Match reviews for the 2000 playing season

--- Match reviews for the 2000 playing season (by team) --- Mens Federation Premier Mens Federation Reserve Mens Federation Reserve (vs Olympic) Mens Wellington 2 Division (Blair Wright Limited) Mens Wellington 4A Division Mens Wellington 4B Division (Police) Mens Wellington 6 Division (Willing Sinners) Mens Wellington 7 Division Mens Wellington 8 Division Mens Wellington 10A Division Mens Wellington 10B Division Mens Masters 1 Division Womens Premier Womens 2 Division Womens 3 Division ..... or Match reviews for the 2001 playing season

In storm-like conditions with a southerly gale and rain that lashed the players bench (and made writing this report even more difficult) North Wellington failed to gain the win necessary against Island Bay despite a valiant final quarter of attack.
With Iain MacIntyre and Dean Polyanszky unavailable due to injury, Coach Bruce Polyanszky started Nigel Ingham, having recovered from injury received against Miramar in mid-April and with several recent games for the Reserve team as build-up, as striker alongside Hannah. A full compliment of substitutes were also available as defender Craig Hopkins had returned from Australia mid-week.
Island Bay entered this game virtually safe from finishing in tenth place and the second relegation spot unless they were to lose by ten clear goals and then for Tawa to avoid defeat against Olympic. Tawa, with their match against Olympic scheduled for the following day, looking for a result from Island Bay, were well represented on the south bank overlooking the park.
Early North Wellington pressure saw Thompson clear well under pressure from a Barton right-wing corner, as an early 'nerve-settling' goal was sought by the home side playing towards the cricket net end of the park.
After 10 minutes Island Bay were gifted in part the opening goal when Campbell slipped inside the penalty area and his pass fell invitingly to Davey to drill past Piper. 1-0 Island Bay.
Shaken by this North Wellington looked unnerved for the best part of the first-half with an inability to retain possession for any length of time, although the conditions were hardly conducive to attractive football. A superb opportunity to equalise did arrive in the 29th minute when Fitzpatrick slipped an incisive pass through to the diagonally cutting Hannah to run on to unopposed however the striker sought to dribble past keeper Thompson who saved well at Hannah's feet.
Seven minutes later and Island Bay worked an opportunity on the edge of the penalty area with the resulting shot struck into Piper's midriff. Campbell tested Thompson six minutes from the break with a wind-assisted 35 metre free-kick that was tipped over.
Halftime 1-0 Island Bay. No substitutes. A short and to-the-point talk from Coach Bruce Polyanszky as the team took shelter behind the bench.
Inside the first minute of the second half and Campbell covered good ground to nip in ahead of Johnstone closing in on goal and cleared. Seven minutes later and a ball from left wing-back Ross over the Island Bay defence found Hannah on the right however the angled chance was denied by Thompson. Piper was then brought into play twice in the next two minutes to save shots from the edge of the penalty area as both teams picked up on the attacking spirit.
North Wellington's attacking endeavours, necessitated due to the need for victory in the circumstances, throughout the second half saw their defence isolated at times by quick Island Bay attacks assisted by the strong winds. In the 12th minute such a counter-attack saw Johnstone create space on a 2-on-1 break only to slice his shot over - an untimely miss for the leading goal-scorer in the Federation Premier League. A minute later and Jamieson defended well to snuff out Johnstone on another break.
Sixteen minutes into the second half and North Wellington's hopes for a win rose as a central move saw Bullen lob over the Island Bay defence to Barton to lay-off for Ingham to strike a left-foot shot past Thompson from 12 metres. 1-1.
Bolstered by this effort North Wellington pressed forward and Fitzpatrick had difficult chances in the 20th and 22nd minute but was unable to hit the target.
My scribbled notes were become increasingly difficult to write in the wind and rain, but in the 30th minute Barton neatly found Hannah on the right with the driven angled shot cannoning off Thompson's legs. Six minutes later and Piper blocked Johnstone in a 1-on-1 as the North Wellington defence went to a man-marking (or even man-marking less one defender!) in their attempts to score.
The final stanza of action was intense as with six minutes to go North Wellington had a 22 metre centrally-located free-kick that Barton drove low along the increasingly greasy pitch only for Thompson to again block with his legs. The resulting rebound fell eventually back to Fitzpatrick who drove a low skidding shot that Thompson did well to push away low to his left. By now the Tawa supporters were cheering on every save, block, clearance and tackle by the Island Bay team.
With four minutes to go Thompson was beaten by a Bullen (I think - it was so wet) shot in a penalty area scramble only for an Island Bay defender to clear off the line with the North Wellington bench halfway in mid-air as a goal looked on. Two late Barton corners were cleared by the resilent Island Bay defence that refused to buckle under the late pressure.
The final whistle saw a scurrying for cover by the brave supporters who had weathered the conditions, jubilant shouts (of relief) from the Tawa contingent present and the inevitable dropped heads from the disappointment of having come so close from the North Wellington players.
An illustration of the effect that both goalkeepers had on this result was borne out in the man-of-the-match awards which went to Piper and Thompson.
This result means that North Wellington are relegated to the Federation One League for the 2001 season. Although losing fewer games (nine) than both Petone (ten) and Tawa (eleven) the inability to convert one of their seven draws into wins proved ultimately costly. The old system of two points for a win would have seen them finish ahead of Tawa and safe from relegation.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 20 August 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 12th August 2000 - Alex Moore Park

With the relegation situation in the Federation Premier League yet to be crystallised, the crowd, perhaps 100 at peak, attending the game on a fine Alex Moore Park buffeted by a brisk southerly, included several interested parties from the Olympic, Island Bay and Tawa teams involved in avoiding the tenth place and second relegation spot with Upper Hutt City already confirmed as relegated.
For the North Wellington supporters present there was the expectation that the improving fortunes of the Premier team which have been in evidence over the last six games, with three wins and a draw last week against league champions Western Suburbs having been recorded, would carry through to the game against a Waterside team that would finish third in the league regardless of the result of this game.
Sadly though it was to prove to be an unrewarding day for the North Wellington contingent with a display that Coach Bruce Polyanszky was to describe, in his post-match speech, as "a disappointing and gutless effort".
Waterside began, ominously as events were to unfold, as the brightest team with Piper called in to action in the 10th minute to divert a 20 metre shot away for a corner. Five minutes later and a run down the inside left channel into the penalty area was again blocked by Piper. Two minutes later and a similar Waterside move again exposed the North Wellington defence and Piper was powerless to prevent Ryan Trenberth crashing a 15 metre shot high into the net. 1-0 Waterside.
Not deflated by the setback North Wellington did, briefly, spark into action with Hannah, two minutes later, weaving down the left-flank to cross goalwards with the ball falling to Ross to strike a 15 metre shot that was deflected by a defender for a corner, from which the ball broke to Dean Polyanszky with the striker, replacing the injured (hamstring) Iain MacIntyre, firing over the cross bar from outside the penalty area.
After 26 minutes Waterside struck again through Trenberth as he evaded several would-be North Wellington defensive challenges to strike home under Piper from eight metres. 2-0 Waterside.
Three minutes later and midfielder Bullen looked to unlock the Waterside defence with a pass through to Dean Polyanszky to strike a firm shot wide of the post which bounced over the fence on to Moorefield Road pursued by hard-working Manager Colin Lloyd (deputising admirably this season in the absence of the Regional League (junior teams) Ball-Boys). Hannah was shortly afterwards booked by referee Dunham for a sliding challenge in on keeper Toothill.
Before halftime Piper reacted smartly diving full-length to his right to deny a 20 metre shot from Coney.
Halftime 2-0 Waterside. No substitutions made by either team.
Despite the halftime 'rev-up' from Coach Polyanszky it was to be Waterside that again started sharpest with only two minutes expired in the second half and a cross from the right found Suggate clear in space 15 metres only for Piper to close quickly and block his effort. Eight minutes later and with Piper, slowing a shot with a hand, central defender Jamieson hooked the ball clear off the goal-line. A substitution then saw Ingham replace Polyanszky up-front in an effort to break down the Waterside defence that had allowed few clear-cut opportunities for North Wellington.
A centrally located free-kick from 25 metres was struck wide of the North Wellington goal in the 12th minute, with North Wellington pressing forward from the resulting goal-kick with Ingham running through from deep on to a pass from Fitzpatrick to net only for assistant referee Cramer to over-rule for offside. Action again swung to the other end and within a few moments, Ryan Trenberth was released in space down the left to cross to Suggate, 15 metres out, to draw and lob Piper only for the goalbound effort to be cleared by Jamieson.
With the score still at 2-0 throughout this period of play a North Wellington goal could well have provided the fillip to spur the side forward for the remainder of the game, however the task was made more difficult when in the 23rd minute Coney, on the left side of the penalty area, eluded Campbell sufficiently, to drill a powerful low shot inside the near post. 3-0 Waterside.
This should have become 4-0 within a minute when a low right-wing ball was squared to Buick-Constable with an open goal from six metres, however he took one too many touches and Caughley clamped down with a covering tackle.
North Wellington contested gamely, but without convincing passion, for the remaining minutes with Barton crossing from the right touchline for Bullen to sweep a 25 metre shot wide of the right-hand post and late on Ingham sending in a testing left-wing cross that was well cleared by a defender with Hannah in close attendance diving in for a header.
The result ensures Olympic will finish ahead of North Wellington and are therefore safe from relegation. North Wellington's final game of the season will be held next Saturday, again at home on Alex Moore Park, against Island Bay. They must win that game and then hope that Olympic beat Tawa the following day, 20th August, in order to finish ahead of Tawa on goal difference.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 13 August 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 5th August 2000 - Endeavour Park

North Wellington gained a well-earned point against Western Suburbs who by virtue of this result win the Federation Premier League from Lower Hutt, 5-0 winners over Miramar today, by one point. Western Suburbs will now Federation Four winners Havelock North away (12th August) and then at home (20th August) in order to determine the Central region representative for the final Northern - Central - Southern playoffs with the overall winner earning promotion to the National Club Championship.
With the return of Barton and the absence of Craig Hopkins, North Wellington Bruce Polyanszky re-organised his central defence with Jamieson replacing Hopkins and Ross dropping back to left wing-back to allow Barton to resume his midfield role.
Conditions overhead were fine and a fluctuating southerly wind favoured Western Suburbs in the first-half as a crowd of around 100 attended the match with Western Suburbs' title chances very much in their own hands. (For those of you overseas reading this report the match conflicted with the All Blacks - Australia rugby match being held at the Stadium in Wellington).
Making use of the prevailing wind, Parish sent a long ball over the North Wellington defence in the 10th minute only for Church to be denied by Piper, scooping the ball up ahead of the onrushing striker. Four minutes later and Church swivelled to elude his marker and sent a 35 metre shot in on goal for Piper to hold securely high to his right.
In the 16th minute Barton struck in a testing right-wing corner that Parish could only push out as far as Hannah on the penalty spot to strike a left-footed shot that was heading wide only for defender Caughley to divert in from close-range past the covering goal-line defender. 1-0 North Wellington. (and some nervous shuffling on the Western Suburbs bench)
Hayden Polyanszky, playing at right wing-back then moved forward four minutes later to slip a ball into the inside right slot for Hannah to run on to and Hannah's goalbound shot towards the near post was pushed away for a corner by Parish.
Gradually Western Suburbs eased their way back into the game employing their close passing game to open gaps in the North Wellington back five defence however no clear cut opportunities were created. A right-wing corner in the 30th minute fell invitingly for Smith, however as he turned towards goal he managed to hook his shot well wide of the goal when it seemed easier to at least hit the target than miss.
Undeterred by this Western Suburbs pressed on and Disley was able to evade Caughley sufficiently in the 39th minute to receive a ball inside the penalty area and from 15 metres drove an angled left-foot shot past Piper. 1-1.
North Wellington came back straight away though and an incisive move involving Hannah, MacIntyre and Barton ended when Barton's shot was partially blocked and though goalbound was cleared off the goal-line. Shortly afterwards and referee Pellow booked MacIntyre for a tackle on Hannah.
Halftime 1-1. (In the rugby All Blacks leading Australia 20-18)
Early action for Piper as an interchange of passes inside the North Wellington found Imam on the left, but Piper moved out to block his shot. Four minutes later and as Woodside cut to the right inside the penalty area to go round Jamieson contact occurred and Woodside was grounded. Referee Pellow awarding a penalty which Disley struck firmly home to Piper's right. 2-1 Western Suburbs. (and a noticeably less anxious Western Suburbs bench)
Disley again provided difficultly for North Wellington when in the 12th minute a quick one-two on the edge of the penalty area put him in on goal but his touch escaped him sufficiently for Piper to close and block with the rebound struck goalwards only for Ross to clear off the line.
Seven minutes later and Ross, this time forward and having been fed possession in space on the left flank, sending in what seemed likely to be a cross for Hannah and MacIntyre however his effort fooled everyone including Parish with the ball rebounding into the net at the near post off the keeper. 2-2.
This was to be North Wellington's only serious 'shot' during the second half as Western Suburbs had the bulk of territory throughout the half but unable to unlock a spirited North Wellington team that chased hard and supported well. Late in the game there were a few poor tackles with James being booked in the 28th minute and then given a second yellow card (and therefore red) in the 36th minute. Bullen was similarly booked late in the game to join Caughley in the notebook.
Despite the man advantage in the final ten minutes North Wellington were unable to mount any seriously threatening attack, even with the benefit of the wind, on the Western Suburbs goal and at the final whistle the home team were unstandably jubilant at having clinched the Federation Premier League title.
Not such great joy a few minutes later though when John Eales, with the last play of the game, kicked a penalty for Australia to beat the All Blacks 24-23.
For North Wellington a throughly well won point. Results in the other key relegation games saw the other contenders for the second relegation spot all draw. With the scheduled Federation Premier games now concluded and the season over for teams like Upper Hutt, who will finish eleventh and last and will be relegated there remain four 'catch-up' games from postponement due to the Chatham Cup or abandoned on the rain-swept 10th June round.
The remaining games are: 12th August - North Wellington vs Waterside Karori, 13th August - Olympic vs Island Bay, 19th August - North Wellington vs Island Bay and 20th August - Olympic vs Tawa.
The Federation Premier league standings now read as (with one of these teams to join Upper Hutt in the Federation One league next season): Olympic 22 points (+5 goal difference), Tawa 21 (-23), Island Bay 20 (+2) and North Wellington 18 (-14). The mathematics remain complex, fortunately I took this subject through to third year level at University, so I'll explain it so - if North Wellington win their remaining two games they will finish at least eighth ahead of both Tawa and Island Bay (importantly if they win against Waterside Karori then Tawa will need at least a point from their remaining game), if North Wellington get a win and draw then Tawa will need to beat Olympic and if North Wellington draw both, or do worse that that, in the remaining two games they will finish tenth.
Olympic need a point from their remaining two games to avoid tenth place and if they fail to achieve that will still be safe if Island Bay gain a point from their North Wellington fixture. Tawa will be anxiously attending the three games in the interim to see what it needs to do in its remaining fixture. Interesting times ahead for all four teams.
As noted above the next fixture for the Premier team is at home, Alex Moore Park, enxt Saturday against third-placed Waterside Karori who will finish third regardless of the result. The first encounter between the two teams was held back in late March on the Waterside 'home' ground of Petone Memorial Park (before the Wellington City Council opened up Karori Park for play) and ended in a 0-0 result with Waterside Karori having the better of the game.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 6 August 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 29th July 2000 - Bell Park

