the Makos to be a sterner challenge on their home turf, but despite the closeness of the score were deserved winners.
An Island Bay own goal gave United the advantage in the first five minutes and Renske van Steensel doubled the lead with a screamer outside the box late in the first half.
The home side scored early in the second spell, but United held on in the bitterly cold conditions to bag all three points, an outstanding result given they only had 11 players and no substitutes.
United host Wellington United Emeralds in the next round on Sunday.