Reality check for North Wellington as they fell to a polished Lower Hutt City outfit that took its chances well as it continued in its efforts to overhaul leaders Western Suburbs for the top position in the Federation Premier League that will be decided following next weekends games.
With Phil Barton unavailable, Cook Island international player Mark Jamieson made his return to the starting line-up since his participation in the Oceania Cup in Tahiti held during June. Mark Ross moved from the left-back role into the midfield to accommodate this change allowing Coach Bruce Polyanszky to name a 4-4-2 formation with Hannah and MacIntyre leading the attack.
Bell Park was in excellent order for the game and the weather was near-perfect with the slightest of breezes and sun throughout. Early disappointment for North Wellington in the 4th minute though when Stone jinked to the left-wing bye line inside the penalty area progressing along to draw Piper out and squaring the ball back for Jarpas to strike a 15 metre shot in off the cross-bar. 1-0 Lower Hutt.
That lead was extended after 20 minutes when a Stone run from inside his own half, following the breakdown of a North Wellington attack, saw him progress to the edge of the North Wellington penalty area and then lay off a ball to his right into the path of Gage to drill a low shot past the approaching Piper from 15 metres. 2-0 Lower Hutt.
The attacking dominance continued and was nearly rewarded thirteen minutes later from a slick move culminating in a shot into the far corner of the North Wellington goal only to be ruled out for offside by assistant referee Scutt.
Lower Hutt's defence was not seriously tested throughout the half and they were confident in their ability to begin attacks from deep in using keeper Findlay with back passes that were then switched wide to the opposing fullback to change the point of attack. In one of the few genuine opportunities that North Wellington created in the first-half Hannah met a Ross left-wing cross four minutes from half-time but his header sped wide of the near post.
Halftime 2-0 Lower Hutt. No substitutions by either side.
News over the loudspeaker at the halftime break gave the progress score from Harcourt Park as 'Upper Hutt 0 Island Bay 1', - not the result that the North Wellington supporters (amongst those present today were life members John Barrett and Don and Dulcie Stone) were hoping for. With fellow relegation contenders Island Bay prospering there was an element of greater urgency displayed by the North Wellington in the early stages of the second-half. Fifteen minutes in and when a Lower Hutt free-kick on halfway was tamely given away a Jamieson clearance found Hannah on halfway and the striker turned and eluded his marker to stream in goal with a covering defender closing him down. Hannah made it inside the penalty area and shot only for Findlay to block with the rebound striking Hannah and rolling away for a goal-kick.
Ten minutes later and when a Campbell right-wing corner was cleared, Lower Hutt streaked away downfield with a through ball releasing Jarpas straight in on goal to draw Piper and tuck away for his second goal of the game. 3-0 Lower Hutt.
Lower Hutt continued with the same confidence to build from deep in a patient display with both fullbacks dropping well back to assist Findlay in retaining possession as North Wellington's strikers chased in vain to regain the ball. Jarpas was the link man in the Lower Hutt midfield, Harlock solid alongside him displaying some nice touches and Stone positive and dangerous on attack. A solid team unit.
Hannah again was denied by Findlay in the 35th minute when the keeper bravely took the ball off Hannah's feet to stop his angled run deep inside the penalty area. Two minutes later and Piper was equally firm with a smart foot save to a Lower Hutt effort after several passes inside the North Wellington penalty area had carved out the chance to go four ahead.
On full-time and Piper stopped a one-on-one as Lower Hutt pressed onward. A 3-0 margin reflected fairly the performances on the day. Lower Hutt's continual support play evident throughout the game with options always available to them and players making the most of the chances created with clinical finishing.
North Wellington's relegation plight was not helped by Island Bay's 2-1 win at Upper Hutt which relegates Upper Hutt and leaves the battle for the remaining relegation place as Olympic (21 points, goal difference +5, 3 games left) Tawa (20, -23, 2), Island Bay (19, +2, 3) and North Wellington (17, -14, 3).
Next weekends game for North Wellington is at Endeavour Park against leaders Western Suburbs who need only a draw to win the Federation Premier League and qualify for the Federation playoffs to be held later in August to determine the promoted team to New Zealand's National League (The National Club Championship). Only Lower Hutt can catch Western Suburbs and they have what should be a challenging game at home against third-placed Miramar Rangers and need to win (they did so in the first meeting of these two sides ..... 13-0 ! - bizarre and for Western Suburbs to be beaten by North Wellington. Other games will see Petone travel to Island Bay (Petone to win !), Upper Hutt host Tawa (Upper Hutt to win !) and Waterside entertain Olympic.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 30 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 22nd July 2000 - Alex Moore Park

The recovery continues.
North Wellington's Premier team, after having won only once in its first twelve Federation Premier League games, recorded its third win in their last four games with a 4-2 win over bottom placed, and now virtually relegated, Upper Hutt City. In doing so the team has now moved to ninth place and one point ahead of Island Bay with both of these teams now having four games remaining.
Coach Bruce Polyanszky continued to stick with his favoured starting line-up from the past few weeks with Mark Jamieson rejoining the squad having served his one-game suspension. Match conditions were made awkward by the prevailing north-westerly wind that slightly assisted Upper Hutt City in the first half. Overhead conditions were overcast, a cooling Wellington July afternoon.
As in the 'curtain-raiser' Reserve game there was early scoring action as after two minutes Hannah received the ball on the left touch-line and weaved his way to the bye-line to send in a low cross that was deflected past Upper Hutt goalkeeper Alistair James by one of his defenders. 1-0 North Wellington.
Spurred on by their initial success, North Wellington pressed again through Hannah in the 16th minute with his run from the left flank creating sufficient space to power in an angled shot from 15 metres that was parried by James to his left to fall into the path of right-midfielder Hayden Polyanszky following-in unmarked to knock a left-footed shot home from six metres. This was Polyanszky's first senior goal for the North Wellington club (having played the previous season for the Reserve team) and was understandably greeted with delight by the Coach (and father). 2-0 North Wellington.
Four minutes later and Polyanszky was instrumental in linking with hard-working right wing-back Campbell, with Campbell drilling his shot across the face of goal from the edge of the penalty area. Again Campbell was to the fore eight minutes later when he met a Hannah cross from the left-wing bye-line only to hit his 20 metre shot wide of the goal.
After 31 minutes a Campbell free-kick from inside the North Wellington half made its way through the Upper Hutt central defence to MacIntyre who although having time in front of goal shot early from 15 metres straight at James who beat the shot away. Three minutes later and Upper Hutt had their first decent chance when a right-wing cross was headed goalwards, looping over Piper, only for Campbell to acrobatically clear for a corner. Two minutes on and Piper stood firm to block the Upper Hutt left-wingers effort from 15 metres.
Throughout the middle spell of the first half North Wellington were clearly the more urgent of the two teams with defensive midfielder Fitzpatrick able to surge through on several occasions with little back-tracking from the Upper Hutt players to cover the extra attacking numbers. After 39 minutes MacIntyre, on the edge of the penalty area, laid off a square pass to Campbell to again fire wide of the mark. Then with halftime approaching Fitzpatrick hassled the Upper Hutt defence and a rebound off him fell to MacIntyre who swivelled and shot straight at James from 15 metres.
Halftime 2-0 North Wellington. No substitutions made by either side.
Three minutes into the second half and the rare sight of centre-back Hopkins pressing forward in general play occurred as a Upper Hutt foray broke down and on the counter-attack Hannah sped down the right-flank confronted by a sole defender with Hopkins spearing through the centre with no marker within 15 metres of him. Sadly the centreing cross drifted with the wind into the arms of James and Hopkins was confronted by the long run back as played continued.
Fellow centre-back Caughley was into the attacking action six minutes later when he rose to head a Phil Barton right-flank free-kick over the crossbar from six metres. However the continuing dominanance by the home team was rewarded 14 minutes into the second half when Hayden Polyanszky intercepted an errant pass on halfway and knocked the ball to his right to Campbell who ran on inside the penalty area to crash a 15 metre shot into the roof of the Upper Hutt net. 3-0 North Wellington.
Six minutes later and Campbell, again !, powered through the central defence but with only James to beat drilled his shot into the keeper. Upper Hutt, to their credit, maintained their interest in the game despite the scoreline and the flow of possession and struck back in the 31st minute when a right-wing cross wasn't cleared and Craig Meiklejohn netted from the goalmouth scramble. 3-1 North Wellington.
The swing in momentum continued seven minutes later when the Upper Hutt left-winger got to the bye-line to be halted in a challenge by Caughley with referee Murphy, after momentary consideration, pointing to the penalty spot. Ian Mawdsley took the kick, netting low to Piper's left as the keeper went right. 3-2 North Wellington. (and another cigarette for coach Bruce Polyanzsky!)
With seven minutes remaining and Upper Hutt having renewed confidence in their ability to earn a result, the North Wellington bench became more anxious in the final minutes of action. This anxiety was diminished though when with two minutes left Hannah was released on the right and his run inside the penalty area culminated in a low cross to the far post finding an unmarked MacIntyre who netted from close range. 4-2 North Wellington.

The relegation scenario in the Federation Premier League now goes something like this ..... Two teams are to be relegated (unless Miramar Rangers, in the National Club Championship, or Western Suburbs - if successful in seeking promotion to the NCC have other thoughts for their reserve team) and with the result today Upper Hutt are virtually assured of relegation as they would need to win their remaining games (home against Island Bay and Tawa) and require both North Wellington and Island Bay to lose their next three games and then draw their game scheduled for 19th August. OK - mathematically possible, but unlikely.
That leaves one relegation place. Tawa 20 points and a shocking goal difference (two games left), Olympic 18 points (four games left), North Wellington 17 points (four games left) and Island Bay 16 points (four games left). Key matches between these teams are : Upper Hutt - Island Bay (next Saturday, 29th July), Upper Hutt - Tawa (5th August), Olympic - Island Bay (13th August), North Wellington - Island Bay (19th August) and Olympic - Tawa (20th August).
From a parochial North Wellington point of view (well, this is our website) - Upper Hutt to beat both Island Bay and Tawa, Olympic to draw with Island Bay (and then beat Tawa in the last game) would leave North Wellington handily placed regardless of the results from the next three games before what should be an intense Island Bay game.
Regardless though of what happens in other games the important point, which will certainly be reinforced by Coach Bruce Polyansky, is that North Wellington has its own destiny in its hands and a continuation of the recent performances will give it every possible chance to escape the tenth or eleventh place destined to be relegated from the Federation Premier League.
The next game is away to second-placed Lower Hutt City who with two games left are three points behind, and with a better goal difference, of leaders Western Suburbs.

The photos of this game taken from the digital camera, kindly supplied by Iain MacIntyre, will be added to the photos page later. The home page will be updated once this has been done. Photos have now been taken in three Federation Premier League games which have, concidentally I'm sure, ended in North Wellington victories.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 23 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 15th July 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Wellington's settled weather over the last week provided another excellent day at Alex Moore Park with bright clear windless conditions for the match between North Wellington and a Petone team featuring two ex-North Wellington players, Winkworth and Gendall, as well as ex-'All White' Turner, a member of the 1982, yes 1982 !, New Zealand World Cup squad that made the Finals in Spain.
Coach Bruce Polyanskzy was able to name the same North Wellington starting line-up for the third consecutive match with the only omission from the squad being Mark Jamieson serving his one-match suspension as a result of last weeks sending-off against Olympic. With this line-up having beaten third-placed Miramar 3-2 and then lost 5-0 to eighth-placed Olympic in their previous two outings and with the threat of relegation still present then this match against mid-table Petone, 5-2 victors in their meeting at Petone Memorial Park, provided another 'gut-check' for North Wellington.
The early passages of the first half could be described as a 'settling-in' process with both sides adjusting to the slightly bumpy pitch and looking to secure dominance in the midfield area with no clear chances being created. In the 21st minute Barton hassled a Petone player and Fitzpatrick stole in to win possession and moved forward to release Hannah on his right. Hannah slipped wide of Williams inside the penalty area and drove a low right-wing cross across the Petone goal with MacIntyre sliding in unable to connect. Five minutes later and Bullen charged down a clearance with the ricochet falling to Hannah allowing him to run on goal and shoot over from an angled position.
Petone's attacking forays had been few throughout the half however Piper's alertedness was tested in the 34th minute when Petone took the direct route to goal with a long throw-in from the left flank finding defender Williams deep in the North Wellington penalty area and his back header well smothered low inside the near post by Piper.
Halftime 0-0. No substitutions in the first half.
Greater urgency from Petone early in the second spell produced several corners. From one of these in the 8th minute Piper pushed away, under pressure, a deep right-wing corner and then recovered well to sprawl leftwards to palm away a 20 metre shot.
Fitzpatrick, again producing a good defensive covering performance similar to that against Miramar two games ago, then sparked a move from deep in the 15th minute when he released Hayden Polyanszky in the right-midfield slot. Polyanszky fed Hannah inside and then raced on to receive the return ball and send in a deep cross for left wing-back Ross to loop a header back across goal for Duggan to palm away.
Three minutes later and the goal arrived - out of nowhere - when Campbell gathered possession inside the Petone half and set off on a diagonal run towards the right-wing corner. As the ball escaped Campbell a covering Petone player was able to get a pass back towards the goal-line. Keeper Duggan's first touch was however a harsh one and the ball rebounded sufficiently away from him for Campbell, continuing his run, to strike an angled first-time right foot shot into the vacant goal. 1-0 North Wellington.
Petone rallied late in the game with Winkworth being pushed up front from midfield to give them three front-runners. With five minutes left Smith, eluded defender Caughley - who was later named North Wellington man of the match, and shot from 20 metres but Piper saved at the second attempt. A minute on and Fitzpatrick cleared off the goal-line as Petone continued to use the set pieces of free-kicks, corners and long throw-ins to force home an equaliser.
With a generous amount of injury time being played by referee Wilson it was a relieved North Wellington team that greeted the final whistle.
This result lifts North Wellington off the bottom of the Federation Premier League - a position they have held since mid-May. Their match next week is at home, Alex Moore Park, against Upper Hutt who are now bottom of the league. The meeting between the two teams at Harcourt Park resulted in a 2-0 win to North Wellington. Since then Upper Hutt have continued to slide with only one win and one draw from nine games and with three games to play will be desperate to secure a result. As the bottom three teams, (Island Bay (16 points), North Wellington (14 points) and Upper Hutt (12 points)) still have a game against each other the two relegation places remain up for grabs.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 16 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 9th July 2000 - Newtown Park

Having witnessed the earlier Reserve game (reviewed below) and thought that I’d seen it all inside 90 minutes and ‘lightning never strikes twice’, well - OK I was wrong. For club members who set their video to record this game on Saturn TV (as it was broadcast on their Sport Channel) they’ve now got very own ‘video nasty’. Certainly not one that you’ll see played down at the Clubrooms.
Newtown Park, great pitch, with fine overhead conditions and a complete absence of Wellington’s ubiquitous wind. Perfect day for a game of football.
North Wellington coach Bruce Polyanszky was able to name an unchanged line-up from the last Federation Premier league match against Miramar Rangers with Hayden Polyanszky again taking a more active role in the central midfield. Also returning to the squad and named as a reserve was defender Mark Jamieson, Cook Islands international player (having recently competed in the Oceania Cup held in Tahiti during June and squaring up against the Australian team - with a 0-17 outcome).
Olympic created chances as early as the 2nd minute when a 25 metre shot was parried low down by Piper who then recovered well to block Fennmore’s follow-up effort and then five minutes later evergreen striker Christie broke free in the inside right position and struck his shot across Piper but off the left-hand post with Campbell clearing under pressure by Fennmore.
North Wellington had the opportunity to open the scoring in the 13th minute when Hannah, on a run along the left-wing bye-line, was brought down. Bullen stepped forward to take the resulting penalty (having scored once and missed another in the earlier meeting between the two teams in April) and with the North Wellington bench confidently (and correctly) predicting where he would strike his kick it was also anticipated by Kotrotsos who found the shot coming at a comfortable height and close enough to him to beat away for the following-in defenders to clear to safety.
Campbell burst down the right flank in the 30th minute on a typically forceful run to swing in an inviting cross with no North Wellington players present inside the penalty area. Two minutes later and play swung to Olympic when Fennmore mishit an eight metre shot from Christie’s low cross.
A minute later and it was Christie bursting into the penalty area going to ground under the challenge of Hopkins and referee Johnstone awarding a penalty despite Hopkins’ protestations that he had played the ball out for a corner. Fennmore converted the penalty high to Piper’s left. 1-0 Olympic.
Four minutes further on and a low right-flank ball from Vrizonis was sweetly met on the volley by Fennmore to sweep home from 15 metres into the bottom corner of the North Wellington goal. 2-0 Olympic.
Inside two minutes of this action, in the 39th minute, North Wellington forced a corner which was cleared by the Olympic defence with Fennmore neatly flicking on a through ball for the speedy Christie to judge his run well to run clear of the last defender, Fitzpatrick, and slot past Piper from the edge of the penalty area. 3-0 Olympic. Chances were certainly well taken but a 3-0 scoreline at this stage seemed flattering given the ebb and flow of the game so far.
Another two minutes on and from a North Wellington corner, defender Caughley was upended as Olympic sought to clear and a second penalty was awarded to North Wellington. MacIntyre, having chased after the ball, elected himself to take the kick but struck his effort the wrong side (wide) of the post. Still 3-0 Olympic.
Halftime was a welcome respite to the first-half action. No substitutions had been made by either side.
Hannah again showed his value on the ball as he ghosted past two defenders inside the penalty area but his right-wing cross was cleared from the danger zone. With 16 minutes gone in the second-half the action bubbled over again when Adamson being felled in a challenge and when receiving little sympathy from the referee continued to utter a number of clearly audible obscenities which earned him a red card as the action which had continued on and stopped. A minute later and Hopkins and Bertos went to ground and in the process of untangling themselves began a pushing argument that led to them both being booked. Whilst the referee was about to restart play with a drop-ball Mark Jamieson, substituted on to the field five minutes earlier, uttered a obsencity which was brought to the attention of the referee who consulted with his assistant Murphy (with a familiar-sounding Pommy voice in the stand shouting out “Dumb and Dumber”) and issued Jamieson a red card. Back to even numbers now (ten-a-side).
Two minutes after this a right-wing cross found an unmarked Bertos who shot over the crossbar as Piper closed on him. North Wellington were restricted in their efforts on goal by the Olympic defence throughout the half, however after 27 minutes a through chip by Hopkins to Hannah saw the striker fend off his marker and with a defender still to beat strike a 30 metre chip over Kotrotsos but wide of the goal.
Eight minutes later and Sole produced a battling run past several North Wellington defenders with his shot from a tight angle blocked by Piper. Piper then produced a good one-handed save low to his left to stop Curtis's goalbound volley from a right-wing cross, however he was beaten inside a minute as the ball broke free from a Hannah tackle on the edge of the penalty area to Heathcote to chip into the far corner. 4-0 Olympic.
The scoring was completed with three minutes remaining when Olympic broke away on a three-on-one counter-attack and an easy finish past Piper ensuing.
Whilst worth the win Olympic's margin of victory was inflated by North Wellington's finishing (the penalty misses), well-taken Olympic chances late in the first half and a stout defensive unit with Kotrotsos returning a solid performance in goal and Mitrakis marshalling the central defensive area to rebuff North Wellington's attempts.
For North Wellington the loss has seen Olympic move seven points clear of them, still fourth to bottom, with both teams having six games left. With Upper Hutt and Island Bay within striking distance and with crucial home games against both of these teams still to come then North Wellington's efforts will need to be redoubled in order to avoid being one of the two teams that will be relegated from the Federation Premier League.
The game next weekend is at home against mid-table Petone. 2.30pm kick-off at Alex Moore Park on 15 July.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 10 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 24th June 2000 - Alex Moore Park

North Wellington, inspired by three goals created from crosses by man of the match Hannah, prevailed over second-placed Miramar Rangers in front of a sparse 'crowd' of twenty at most (the All Blacks versus Scotland rugby international in Dunedin attracting other's interest).
With the match being played in cloudy conditions and the usual northwesterly breeze filtering across the pitch both sides created numerous chances which resulted in five goals but could well have been more if not for good goalkeeping and wasteful finishing.
It was Miramar to the fore early as in the 5th minute a right-wing corner wasn't cleared by the home team defence and Fitzpatrick blocked on the goal-line to concede another corner that Mohammed headed over from close range.
Three minutes later and when a North Wellington free-kick on halfway was headed back by the Miramar defence a chip through saw Bullen bundled over but referee Johnstone playing advantage as the unmarked Hopkins honed in goal only to squeeze his shot wide under a despairing challenge by a back-tracking defender.
Young then threatened for Miramar as he squirmed through the central defence only to push the ball far enough ahead for Piper to smother his effort.
Miramar opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Young ghosted in at the far post to head home from a Farrington right-wing cross. 1-0 Miramar.
An immediate reply came from North Wellington just over a minute later with Hannah beating his marker and running to the goal-line to cross from the right to the unmarked left wing-back Ross to control and power home a shot past Naughton for the equaliser. 1-1.
Two minutes later and another opportunity arose from an indirect free-kick awarded inside the Miramar penalty area for a high-foot offence. From 15 metres out in front of goal, Ross squared the ball right to Campbell to strike a fierce shot high over the cross-bar (... and over the fence, over Moorefield Road, into the properties on the other side of the road and down towards the Johnsonville-Wellington railway line. Manager Colin Lloyd was to re-appear ten minutes later having been unable to locate the original ball but clutching another).
Mohammed's aerial presence at set pieces was to trouble the North Wellington central defence in the 24th minute when he rose to glance a right-wing free-kick goalwards however Piper reacted swiftly to block for a corner. Seven minutes later and Fitzpatrick's deft chip into the inside left position released Barton in on goal only for him to stumble and miskick as he went to shoot. Further chances before the break fell to Miramar's Zanotto who connected from a Brown right-wing cross only to be parried by Piper and then to Barton with a low 25 metre free-kick that was held by Naughton.
Halftime 1-1. No substitutions by either side.
A positional switch saw Hayden Polyanszky take a more active role in the central midfield area as North Wellington sought to gain extra mobility in this area. The scoring action again came early after the resumption with Barton, in the 8th minute of the half, eluding his marker and despite being held (advantage again being played by referee Johnstone) he was able to pass left to Hannah who beat Leonidas and from the left-wing goal-line fired a low cross for MacIntyre to beat Naughton from close range. 2-1 North Wellington.
Ten minutes later and it was MacIntyre again with a fine chance created by Hannah as from a Naughton clearance from a pass back the ball fell to Hannah's feet and with the Miramar defence in dis-array Hannah released the ball left to MacIntyre. With the Miramar players appealing to assistant referee Wilson for an offside call and no whistle from the referee forthcoming the action descended into a straight one-on-one situation between MacIntyre and Naughton, as no covering defenders bothered to assist. MacIntyre's initial shot was blocked and from the rebound he spun around and shot again only for Naughton to scramble and save with the rebound eventually cleared by the slow-reacting defenders.
After 25 minutes this missed opportunity looked to be have been costly for the North Wellington side as Mohammed, having been forward for some minutes from his usual central defensive position, was given space on the edge of the penalty area and had time enough to place a curling shot beyond Piper for the equaliser. 2-2.
North Wellington rallied again though with Hannah creating another opportunity for MacIntyre three minutes later with a low right-wing cross that eluded his fellow striker. A further two minutes on and Hannah, from the left-wing, floated in a cross that an unchallenged MacIntyre met with a looping header that was palmed away by the back-pedalling Naughton into the path of Campbell to crash off his thigh into the empty net. 3-2 North Wellington.
The final fifteen minutes saw Miramar although pressed forward by the urgings of Calcott and Mohammed unable to unlock the North Wellington defence and create a decent chance. Hopkins, having done well with several vital tackles in the second half, was replaced late by Bagnall due to a calf muscle injury.
Relief amongst the North Wellington players and management at the final whistle with a committed team performance. A result of this nature against a genuine league title contender must help in the self-belief of the team, that has in past matches this season faltered at crucial times, that they can survive in the Federation Premier League. Although fellow 'strugglers' Island Bay and Olympic also recorded wins today, Upper Hutt's loss leaves North Wellington one point behind Upper Hutt with two games in hand and a superior goal difference. In addition North Wellington still have matches against all three of these teams. With one team to be relegated at the conclusion of the Federation Premier League season into the Federation One League today's result may well be seen as the catalyst that spurs this team on to maintain its place in this League.
With a scheduled bye in this eleven-team League next weekend the Premier team's next match is set down for Sunday 9th July Newtown Park 2.00pm against Olympic. This game is being advertised as a SATURN TV game so team followers with SATURN TV should set their VCR and get down to support the team play on one of the best football surfaces in Wellington.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 25 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 17th June 2000 - Redwood Park

A goal a minute from time from Ian West saw Tawa come away with maximum points in the local 'derby' between the two close rivals at Redwood Park.
North Wellington had begun sensationally with a goal inside thirty seconds of the opening kick-off, and with no Tawa player having touched the ball, when Bullen passed through to MacIntyre to lay it off for wing-back Dean Polyanszky to fire a low shot from 22 metres inside the keeper's right-hand post. 1-0 North Wellington.
Tawa's reply came after 10 minutes when Rickard created space inside the North Wellington penalty area to drill a shot across goal that was parried by Smith and from the ensuing scramble that saw a further shot blocked off the line it was Rickard who netted past Hayden Polyanskzy and Fitzpatrick on the goal-line. 1-1.
Despite this setback it was North Wellington who continued to assert the territorial dominance, taking advantage of the north-westerly wind that diagonally cut across the ground. A delightful interchange of passes by MacIntyre and Dean Polyanszky ended with Polyanszky firing his shot wide. Rickard then threatened again as Hopkins was beaten by a right-wing cross and Rickard's goal-bound header was blocked by Smith for a corner.
Hannah made space inside the Tawa penalty area to run goalwards from a tight angle only for the Tawa keeper to smother at his feet.
Halftime 1-1. No substitutions were made.
The second half saw Tawa make use of the increasingly strengthening wind to establish territorial ascendancy with North Wellington pinned inside their own half as they struggled to clear. Jason Musgrove found space and an open shot midway through the half but was blocked by Smith.
Fitzpatrick continued to make many timely interceptions, in his defensive roaming role, to snuff out Tawa attacks before they threatened the North Wellington goal and deservedly was named man of the match. In combination with the central duo of Caughley and Hopkins who made critical tackles, Tawa's opportunities were few, however they carved out a clear 20 metre shot that was fingertipped by Smith on to the underside of the crossbar with Dean Polyanszky clearing.
North Wellington's attacking forays were few however the Tawa keeper blocked well on the goal-line from a close range shot.
With time nearly up on referee Tasker's watch a right-wing ball to the edge of the North Wellington penalty area was headed away however straight to West who struck a firm shot from 20 metres past Smith into the bottom corner of the goal.
Despair for the North Wellington team that remains in last place in the Federation Premier league. Their next game is at home to second-placed Miramar Rangers at Alex Moore Park on Saturday 24th June. Miramar overcame a two-goal halftime deficit to win their meeting at Centennial Park 4-2 earlier this season.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 17 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 10th June 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Due to the extremely heavy rain which had fallen during the earlier Reserve game (abandoned after 60 minutes of play - see review below) Alex Moore Park was in a waterlogged state and the match officials called the game off before both teams changed.
Three of the five Federation Premier matches were played and completed today. The surprising (and disappointing for our Premier team) result was Island Bay thrashing fourth-placed Paraparaumu 6-0 to leave North Wellington adrift by three points at the foot of the Federation Premier League behind Island Bay, Upper Hutt and Olympic.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 10 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 3rd June 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Paraparaumu United deservedly came away from Alex Moore Park with a 2-0 victory with the match having been played in steadily increasing rain which has swept over the Wellington region in the last few days causing the cancellation of most of the lower league competition games due to be held today.
North Wellington were without Tony Jamieson and Mark Jamieson who are with the Cook Islands national team squad which is competing in the Polynesian section of the Oceania qualification games for the Confederation Cup being held at the Paranuu Stadium, Papeete, Tahiti. The Cook Islands play against Tahiti, American Samoa, Tonga and Western Samoa with games starting on 8th June 2000. The top two teams progress to the Oceania qualification games to meet either New Zealand and the Solomon Islands or Australia and Fiji (depending on whether they finish first or second in the Polynesian section).
In addition two of their most loyal supporters, Don and Dulcie Stone, missed the game (and will miss two more) as they are holidaying in Australia. Hope you read this Don and Dulcie.
After initially starting with some endeavour, North Wellington fell behind in the 10th minute after being exposed on their right flank with the centred cross swept home from 10 metres by an unmarked Paraparaumu player past Piper. 1-0 Paraparaumu. Two minutes later and a defensive turnover allowed Paraparaumu another opportunity that was sent wide from just outside of the penalty area.
Paraparaumu looked the better side in the early stages of the match as they showed greater cohesion in their ability to string together passes from the defence through the midfield.
North Wellington's first scoring opportunity came in the 28th minute when Hannah was fouled on the edge of the penalty area with the resulting free-kick squared by Barton to Dean Polyanszky with his shot charged down by the Paraparaumu defence. Three minutes later and a corner was cleared as far as Barton to strike a 20 metre goalbound shot that was headed over for another corner. From this corner Dean Polyanszky found MacIntyre whose glancing near post header flashed wide of the far post. Paraparaumu threatened again shortly afterwards with a low 20 metre shot being pushed wide by Piper.
After 38 minutes North Wellington came what was to be their closest to scoring when Caughley's header from a left-wing corner was blocked, Barton's following effort from 15 metres was similarly denied on the goal-line with the rebound eventually falling to Dean Polyanszky with his shot from an ever decreasing angle hitting the side netting.
Further chances, for the home side, before the break fell to Dean Polyanszky and Lee however Paraparaumu keeper Ryan Sandford, having recently transferred from the Western Suburbs Reserve/Academy team, was untroubled by these efforts. Piper kept out a close-range header with a good reflex save as the teams went to halftime with a 1-0 scoreline to the visitors.
In what was to prove to be one of many Paraparaumu breakaways in the second half the ball was in the North Wellington net as early as the 2nd minute only to be ruled out for offside by referee Rowan. Five minutes later and the North Wellington net bulged again as Paraparaumu made it 2-0 after a 20 metre free-kick from the corner of the penalty area had been struck into the goal area and from the resulting scramble an angled shot was drilled inside Piper's far post.
Paraparaumu didn't relent with the two goal lead and were to create more chances in the half with Piper doing well to deny several one-on-one attempts to increasing the scoring. Lee, playing in a defensive midfield role in the 4-4-2 formation, also defended commendably and deservedly was named North Wellington's man of the match.
North Wellington threatened Sandford in goal on occasions through Bullen, with back to goal, heading over the crossbar from Campbell's headed pass off Hayden Polyanszky's left-wing cross and Bullen again, lunging unsuccessfully at a deflected Barton shot.
With little to cheer of in the way of scoring action the North Wellington bench was kept entertained by the welcome return of Michael "Blacky" Black, from service in East Timor, and his verbal 'jousting' (this is the politest word I can use) with the assistant referee Lett.
North Wellington remain eleventh in the Federation Premier League, equal on points with Island Bay (beaten 5-2 today by Western Suburbs - thanks to Tony Meinen hat-trick), although three points behind Olympic and Upper Hutt following Olympic's 5-1 win over Upper Hutt. Their scheduled game on Monday 5th June (Queen's Birthday holiday) against Lower Hutt had been rescheduled to be against Island Bay, however as Island Bay have a Chatham Cup game scheduled then North Wellington's next match is at home, Alex Moore Park, against Waterside Karori on 10th June.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 3 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 27th May 2000 - Wakefield Park

North Wellington held on for a 1-1 draw with Island Bay to remain equal with Island Bay and Olympic at the foot of the Federation Premier league at the halfway point of the 2000 season.
Having had the better of the first half they were fortuitously awarded a 41st minute penalty by referee Parrott for a fair looking challenge by Island Bay defender Tony Maresca on striker Hannah. Bullen converted the penalty past Craig Thompson.
Earlier in the half Campbell had powered in an angled 20 metre shot after 19 minutes that rebounded off Thompson's chest and then the impressive Hannah had created a chance for MacIntyre in the 23rd minute with a fine cross from the right, with MacIntyre blocked in his attempt. Six minutes later and Hannah turned quickly on the edge of the penalty area to shoot over the crossbar.
Island Bay's only serious scoring efforts in the first half were gathered comfortably by Piper - coming from a Brian Johnstone turn and shot in the 21st minute and, on halftime, by captain Salvi Vinaccia.
Halftime 1-0 to North Wellington.
The second half was almost completely Island Bay's with keeper Craig Thompson's only moment of concern coming in the 9th minute when he raced outside of the penalty area to beat Hannah to the ball. Two minutes later and Piper reacted sharply to block Paul Muollo's 15 metre shot.
Island Bay's revival was rewarded in the 16th minute when Johnstone found space outside of the penalty area to drill a firm low shot that was beaten out by Piper only for the following-in Alex Smith to slot into the unguarded net.
Spurred on by the equaliser Island Bay pressed forward in an endeavour to capitalise on their territorial and possession advantage with late chances to Vinaccia, a 25 metre free kick just wide, and then his deflected shot being pushed over the crossbar by Piper. North Wellington's defence were tested by the useful Johnstone and Smith with Lee, having replaced Johns early in the second half, having to make some timely interceptions from his sweeping position.
The final whistle saw a relieved North Wellington side thankful to come away from Wakefield Park with a point. Next game is on 3rd June at home, Alex Moore Park, against Paraparaumu United.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 28 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Chatham Cup 2nd Round - 20th May 2000 - Alex Moore Park

North Wellington welcomed the return of Stu Fitzpatrick from injury to start his first game for three months in their 2nd Round Chatham Cup match against a Lower Hutt City team backing up from their Central League/Federation League record 13-0 victory over Miramar Rangers in the Federation League last Saturday.
With Alex Moore Park buffeted throughout by a brisk northwesterly wind it was another day where the spectators of both teams would have enjoyed a run themselves as they kept warm on the touchline.
I missed the first 25 minutes, having had a run for the Division 6 team at Fraser Park, but in that time Lower Hutt opened the scoring through Patterson and were widely regarded to have had the better of the early exchanges with their pacy front-runners testing the North Wellington defence.
North Wellington's attacking endeavours were capably handled by the Lower Hutt defence for the remainder of the half with Findley not forced to make a save.
1-0 to Lower Hutt at halftime.
With 12 minutes played in the second half North Wellington created their first good opportunity when Bullen competed strongly to win a 50-50 ball and then played inside to MacIntyre who drew the defence and then laid it to the right for the cutting Dean Polyanszky to shoot and force Findley to cover low down.
Play switched immediately to the opposite end and a left-wing move saw Mays run along the goal-line and square across for Miranda, hearing the call from Patterson, to dummy to allow Patterson to finish from 15 metres. 2-0 to Lower Hutt.
Despite the two goal deficit North Wellington began to create further chances with Campbell, after 22 minutes, bursting through on to a Fitzpatrick pass only to shoot wide from the edge of the penalty area and then two minutes later Lower Hutt conceded a free-kick a metre outside the area which from its central location, North Wellington man-of-the-match, Campbell touched square to Dean Polyanszky to side-foot to Findley's left with the keeper smothering. Then North Wellington's left-back Mark Jamieson let fly with a 25 metre right-foot shot that although appearing to be heading wide was tipped behind by Findley, taking no chances with the fickle winds that bedevil the ground (nice phrase, eh?).
Frustration at the lack of success manifested itself through Dean Polyanszky receiving a booking for a clumsy tackle after 33 minutes. He was replaced a minute later by Barton, back to the Premier team after several weeks injured and with a run in the Reserve team last week under his belt.
In the final minutes of the game it was Barton who set up the best chances for North Wellington to score, with firstly his left-wing free-kick being headed over by an unmarked Bullen at the far post and then, with time nearly up, being released by MacIntyre down the left to square the ball across goal with no following players there to tap-in.
A deserved win for Lower Hutt and they progress into the 3rd Round with the draw to be made on 22 May (check the Wellington Soccer Association website). North Wellington competed throughout however and a similar performance is all their supporters will be asking for in the next Federation League game against Island Bay at Wakefield Park next Saturday.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 21 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 13th May 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Western Suburbs moved to the top of the Federation Premier League following a throughly deserved 4-1 win over North Wellington, illustrating the gap between the upper and lower echelons of the League.
The match was played on an Alex Moore Park which had held up well despite steady rain on the previous day. Wests signalled their intentions early inside the opening fifteen minutes with Imam running forward unchallenged from midfield and shooting from 20 metres to produce a good diving save from Tony Jamieson and then McKay, pushing up from the back, unleashed a strong shot that deflected into Jamieson's arms.
Wests advantage in the possession stakes was borne out on the scoreboard after 30 minutes when a Disley bye-line run and cross was swept home by Boyland from 15 metres. Five minutes later and it was 2-0 when Disley controlled and held the ball on the edge of the North Wellington penalty area and fed Church, who skilfully avoided Hopkins, and ran on to slot home past Jamieson. Disley came close to getting on the scoresheet three minutes later when his headed attempt from Wesley-Smith's cross was blocked by Caughley for a corner.
Two minutes from halftime and North Wellington were denied a goal by a fine save by Parish from Dean Polyanszky's headed effort in meeting a Campbell right-flank free-kick.
Halftime 2-0 to Wests. Coach Bruce Polyanszky substituting on Johns for the injured (hamstring) Hannah.
Ten minutes into the half and Wests substituted on ex-North Wellington player Tony Meinen. North Wellington changed their man-marking defensively at this point with Caughley switching from Disley, who was to adopt more of a midfield role, to Meinen with Johns taking the marking duties on Disley.
Three minutes later and Wests capitalised on a defensive lapse from a Disley corner for Wesley-Smith to score from close range to extend their lead to 3-0.
North Wellington's attacking forays throughout the second half were to be as sporadic as the first half, however after 20 minutes a Darren Lee surge through the midfield saw him feed the unmarked MacIntyre to run on and crash a firm 20 metre shot past the advancing Parish to restore some respectability to the scoreline, 3-1 to Wests.
This comeback proved to be short-lived though as Wests scored the goal of the game after 26 minutes when after Meinen held the ball up on halfway sufficiently long enough to release Boylan through central midfield. Boylan's measured pass to the right was unselfishly squared by Church into the path of Disley to score from 8 metres into an empty net. A neat passing combination well executed to restore West's three goal lead at 4-1.
Meinen was to come close to scoring later however Jamieson reacted well to his 20 metre shot as Wests continued with their positive approach to the game.
On full-time MacIntyre had the opportunity to score his second goal when he met Campbell's left-wing through ball but Parish blocked his effort and then palmed away Bullen's follow-up.
North Wellington's next game is against Lower Hutt City at Alex Moore Park in the 2nd round of the Chatham Cup. Lower Hutt City defeated the previous Federation League leaders Miramar Rangers 13 (thirteen)-0 in their match at Centennial Park today!
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 13 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 6th May 2000 - Harcourt Park

North Wellington captain Brian Bullen celebrated his 250th Central League game (thanks for the information to Derek Bullen) in leading the Premier side to their first league win of the season over Upper Hutt City on the wide expanse of Harcourt Park.
In achieving victory North Wellington regained the O'Brien shield (played between Premier teams and defended every home game) which they successfully defended for a dozen or so games a few seasons back.
Harcourt Park provided a good playing surface for the game played in overcast but pleasant conditions with only a slight breeze for players to contend with.
Upper Hutt had the first scoring opportunity after 6 minutes when their mercurial midfielder Pete Thomas released the diagonally running Craig Meiklejohn, only for Meiklejohn to slice his 15 metre shot wide.
North's Hannah, who was to have an enterprising game in displaying his ability on the ball to take on and beat defenders, made the first of several such runs in the 22nd minute only to shoot wide. A minute later and Hannah again found shooting space inside the Upper Hutt penalty area only to be denied by Upper Hutt keeper Stu Barber's leg blocking a firmly hit angled shot.
Upper Hutt increased their tempo shortly afterwards and a neat exchange of passes saw Meiklejohn link with Scott James only for the defence to close him and his shot being pushed away by Tony Jamieson. A scramble on the edge of the North Wellington penalty area saw the ball finally being sent wide of goal by an Upper Hutt player.
The opening goal of the game occurred after 38 minutes when a Campbell free-kick from the right flank was headed clear to the feet of Mark Jamieson. Jamieson's searching cross floated behind the retreating Upper Hutt central defence to find Hannah who calmly lobbed it into the far corner.
Upper Hutt came close twice before the halftime break with both opportunities being taken by Thomas with firstly a deft 25 metre chipped shot just over the crossbar after good lead-up play then with a low shot that Tony Jamieson was forced to push away for a corner.
Haltime 1-0 to North Wellington. No substitutions had been made.
The opening play of the second half was straight out of the North Wellington gamebook (if they have one!) with the kick-off being played wide right by Dean Polyanszky to Hannah. Hannah progressed forward and when halted by a defender laid a square pass inside for Ross to strike a first-time left foot 22 metre shot off the far upright with the Upper Hutt keeper Barber stranded. 15 seconds at best. 2-0 North Wellington.
This effort knocked Upper Hutt and their efforts to create further scoring chances in the next 20 minutes were easily dealt with by Tony Jamieson, solid in the air from several crosses, and the back four of Mark Jamieson, Caughley, Campbell and Hopkins.
North Wellington were sporadic in their attacks with Dean Polyanszky hooking a left foot shot wide after 16 minutes and then Hannah, after jinking inside two defenders, firing over from 20 metres in the 24th minute of the half.
Dean Polyanszky had the opportunity to seal the game after 30 minutes when he rose to meet a well flighted Bullen cross from the right, only for his header to clear the crossbar.
The last 15 minutes were predominantly Upper Hutt's as they sought (unsuccessfully) to create a clear-cut chance, with North Wellington dropping players back in behind the ball to protect their lead.
Fitzpatrick was substituted on late for his second (both of them winning!) appearance of the season to replace the hard working midfielder Ross.
Bullen (rarely substituted during his career) was replaced by Gallagher with a few minutes left, having run himself into the ground on the roomy pitch.

The photos taken during the game were processed by Mark Ross. Check the photos page.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 6 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Chatham Cup (1st Round) - 28th April 2000 - Seatoun Park

The first game in what many hope will be another strong cup run by North Wellington was played in sunny conditions but with a cold blustery wind sweeping across the Seatoun ground. North Wellington played into the wind in the first half. From a supporters viewpoint it was great to see Darren Lee had fully recovered from injury to take his place in the starting line up and Damian Hannah had also made good progress with his injury, although still not 100%, was listed as a sub.
In typical cup spirit both teams battled hard in the opening twenty minutes but few clear chances where presented until North Wellington opened the scoring in the 23 minute. A good run by Dean Polyanszky down the left flank resulted in him beating his marker and driving in a low cross which the Seatoun defenders failed to clear. The cross found Malcolm Campbell unmarked around the six yard box and he clinically put the ball in the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. This was Campbell’s second goal in two weeks. The flow of the game then seemed to go the way of North Wellington for the remainder of the first half. A clear chance fell to Keith Block, making his debut for the premier team, in the 29th minute but the attempted volley was put well over the cross bar. Late in the first half a 50/50 challenge by Craig Hopkins resulted in an injury to the Seatoun player who unfortunately had to leave the field. In what would turn out to be a crucial decision later in the game Seatoun swapped their Goalkeeper who now would play the remainder of the game as an outfielder.
Halftime score 1-0 to North Wellington.
No substitutes by North Wellington at halftime. Seatoun started the better of the two teams and looked to rattle the North Wellington team who seemed flat after the halftime break. The Seatoun effort was rewarded after 50 minutes with a goal. Some poor North Wellington defending was capitalised on by Seatoun and the goal, scored by the player who started as their goalkeeper but was now in the outfield, was good reward for their efforts. 1-1 after 55 minutes. Seatoun continued to push forward now with the belief that they could perhaps win this game and a tough, hard battle was emerging.
A dramatic turning point in the game came in the 60th minute when Peter Bagnall was given a red card for using foul language after giving the ball away in his own half with a bad pass. North Wellington were down to 10 men and would need to work harder if they were to win this game. The game started to get a bit scrappy and after 65 minutes Hayden Polyanszky was given a yellow card for a late tackle. The game continued to be evenly contested with both teams having some half chances but not capitalising. The clearest chance to North Wellington came in the 72nd minute when a long throw from Keith Block was headed on and cleared by the Seatoun goalkeeper for a corner. In a similar decision to the sending off of Peter Bagnall a Seatoun defender was also shown a red card in the 80th minute leaving both teams down to 10 men.
With both teams down to 10 men North Wellington seemed to lift slightly for one last effort before extra time would be required and after a scramble in the Seatoun six yard box the ball was put into the back of the net by Keith Block to give North Wellington a 2-1 lead in the 87 minute. Unfortunately in the scramble North Wellington player Malcolm Campbell was injured and needed to be replaced. Coach Bruce Polyanszky will be hoping the injury is not serious.
The final whistle went with a 2-1 hard fought win to North Wellington, let the cup run begin.

On a final note Nigel Ingham who seriously injured his groin in the game against Miramar several weeks ago is expected to hear from a specialist about the extend of the injury this week. From all the players and supporters we hope the news is favourable and Nigel will make a speedy recovery.

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 25th April 2000 - Petone Memorial Park

In a match played in bitterly cold conditions with a southerly gale accompanied by frequent and heavy rain sweeping diagonally across the ground, Petone fully capitalised on mistakes made by a pressured North Wellington defence to record their second consecutive win in the Federation Premier league.
Petone took the lead in the 14th minute when a deep free kick from the right-wing swung away from Tony Jamieson to be headed home by Paul Whitmarsh. North Wellington replied in kind ten minutes later when Campbell's deep free kick from the right eluded the committed Petone keeper and found the far corner of the net. Campbell then rescued North Wellington after 32 minutes when clearing a goalbound header from a right-wing corner. Petone continued to press forward and a 20 metre free kick in front of goal was tipped over by Tony Jamieson. With six minutes left in the first half Jamieson was stripped of a left-wing cross by John Winkworth (ex-North Wellington first team player 1995-98?), who gave Petone the lead again. Two minutes later and after a Mark Jamieson free kick had been headed out of the penalty area, Darren Lee (back from several weeks inaction due to injury) struck a fine 23 metre shot high into the Petone net to leave the game tied at 2-2 on halftime.
No substitutions being made at halftime as both teams welcomed the shelter from the elements.
The early stages of the second half were played in the worst weather conditions of the match with the wind and rain intensifying. Petone took control of the game during this period in making full use of the favourable wind that blew from corner to corner. After six minutes a lofted clearance from the Petone defence sailed through for Caughley and a Petone striker to contest possession, with the ball being squared across the goal for an unmarked Whitmarsh to easily finish. Three minutes later and the North Wellington defence were caught square and in possession (a poor combination) and Mike Gendall (another ex-North Wellington player) ran through to draw Tony Jamieson and finish from 15 metres to increase Petone's lead. Then to compound matters Tony Jamieson was unable to grasp cleanly a shot from 20 metres and Winkworth following in, was able to net from a narrow angle for a 5-2 scoreline.
North Wellington rarely made attacking forays of any consequence into the Petone half during the second half and Petone were deserving of their victory in a match where the weather contributed to several of the goals.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 25 April 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 15th April 2000 - Centennial Park

Miramar continued their climb up the Federation Premier league into third place following their come from behind 4-2 victory over North Wellington at Centennial Park.
North Wellington's Coach Bruce Polyanszky was again faced with a shortage of first team squad members to select from with Pandelidis making his senior league debut and Paul Conroy, a regular first team player in the 1990's recalled to the team after action in the lower Wellington divisions over the past few seasons.
Miramar, playing into the crisp northerly wind and facing the sun, began strongly inside the first minute with C. Brown unable to control a left-wing cross and Pandelidis clearing. Then, after 11 minutes Day, who had an industrious game, jinked inside from the right to slip a square pass into the path of T. Brown whose 20 metre shot crashed against the underside of the crossbar with the rebound headed clear by Caughley, as Miramar appealed unsuccessfully for the goal.
North Wellington's first opportunity came two minutes later when Bagnall's measured chip floated over two defenders to Dean Polyanszky on the edge of the penalty area, however his first touch allowed the Miramar defence to close and concede a corner. From this corner a goalbound shot was cleared off the Miramar goal line only for Bullen to head home from four metres to give North Wellington their first lead in any match this season.
After 20 minutes, Miramar gifted a second goal when Longley underhit a back pass to Naughton and Ingham intercepted and evaded Naughton to slot home for 2-0.
Miramar's response was immediate as Tony Jamieson produced a good save high to his right to turn away Young's 20 metre effort and then C. Brown and Day combined well on a two-on-two with Brown eluding Caughley only to shoot wide from 15 metres.
Close to the break and Campbell surged forward, evading tackles in typical fashion, and when dispossessed harried the defence to win back the ball and cross to MacIntyre, substituted on for Ingham injured in stretching to make a pass, to head on target for Naughton to concede a corner. Naughton then made what proved to be a crucial save in denying MacIntyre's header from the resultant corner taken by Dean Polyanszky.
Halftime 2-0 to North Wellington.
Having been unable to convert the greater possession share that they had enjoyed in the first half Miramar were to quickly rectify this in the second half. Ominous signs were there for North Wellington as after five minutes Day fed Adamson and his swivel and shot from 10 metres went narrowly wide. Candy then worked a neat one-two 25 metres out and cut rightwards to chip back in for Day to firmly meet with a header at the far post past Tony Jamieson.
Continued pressure by Miramar saw the North Wellington defence scrambling to clear with Conroy, having replaced the midfielder Pandelidis at half-time, rarely getting over halfway as he dropped deep to support the beleaguered defence. Tony Jamieson was kept busy from several corners as Miramar attacked with the benefit of the northerly wind. After 27 minutes the equaliser deservedly arrived for Miramar as a cross was partially cleared and Candy found space to drill a 20 metre shot into the bottom left-hand corner. North Wellington's only chance of the second half came three minutes later when Hayden Polyanszky latched on to a loose ball and bore down on the Miramar penalty area before electing to find his uncle Dean Polyanszky with a through pass that was overhit. Play swept down the field and Day hit the crossbar with the rebound cleared for a corner. Matt Calcott, who impressed with his second half performance, took the right-wing corner and swung in a ball that glanced off Tony Jamieson's punch into the net for an own goal.
Although briefly rallying having gone 3-2 down North Wellington were unable to threaten Naughton for the remainder of the game. Miramar completed the scoring in the 89th minute with the goal of the game when after Candy had skilfully dodged two defenders by the left-wing corner flag the ball was squared for T. Brown, unmarked 25 metres out, to crash an unstoppable shot into the top left-hand corner.
North Wellington have the bye next Saturday in this 11 team league. Their next game is on ANZAC day against Petone at Memorial Park.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 15 April 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 8th April 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 1st April 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 25th March 2000 - Petone Memorial Park

North Wellington held on determinedly for a goalless draw after being reduced to 10 men after 48 minutes when Mark Jamieson was dismissed for his second bookable offence.
Colin Lloyd, Mens 1st team manager, acted as ball-boy (he wanted to be mentioned !).
The match was played in blustery south-easterly winds which favoured North Wellington in the first half.
Coach Bruce Polyanszky maintained his starting line-up with the eleven players that finished the game last weekend with Hayden Polyanszky making his senior debut at right mid-field.
Early exchanges saw Waterside producing the better opportunities with Buick-Constable jinking inside the right side of the penalty area before firing a left foot shot just over the far post after 8 minutes. Caughley was unable to fully clear shortly afterwards however Coney mis-hit his left foot shot from 15 metres and Tony Jamieson had a comfortable save. Suggate (formerly of Onslow College - how did he get to Karori ?) then threatened on the edge of the penalty area but was met firmly by Bagnall in a solid one-on-one challenge.
For North Wellington, Dean Polyanszky had earlier, after 12 minutes, turned inside his marker on halfway and ran freely inside the penalty area, being forced wide, to cross for the Waterside keeper, Young, to intercept. In the latter part of the first half North Wellington created further chances with firstly Mark Jamieson, from the left flank, finding Hannah cutting right to left with Hannah's nudge with the outside of his right foot beating Young but striking the right hand post with no North Wellington player in the vicinity to convert the rebound. Then Dean Polyanszky created space in the area and from an angled position blasted a firm shot from 10 metres that Young beat out. Ingham's left foot pass on the edge of the penalty area was intercepted with Dean Polyanszky and Hannah unmarked in the central penalty area awaiting the ball.
Shortly before halftime Mark Jamieson received his first yellow card for a typically 'robust' challenge.
On the stroke of halftime a Waterside corner wasn't fully cleared and a goalbound shot was blocked by Campbell.
Halftime 0-0. No substitutions had been made by either side
Waterside pressed early in the second half with Phillips drilling over from 20 metres from a lay-off by Buick-Constable. Three minutes into the half and a rash challenge by Mark Jamieson on Coney saw referee Murphy issue a second yellow card (and therefore a red card). With the loss of their left-back Ingham dropped back to assist with the defensive duties in this position for the remainder of the game.
Waterside continued to press forward the extra man advantage - with North Wellington leaving only Hannah forward for long periods of time - Waterside had the luxury of developing their attacks from deep. After 17 minutes Dean Polyanszky's infield pass from halfway was intercepted and Buick-Constable made space to fire at Tony Jamieson from 20 metres. A rare counter-attack from North Wellington saw Campbell win a challenge on halfway and surge forward in typical fashion past several tacklers to strike a low shot from the edge of the penalty area that had Young scrambling to his right to palm away and re-gather. This was to prove to be the only serious action that Young had during the entire duration of the second half, such was the territorial domination that Waterside enjoyed. Although, Campbell was again in the attack when superbly controlling a firm pass from Hannah, turning two defenders and firing across the goal.
With 76 minutes gone Waterside substituted Damon Trenberth on for Suggate, who had been well contained in the second half by Bagnall and Caughley. Two minutes later and from a scramble following a corner North Wellington had Campbell to thank again as he blocked a firmly struck goalbound shot with Tony Jamieson beaten. From the resultant corner an unmarked Damon Trenberth powered his header wide from 6 metres.
Waterside were to have numerous corner opportunities of which many were wasted with poor deliveries from Riddle and Davidson into the penalty area. In the final minutes Coney eluded Caughley and from the left bye line squared the ball across for Buick-Constable whose shot was (almost predictably) blocked by Campbell's legs at close-range.
Final score 0-0. Waterside unable to create any clear-cut opportunities due to a tenacious second half defensive effort especially from the North Wellington back line. The two best efforts, which beat Tony Jamieson, were both blocked by Campbell - his work rate was an example to the players around him.
North Wellington's unbeaten run continues (3 pre-season games and 3 league games for 6 draws).
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 25 March 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 18th March 2000 - Petone Memorial Park

Mens 1st team - Federation Premier League - 11th March 2000 - Jim Cooke Park, Waikanae

Mens 1st team - Hilton Petone pre-season tournament - 28th February 2000

Mens 1st team - Hilton Petone pre-season tournament - 21st February 2000

A few changes dew to injuries to Stuart Fitzpatrick and Iain MacIntyre left side a bit short this week and with a different line up things were a little disorganised. Wellington put out a team which included a few old heads (i.e.) ex Tawa regulars Tony Sule and Mark Walla along with Imre Foldi up front, and with their experience Wellington was a tough assignment for North Wellington.
A first half which in all fairness was a bit scrappy saw both sides created a handful of chances, but not for good goalkeeping kept the game scoreless. 20 minutes into the game, North Wellington had their first real chance when Ingham broke free down the right flank, passed inside to Hannah who squared to Dean Polyanszky on the edge of the box. Polyanszky cut inside his man and saw his shot well saved by the Wellington keeper. A further 10 minutes later a similar build up from Ingham and Hannah resulted in a Polyanszky left foot drive which again the keeper just tipped over the bar. The 3 front runners caused the Wellington defence problems for the remainder of the half, and the tireless midfield combo of Ross and Lee continued to win some good 50/50 challenges. However North Wellington gave away far too much ball in the first spell which opened the door for Wellington to be in the game much more than they should have been. Halftime 0-0.
In second spell North's were playing into a strong northerly breeze and found the early minutes tough due to poor clearances and ball retention. Again chances were created by North's, a Matt Caughley shot was hit straight at the keeper, and just after Ingham found himself one on one with the keeper, only to get smothered by a good save at his feet. Damian Hannah made one of his trademark runs down the right only to see his right foot shot narrowly go wide, and a Hannah snap shot from a corner was well saved again by the Wellington keeper. After 70 minutes it was Wellington that snatched the lead as a result of some pretty ordinary defending, which left one of their strikers a simple tap in from 2 yards.
They could have gone even further ahead from a great freekick by Imre Foldi which had North's keeper Nigel Piper down to his left to save past the upright. North's got their reward when a rebound off a Wellington defender fell nicely for Ingham to run on and calmly place his shot to the advancing keepers left.
North's continued to pile on pressure with Lee winning some good ball in the middle, Malcolm Campbell and Mark Jamieson making some good runs forward. Ross was controlling the midfield and delivering some good balls forward, but despite all that the game was to remain 1-1. A special mention for 17 year old Hayden Polyanszky is required as this was his first start in the Senior 1 side and he held his position well, playing well up to the standard and not giving a inch to any opponent.
North's now take on Lower Hutt next in the last game of the group stages and really need to win to be sure of qualifying for a quarter finals spot. Lower Hutt have won both their matches well and this will be a big assignment for the Johnsonville side.
Reviewed by Dean Polyanszky (thanks Dean) and added to website on 24 February 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page
Sorry, folks - I was unable to attend the match. At kickoff time I was hooked up to an IV drip in Wellington Hospital to help clear an abscess which had developed in my leg, following an injury I had sustained at indoor soccer a few weeks earlier. I'm able to walk now - just - and am housebound after being released following the hospital treatment since Saturday noon (so missed the Kingz game on Saturday 19th at the Stadium). Can't make any promises about the next pre-season games.
Thanks, Warwick. Posted Wednesday 23rd February 5.20pm

Mens 1st team - Hilton Petone pre-season tournament - 14th February 2000

With the match transferred to the No. 2 ground (and with the southerly gale and rain sweeping down the ground (as against across the No. 1 ground) the final game of the season saw the usual mix of Reserve team action (a sending-off, a curious booking, penalty missed and plenty of goals).
The return from suspension of Block, officially, saw the player/coach resume his late season role in the central midfield alongside Blucher with Gallagher# propping up the central defence. A poor start though saw Island Bay score inside two minutes from a 20 metre angled free-kick that was struck low past Miller inside the far post. Blucher received a yellow card from referee Hughes in the early minutes for a tackle on halfway.
Five minutes later though and North Wellington replied when a free-kick on halfway from Gallagher# found Blucher inside the penalty area with the midfielder outjumping the defence to neatly angle a header back across goal and inside the post. 1-1.
After 25 minutes North Wellington had the opportunity to take the lead when Kerrisk was lowered in a tackle along the left-wing bye-line in spite of Island Bay protestations. Captain Blucher took the kick which was kick-saved away by keeper Bruce Walker only for assistant referee Crust to rule that the keeper had moved off his goal-line before the kick. The re-take was taken by Black who struck it firmly however close enough to Walker to push away for a corner.
Undeterred by this and still playing with the benefit of the strong southerly gale that whipped down the ground North Wellington more than matched their higher placed opponent and forced a corner some five minutes later which was cleared out as far as centre-back Smith, loitering in front of the Island Bay strikers on halfway, to hit a first-time left-foot wind-assisted shot from 35 metres that flew like a bullet past the stunned Island Bay defenders (keeper Walker said later he only had time to say "leave it") (and North Wellington players, I'm sure) and smashed against the underside of the cross-bar a metre inside the right-hand upright, only to rebound on or near the goal-line and back into the field of play.
(Having played around 200 games for the Reserve team and never scored (best I've done is three for the third team) - although it's been difficult playing in goal for 95% of that time - this was a bitter-sweet moment if ever I've had one)

Oh well, on with the rest of the report/game.
Around ten minutes from the break and Island Bay took the lead as Mike Gaeta broke through a tackle with Black on the edge of the penalty area to then steady and duck inside around Miller to slot home from eight metres. 2-1 Island Bay.
Halftime 2-1 Island Bay. Kavwenje having suffered an early knock was replaced by Thompson.
Against the continuing southerly wind North Wellington tested Walker early as Black drove a 25 metre shot low to his right. Island Bay still looked to build their attacks with passes through to the front-runners instead of through balls which had proved less than fruitful for North Wellington in the first-half as the wind picked them up. An Island Bay down their left flank after 15 minutes resulted in a low cross being converted at the far post. 3-1 Island Bay.
Attacking chances were few throughout this half for the home team except for a few corners that came to nothing. Island Bay were awarded a free-kick, some 25 minutes into the half, in a similar position to where their opening goal arrived from and in a repeat performance the kick was hit, with the benefit this time of the wind, into the top corner inside the far post for a 4-1 lead.
Pandelidis gained some reward though several minutes later when his run from the left culminated in a strong dipping 20 metre shot over Walker. 4-2 Island Bay. Block switched with Gallagher# in the defence. Blucher was then given a second yellow card (and subsequent red card) for a tackle outside the penalty area.
With 10 minutes left a chipped shot from the edge of the penalty area floated high into the North Wellington net. 5-2 Island Bay. The resulting kick-off was taken and then re-taken by North Wellington, but not to the satisfaction of the referee who against all reason (well maybe for reasons of his own) decided to book Gallagher#.
The final minutes passed without drama although ended with the Island Bay substitute striker grounded following a stern challenge by Block inside the penalty area.
North Wellington finish the season in ninth place (of eleven) in the Federation Reserve league but are relegated due to the Premier team being relegated and so will drop to the next division down, Wellington One, for the 2001 season.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 20 August 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 12th August 2000 - Alex Moore Park

With player/coach Keith Block again faced with only twelve available players, the nine that finished last week's game (the two sent-off Black receiving at least two games suspension and Block a one game suspension) plus Moran, Magee and the return of hard-working midfielder Pearson!, team selection again proved to be an easy option for the Reserve team 'catch-up' game against Waterside with this fixture being replayed after being abandoned on 10th June due to a severe rain downpour early in the second half. Blucher dropped back to central defence in an attempt to provide more defensive resistance than was demonstrated in last week's game (read review below if you must).
An uncertain start by North Wellington saw them concede a penalty after 10 minutes when Magee lunged in on Crisp leaving referee Johnstone no choice but to point to the spot. Appleton dispatched the kick firmly to Miller's right and into the goal off the post. 1-0 Waterside.
Undaunted by this North Wellington pressed on and achieved at least parity in all facets of play throughout the first half. Poole and Magee were positive in their tackling and Thompson and Pearson! both contested the midfield exchanges in concentrated spells, saving their energies well, to look to send through balls to frontrunners Kerrisk and Kavwenje. Miller in goal was alert to several through balls from the flanks. North Wellington's best efforts in the first half came through Kerrisk, on the left-wing, crossing just out of the reach of Thomas, a long right-wing throw from Pearson! being headed on by Appleton only to bounce invitingly across the front of the Waterside goal with Pandelidis unable to convert and after 35 minutes Pandelidis jinking inside from the left however his 20 metre goalbound shot struck Kerrisk and rebounded away.
Halftime 1-0 Waterside. Moran substituted in a straight switch at left back for Poole.
Ten minutes into the second half and a Waterside counter-attack saw Cairns receive a through ball and lay off into the path of Crisp to run in behind the North Wellington defence to slot past Miller from 15 metres with Smith and Moran in vain pursuit. 2-0 Waterside.
Still unfazed North Wellington continued the attacking play favoured by Block and after 65 minutes gained reward when Kavwenje battled well inside the penalty area to lay-back for Kerrisk to chip an angled shot over Wilkinson into the far left-hand corner. 2-1 Waterside.
Five minutes later and Crisp met Cairns right-wing cross only for his point-blank volley from six metres to be well tipped over by Miller. From a right-wing corner taken soon afterwards by Thomas the ball was played short to an initially unmarked Pearson! who quickly drew the attentions of two defenders only to elude them in a run along the edge of the penalty area sufficiently to fire a 20 metre left-foot shot that sailed past the helpless Wilkinson into the top left-hand corner of the goal. 2-2.
With time running out both teams had half-chances to seal a win. Pandelidis threatened with a couple of runs however they came to nothing. North Wellington finished the game strongly though which was pleasing given the previous performance. The draw leaves them in eighth place with one game left in the season, next week at home, against Island Bay.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 13 August 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 5th August 2000 - Endeavour Park

Yes ... the result is correct.
In the absence of several regular players namely Michael Gallagher, unavailable as heading to Melbourne, Australia for work reasons, Mehai Moran and Nigel Ingham - off to the rugby (All Blacks vs Australia at the Stadium), Shane Magee and Brent Woodhead - whereabouts unknown (player/coach Block didn't get any response from them) and Elijah Burns and Greg McMaster still unavailable due to injury and with Peter Bagnall not being made available by the Premier team (although he sat on the bench for them for 90 minutes after this game) and Dean Polyanszky not available for selection either, player/coach Block was left with only eleven players to select his starting line-up from. With Thomas at right-back and Smith (late to game) at centre-back, Thompson started in midfield with Kavwneje to his right. Otherwise it was a settled 4-4-2 combination !
I arrived 25 minutes late (having played for the Blair Wright team earlier) with the score 0-0 - apparently North Wellington had had a couple of half-chances but nothing serious. Ten minutes later and a floated right-wing cross over Black was headed home from six metres. Five minutes later and Jones made space inside the penalty area to drill home a shot from fifteen metres past Miller.
Halftime 2-0 Wests Academy
With the benefit of the southerly wind the Wests Academy team were soon on the attack and added a third inside ten minutes of the re-start when following Smith's tackle inside the penalty area the ball fell kindly to a Western Suburbs player to fire home from 10 metres. 3-0.
A few minutes later and a break down the right flank saw an inside pass centred in and over Miller from the edge of the penalty area. 4-0. About this time Thompson had received a knock and was reduced to hobbling about for the remainder of the game as no substitutes were available, so Block switched to midfield with Thompson moving (slowly) up-front.
About 20 minutes into the second half and a run deep inside the North Wellington penalty area saw Poole challenge an Academy player who fresh from his mid-week class of DIVE 101 made the most of the challenge as he began his fall before contact occurred. Referee Tasker was sufficiently impressed to award a penalty that was vigourously contested by the North Wellington players who were close to the scene. In the 'discussions' that followed the Academy player responsible for the plunge became involved in a jostling match with Black as the penalty kick was about to be taken. They were separated but before the kick was taken there was a further altercation between the two which ended with the referee sending both players off. After this drama, Academy player South-African Mapumulo struck a low shot to Miller's left that the keeper got a hand to but couldn't prevent the goal. 5-0 Wests Academy. Block then switched from his midfield role into centre-back with Smith moving forward into midfield.
Undeterred by the overwhelming possession and superior skill level of the Academy side, North Wellington did spark several attacking forays with Pandelidis finding space on the left, to turn and cross along the bye-line to the goal box where an Academy player mis-controlled sufficiently to allow Smith to steal in to drive a shot that was deflected into the path of Kerrisk to control and finish from six metres. 5-1 Wests Academy.
The sixth and seventh goals from the Academy team were similar efforts with the ball being knocked in behind the North Wellington defence to their right-winger who was through on goal to slot past Miller. Little evidence of the North Wellington defenders was found of at this stage.
Still the scoring continued at both ends as Thomas surged forward into the midfield to thread through a fine ball to Kavwenje who contested and won a 50-50 ball with keeper Gaylard. As the ball broke free Kavwenje was left with an open goal to net his first goal in the Federation League. 6-2 before the Academy scored again to make it 7-2.
I think it was 7-2 when there was further drama when Block chasing back tripped an Academy player on the corner edge outside of the penalty area with Smith trailing inside. The fallen player did at least six revolutions on the ground before coming to a halt with referee Tasker assessing a red card to Block for the tackle and a yellow card (and a 9.6 for the Olympic-like effort) to the aggrieved attacker (who was promptly to his feet to verbally abuse Block in a face-to-face confrontation, escaping further censure from the referee) who will need to re-sit DIVE 101 for his antics.
Reduced to 9 men, with about fifteen minutes remaining, and with Thompson affected by his injury, Kavwenje struggling with his asthma and incurring the verbal (no card) wrath of referee Tasker (who became increasingly unapproachable late in the game - following the 'penalty' decision) for appealing for offside, Pandelidis asking the referee to call the game off with time still remaining and Kerrisk battling with cramp the workload for the remaining outfielders, with Blucher competing tirelessly as ever in central defence, continued unabated (personally I can remember stopping only for re-starts of play throughout the second half). The Academy made it 8-2 when a run down their left-wing saw Miller and Poole bravely hold the attack up in front of goal only for Espinoza to pick his spot from 8 metres as the retreating North Wellington defence closed in.
Kerrisk netted his second when from a throw-in on the left flank he outpaced his marker and neatly lobbed the advancing Gaylard into the empty net. 8-3. However the Academy scored again in similar fashion to their eighth goal when Miller and Poole again held two Academy players at bay only for the goal to be scored with defensive support closing. 9-3. Final whistle went immediately afterwards.
A disappointing result - certainly, the worst result I can think of in the last ten (?) years for the Reserve team was 6-1 last season against Wainuiomata and in 1989 7-1 in the contentious game (that led to a change in the Wellington Soccer Association rules) against effectively Olympic's Premier team in a title-deciding game. Again the circumstances conspire against us with the absence of a number of players, a superior skilled opponent with greater fitness than the majority of our players and similar questions asked as to discipline allied with an increasingly unsympathetic and at times almost hostile adjudicator. The positive though was scoring three times even if there was an abandonment of defensive duties, not being helped by the changing defensive line-up in the second half, which left Miller exposed on several occasions with those opportunities well finished by Academy players.
The Academy team play second-placed Upper Hutt next week in their final game with a draw being sufficient to win the Federation Reserve League from Upper Hutt. The next game for North Wellington is at home, Alex Moore Park, next Saturday against Waterside Karori. The first meeting ended in a comprehensive 4-0 win to Waterside Karori, however North Wellington were leading 2-1 in the return game held on 10th June before it was abandoned due to heavy rain.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 6 August 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 29th July 2000 - Bell Park

In captain Gallagher's last game for North Wellington before moving for work reasons to Melbourne, Australia the Federation Reserve team rallied from conceding another early goal to record a win over a Lower Hutt team that had comprehensively beaten them 5-1 in the earlier part of the season.
Just 10 minutes gone and possession was lost by North Wellington on their left flank and Lower Hutt counter-attacked down the right. Bagnall's attempt to intercept proceedings resulted in a fortuitous (for Lower Hutt) rebound off a Lower Hutt player into the path of a team-mate further down the right-wing with that player sending in a low cross that was dispatched inside Miller's near post from 10 metres. 1-0 Lower Hutt.
Undaunted by this setback North Wellington moved forward and three minutes later midfielder Black found Kerrisk deep in the left side of the penalty area for the striker to drill his angled shot across the goal. This was one of the few clear-cut opportunities created by North Wellington in the initial stages of the game as Lower Hutt threatened to increase their lead especially in their forays down their right-wing side. One of these attacks, in the 32nd minute, was sparked from a quick throw-in catching out several North Wellington defenders and a low cross was controlled and fired goalwards only for Thomas to clear off the goal-line and the ensuing scramble ending in a corner.
Seven minutes later and North Wellington fortunes rose when from a Black right-wing cross the ball broke inside the penalty area to the left for player/coach Block to chase and fall as a Lower Hutt defender challenged him. Referee Longhurst awarding a penalty for this 'foul'. Federation Premier League squad member, Ingham (having missed several weeks action with an injury suffered in April and looking to regain his Premier place) stepped forward to send keeper Raynor the wrong way as North Wellington equalised against the balance of play in the first-half. 1-1.
Two minutes from the break and Blucher inside his own half released Block wide on the right with his centreing cross to Kerrisk, faced with only one defender, met and struck weakly at Raynor from 15 metres.
Halftime 1-1. No substitutions by either side.
Midfielder Pandelidis, in the 2nd minute, wriggled his way into a shooting space on the edge of the Lower Hutt penalty area only to fire over the cross-bar. Thirteen minutes later and a rebound found Ingham on a darting angled run goalwards only for him to elect to cross inside to Blucher and being cut out instead of a shot on goal. Two minutes on and Ingham linked with Kerrisk for Ingham to shoot at Raynor from outside the penalty area.
The momentum swing had taken place in the game with Lower Hutt no longer as dominant as they were for periods throughout the first half, as Ingham (usually striker but playing in midfield with the return of Block) being smothered by Raynor in the 30th minute with a corner conceded. From this corner another corner resulted and when Black knocked in the left-wing ball Block rose to head goalwards from 10 metres straight to Kerrisk, in front of Raynor, to flick past the keeper from 4 metres. 2-1 North Wellington.
Defensively North Wellington conceded little in the latter part of the game, although Lower Hutt showed moments of promise in the second half again down their right flank, with this defensive commitment typified in the 35th minute when a veritable 'sea of legs' blocked a goalbound shot arising from a Lower Hutt right-wing corner. Five minutes later and Moran cleared away to safety with the North Wellington goal vacant and was felled by a late challenge earning a Lower Hutt player the only yellow card of the game handed out.
In the remaining moments player/coach Block cleared the substitutes bench as Pandelidis and Kerrisk fell victim to cramp in the late stages of the second half and North Wellington denied Lower Hutt any opportunity in the final minutes in keeping play well inside the Lower Hutt half of the field.
With this victory North Wellington move up one place to eighth in the eleven-team league. Their next game scheduled for next Saturday is against league leaders Western Suburbs Academy team with the result from their first meeting being a 2-1 win to Wests.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 30 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 22nd July 2000 - Alex Moore Park

With the return of Black and Blucher having served their one-game suspension arising from the game against Olympic on 9th July, player/coach Block (serving the second game of his two-game suspension) was able to name a more experienced midfield combination than was possible for the game last week against Petone.
The cold start that the Reserve team has been suffering from recently continued again with Upper Hutt attacking down the right flank and a cross being converted from close range past Miller with only 40 seconds expired on the watch. This was the third time in the last four games that a goal has been conceded within the first three minutes.
A half-chance fell to Ingham three minutes later as a Thomas shot was deflected to the striker in front of goal however he was unable to react in time with the ball striking him to be gathered by the Upper Hutt keeper.
Blucher was to incur the wrath of referee Hughes after ten minutes when he kicked the ball away following the award of a Upper Hutt free-kick - to earn a yellow card for his action. The half continued with Upper Hutt winning a greater share of 50/50 possession in midfield combined with a strict offside trap that caught the North Wellington front-runners out on several occasions - making good use of the one assistant referee, Murphy.
North Wellington were unable to mount any constructive attacks during the middle stages of the half, although in the 32nd minute a Black through ball from half-way released the pacy Kerrisk who shook off the last defender, rounded the Upper Hutt keeper, only to strike a left-footed shot that was cleared off the line by recovering defender John Billing. A minute later and Upper Hutt forced Miller to save well in tipping over a 20 metre shot.
With six minutes left in the half, Ingham created room on the right-wing and sent in a cross that, with Kerrisk diving in to head on goal, was punched away by the Upper Hutt keeper. On halftime and Miller denied a one-on-one opportunity after the North Wellington defence had been pierced by a straight through ball.
Halftime 1-0 Upper Hutt. Substitution made by North Wellington at the break.
Emboldened by player/coach Block's impassioned pleas during the interval, North Wellington sparked into life early in the second half with Kerrisk releasing Black, only for the midfielder to shoot wide from a central position. Miller then saved an angled shot from a one-on-one position after seven minutes following a through ball that was swept in behind Moran. Ingham came close to equalising after 16 minutes of the second spell when his header from a Kerrisk right-wing cross, following good lead-up work by the striker, was pushed on to the far post by the Upper Hutt keeper and cleared to safety.
A minute on and Miller held his near post position to block a strong shot as Upper Hutt continued to profit down their right flank as they had done in the first half. Three minutes later and from a Black free-kick, Blucher rose to head against the post from ten metres and from the ensuing scramble, that saw an Upper Hutt defender fall on the ball, midfielder Thomas poked home into the Upper Hutt net from eight metres. 1-1.
Ingham joined Blucher in referee Hughes book in the 29th minute (along with an Upper Hutt player for dissent during the second half) when after a North Wellington free-kick was awarded he slapped the ball away. Two minutes later and Black shot from an angle on the edge of the penalty area with the Upper Hutt keeper holding on at the second attempt with Kerrisk closing in.
Inside the last fifteen minutes the best opportunity for a winning goal fell to Upper Hutt when after skipping past the North Wellington defence on the edge of the penalty area, the Upper Hutt player was blocked low down at the near post by Miller, conceding a corner, with an unmarked supporting player unused at the far post.
Upper Hutt maintain second place in the Federation Reserve League (they would have gone to first place with a win in this game) and dominated the first half, however fell off in their intensity during the second half to allow North Wellington to equalise. North Wellington slip one place to ninth in the eleven-team league (only two points from seventh place though) having secured only two points in their last four games.
The next game will be away to Lower Hutt who are in sixth place. Lower Hutt having begun the season promisingly, beating North Wellington 5-1 early on, have had a mid-season 'slump' with three wins and six losses from their last nine games. Player/coach Block will be available for selection having served his suspension however centre-back Gallagher is likely to be unavailable due to his new job beginning shortly in Melbourne, Australia.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 23 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 15th July 2000 - Alex Moore Park

With the North Wellington team having been decimated due to the suspensions issued following their previous league game (reviewed below) against Olympic of one game for Ken Blucher and Michael Black and two games to player/coach Keith Block it was always going to be tough to get a result against a resurgent Petone team that had won six and drawn one of its last seven games and in the process having moved from bottom of the eleven-team league to fifth. With three of the Premier squad, (Bagnall, Ingham and Polyanszky) available for selection Block named a 4-4-2 line-up with Kerrisk and Ingham as strikers.
A brilliantly fine clear calm day on a firm, if slightly uneven, Alex Moore Park provided the backdrop for the proceedings as Petone fielded a team which included usual Premier player Belim Balicevac, apparently dropped by Premier player/coach Grant Turner, in its midfield.
Petone began brightest and North Wellington's defence was called into early action to clear. After six minutes and the pacy Kerrisk outwitted his marker in turning, only to be tripped. With the free-kick centrally located at least 30 metres out captain Gallagher chose the direct course of action and drove a stunning shot that speared low inside the Petone keeper's left-hand post. 1-0 North Wellington.
Petone equalised following sustained pressure 10 minutes later when a good move was worked down the right-wing and the low cross was swept past Miller from 15 metres. A Petone header from a free-kick rattled the cross-bar after 22 minutes. Poor marking at the far post assisted in Petone taking the lead after 30 minutes when a long throw-in was flicked on and several North Wellington players converged on a Petone player only for it to be touched on and the free Petone player controlled, eluded a covering challenge, and scored with a deflected shot from close range. 2-1 Petone.
In the second half Petone, led by midfielder Balicevac, pressed forward pinning North Wellington in their half for long periods. As Block didn't write any details of the half down I can report that the action was virtually one-way. Petone scored further goals after 65 minutes (when Bagnall was stripped 35 metres out and the defence was caught short on numbers), 73 minutes (a free-kick being cleared as far as a Petone player to volley home from 15 metres) and 85 minutes (a scramble ensuing from a corner ending with a 10 metre shot powered past several defenders). North Wellington didn't get a decent shot on goal during the second half and were unable to even force a corner.
A deserved win for Petone and their seventh in the last eight games. Certainly a different side, players-wise, from the first round.
Next week North Wellington host Upper Hutt at Alex Moore Park. In the game at Harcourt Park in May, North Wellington won 1-0 due to a Blucher goal which looks a good result now as North Wellington are eighth and Upper Hutt second in the eleven-team Federation Reserve League.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 16 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Newtown Park on a fine, calm Wellington day. Any soccer player in Wellington looks forward to a day that dawned like this as an opportunity to display their talents on a good pitch without the hinderance of untoward weather conditions (both of these factors being rare occurrences in local soccer).
What transpired on the field certainly gave new meaning to the saying “calm before the storm” as North Wellington finished the 90 minutes 3-1 behind on the goal count and 3 behind on the player count following the issuing of seven ‘bookable’ offences by referee Longhurst, who issued one yellow card to Olympic.
Where do I begin? One of the quotes that always seems apt in these circumstances is from the children’s story ‘Alice in Wonderland’ when Alice observing the machinations of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party remarks “curiouser and curiouser”. Such is life.

North Wellington, having slipped to eighth place in the Federation Reserve League over the last two weeks (although they’ve had no scheduled games), were without regular striker Liam Kerrisk (due to broken nose) but secured the services of Premier squad member Dean Polyanszky, in his first game back from injury for several weeks. Aside from this enforced change player/coach Keith Block was able to name a settled 4-4-2 line-up against third-placed Olympic.
A similar hesitant start as in their previous league match saw a Pettit free-kick after three minutes not cleared, despite two opportunities, with the ball breaking through to Cory Gonzalez to stab home under Miller from eight metres. 1-0 Olympic.
North Wellington’s equaliser came after 15 minutes when Black intercepted a pass on halfway and struck a deft chip down the right touchline to Thomas who controlled and then eluded his marker to send in a low cross that was met at the near post by Blucher who struck a first-time shot from 10 metres past Dimakis into the far corner. 1-1.
Pandelidis then intercepted a pass out of defence by Williams and fired across Dimakis just wide of the right-hand post. However poor marking at an Olympic right-wing corner three minutes after the equaliser allowed an unmarked Sole to head home a flick-on from four metres to restore Olympic’s lead at 2-1.
Olympic continued to create better openings throughout the first half without seriously threatening Miller in the North Wellington goal.
Then the bookings began. 35th minute - Block for a tackle, 41st minute - Blucher for a tackle, 43th Black for a tackle (on the corner edge of the penalty area). I must confess I’d seen Black’s tackle, a one-foot challenge and trip of his opponent's right leg with both players in close vicinity to the ball throughout the moments the ball was in playing distance, and immediately thought “free-kick - yes, a cautionary word or booking - maybe” (and as the referee took him aside I wrote down ‘Black - booked’) - only to look up and see Black walking off as a red card was waved by the official. Having checked FIFA’s website and re-read Law 12 (Fouls and Misconduct) under the 2000 Edition of “Laws of the Game” I’m still at a complete loss as to how the decision could be justified as either “serious foul play”, “violent conduct” or even the “last defender scenario” (there were several defenders inside of the incident). The only semi-plausible explanation I can think of was it was to ‘send a message out’ in the light of Blucher’s tackle and subsequent booking just before - but even that defence is flawed in light of the stated laws on a ‘red-card’ offence. Then to compound matters further the resulting free-kick was delayed whilst Magee was booked for being the end-player on the defensive wall that was adjudged to have not retired 10 metres. Finally when the free-kick was taken Block produced a fine covering tackle to prevent a close-range shot.
Halftime 2-1 Olympic. No substitutions by either side until then. Thomas replaced by Bagnall.
Nine minutes into the second half Dean Polyanszky contested an offside decision by assistant referee Hughes, a close but correct call, and was booked for dissent. Play continued and Ah Kuoi fired wide shortly afterwards in meeting Harry’s right-wing cross.
At sixteen minutes and Block following through on a challenge clipped an Olympic player’s foot and was summoned over by the referee. By now you can guess the outcome - I just turned away and gazed at the brilliant blue sky above the stand. Booking number six and being Block’s second - a red card was brandished. Harry was duly booked six minutes later (and lucky to get a yellow card at that) for a wilfully late studs-first challenge on keeper Miller's clearance of a pass back. Despite the two-man advantage during this time Olympic again were unable to severely test Miller with their build-up work faltering at the crucial moment.
With eleven minutes remaining and following the award of a left-wing free-kick that was questioned (out of our earshot - I’m informed that no unbecoming language was used) by captain Blucher, another yellow card was issued for dissent and Blucher was sent from the field. Olympic finally made use of their overwhelming numerical advantage when three minutes from time a short pass inside the penalty area found Harry standing in behind the North Wellington defence and with assistant referee Samaras electing to abstain in raising his flag Harry shot home from close range. 3-1 Olympic.

It would be remiss of me not to praise the gutsy efforts of those five outfield players who played the full game (Poole, Magee, Gallagher, Pandelidis and Pearson) and ran themselves literally to a stop despite the maelstrom of events that were taking place around them. If nothing else a game like this will be a memorable one for them in particular as they were instrumental in restricting the number of clear-cut opportunities to a bare minimum.
There is a quote about golf which goes to the effect of it being “a good walk spoiled”. This game was a case of “a good day at Newtown Park spoiled”. It wasn't, despite there being eight bookings, a dirty game just an accumulation of unfortunate moments.
In writing these reviews I don’t like to dwell on the negatives of the game and only wish that there was more goalmouth action from both teams but I can only report what I saw and heard. Enough said.
As a consequence of the game player/coach Block faces a difficult task for this Saturday’s match against Petone at Alex Moore Park with three of his regular selections likely to be suspended and a fourth, hard-working midfielder, Pearson unavailable for selection.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 10 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 24th June 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Mid-table contenders North Wellington and Wellcoll Rangers fought out an entertaining 3-3 draw in the Federation Reserve League, with North Wellington player/coach Block welcoming the return of the defensive regulars Gallagher, Burns and Magee absent from the 2-0 victory over Tawa last weekend.
However the defensive frailties that were to beset North Wellington throughout this match were evident from as early as 20 seconds into the game when Korrey-Slow was put clear through in on goal only to be denied by Miller with a fine block. Less than three minutes later and a long clearance from the Wellcoll defence saw Burns running back, re-injuring his hamstring in the progress, to falter and Whatling pounce to round Miller and tap home. 1-0 Wellcoll. Burns was carried off and replaced by Thomas four minutes later. With Thomas on as right-back, Black moved into the central defence with Gallagher.
North Wellington looked to redress the imbalance through Pearson after six minutes when his 20 metre shot was beaten out by Caddy and Kerrisk, temporarily unmarked in front of goal, was closed down before he could control and shoot. Pandelidis then battled well to win the ball to set up Pearson again to test Caddy but the keeper held his shot. After 26 minutes a Black free-kick was cleared by the Wellcoll defence as far as Woodhead who hit his 25 metre left-foot shot on the turn over the cross-bar.
Reward was to come though in the 34th minute with a similar combination to the last game from a Block right-wing throw-in Blucher flicked on for Pearson to shoot and with the aid of a Wellcoll deflection score with his angled shot. 1-1.
Wellcoll created a good chance two minutes later when Rogan's determined right-wing run and cross found Bittar at the far post with his firm shot just wide. Four minutes later and Black with a right-flank free-kick found Block to head goalwards for Kerrisk to head on only to see Caddy push the attempt over the cross-bar.
North Wellington could well have been awarded a penalty shortly afterwards after a push inside the penalty area however the referee took exception to Block and lectured to him and a Wellcoll defender before awarding a Wellcoll free-kick.
Then with injury time being played (for Burns earlier departure) Wellcoll regained the lead when a right-flank ball into the North Wellington central defence was controlled uncontested by a Wellcoll player and laid off for Whatling, in space, to crash an angled 10 metre shot past Miller into the roof of the net.
Halftime 2-1 Wellcoll.
Daugherty created the first chance of the second half after eight minutes when his left-flank ball through to Trenberth was knocked wide of the advancing Miller but out for a goal-kick. Pandelidis was booked by referee Crust for dissent following this incident.
North Wellington began to re-assert themselves with Blucher heading wide of the far post from a Black right-flank free-kick and then in the 13th minute a left-wing corner taken by Black eluding the near post Wellcoll defence and ended up in the goal for the equaliser. 2-2. A minute later and Kerrisk intercepted on halfway and with the Wellcoll defence back-pedalling released Block in the inside right position only for Block to arrow his shot high and wide of the near post top corner.
Despite this spell of pressure Wellcoll remained in the game through their fast breaks from defence with their evidently superior pace against the North Wellington defence proving a handful on several occasions throughout the half.
In the 24th minute another Black left-wing corner floated over the crowded penalty area and Woodhead recovered to knock a deep cross back from the right to Pandelidis to control and lay off to Black to drill a low cross that was diverted by Block, into the far corner of the Wellcoll goal, for the striker's first Federation League goal of the season (although suspension has hampered his appearances). 3-2 North Wellington. This was to be Block's final contribution as he substituted himself for Thompson.
Thompson was then hurt in a clash of heads incident two minutes later and while prone on the ground in front of the Wellcoll goal blocked a goalbound shot from Pandelidis.
With fourteen minutes remaining Kerrisk met another Black left-wing corner only to head over from close range. A minute later and Wellcoll equalised from a move that started deep from their own half with play swept up the left flank to Rogan. Rogan played the ball inside to Bittar and then sped through past the defence to receive the return ball from Bittar and cross to the unmarked Harrison to strike a first-time left-foot shot inside Miller's near post. 3-3.
Three minutes later and Wellcoll created a great opportunity, again on the counter-attack after a North Wellington corner was cleared, when a left-flank ball from inside their own half was headed up in the air by the last defender Gallagher, who fell over in the process, with the ball falling to Whatling with two supporting players streaming through. Fortunately for North Wellington, with three unmarked players in possession bearing down on Miller, Whatling trod on the ball and the retreating North Wellington defence were able to clear.
The last ten minutes were uneventful in terms of goal-scoring opportunities and both teams were left to settle for a point.
With North Wellington having a scheduled bye next weekend their next action in the Federation League will be on Sunday, 9th July at Newtown Park with a noon kick-off against Olympic.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 25 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 17th June 2000 - Kura Street Park

The match was transferred earlier in the day to Kura Street Park and played on a good pitch with a strong northwesterly wind blowing down the ground which favoured North Wellington in the first half.
North Wellington were without several of their defensive regulars, namely Michael Gallagher (overseas) and Elijah Burns and Shane Magee (both unavailable) so the back four was reshuffled considerably with Mehai Moran, 15 year-old New Zealand junior representative from Newlands College playing at left-back, a central duo of Blucher and Black, and Andrew Thomas at right-back. This re-organised defense was to prove effective throughout the match in limiting Tawa's attacking opportunities. Additionally Smith was started in midfield for his first league game as an outfielder after around 200 league games in goal.
Despite this North Wellington pressed forward well, with Kerrisk and Pandelidis utilising their speed in chasing long balls knocked through using the wind and causing Tawa to concede early corners and defensive throw-ins.
Pearson opened the scoring after 25 minutes when he latched on to a Block throw from the right wing and with back to goal looped a header over the Tawa keeper into the far corner from 10 metres on the angle. 1-0 North Wellington.
Block came close to increasing this lead when he intercepted a pass from the Tawa keeper but his shot was easily pushed away for a corner.
Early damage for Tawa occurred when a player suffered a cut head (later to require hospitalisation) in a clash of heads with Block.
After 35 minutes Pearson squandered a 20 metre free-kick from a promising position in firing wide of the far post.
Halftime 1-0 North Wellington. Thompson was substituted on as a striker with Block dropping into the midfield alongside Pearson.
An early chance fell to Pearson when released through however from 30 metres he attempted to beat the keeper only to shoot wide. Kerrisk continued to torment the Tawa defence with his speed and took a hammering from them in their attempts to subdue him. Block was again to make his mark when a second Tawa player suffered injuries that required hospital treatment, this time resulting from a high tackle. Block was booked after 20 minutes for a late tackle. Pearson shortly followed him into the book for a poor tackle as the referee asserted his authority on the game.
North Wellington increased their lead 25 minutes into the second half when Black fed Moran who in turn found Pandelidis down the left flank with a long ball. Pandelidis exchanged passes with Pearson before firing in a shot that the Tawa keeper parried into the path of Kerrisk who netted the rebound. 2-0 North Wellington.
Further opportunities in the remainder of the game fell to Block, hitting the cross-bar from six metres from a Black free-kick on the edge of the penalty area after Kerrisk had been felled and then Woodhead, after work from Thomas and Kerrisk, went round the Tawa keeper only for a covering defender to effect a tackle resulting in a corner.
On full-time Woodhead was tackled heavily and in the ensuing scuffle the referee blew for full-time, however a Tawa player continued to show his displeasure at the incident and was red-carded for dissent. The Tawa coach did apologise for this behaviour later.
This result sees North Wellington climb from seventh to fifth in the Federation Reserve league. They will host the eighth-placed Miramar (Wellington College) Rangers at Alex Moore Park next Saturday 24th June.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith, with assistance from Keith Block for the second-half coverage, and added to website on 17 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 10th June 2000 - Alex Moore Park

This match was abandoned after 60 minutes by referee Longhurst due to the Alex Moore pitch becoming waterlogged. A correct decision in the circumstances.
With a fierce northwesterly wind buffeting the ground and persistent rain, which at times was near hail, throughout the match the playing conditions became progressively more treacherous.
North Wellington fielded two players making their Federation League debuts this season, Smith in goal, in the absence of Miller, and Black in midfield.
An early casualty was Gallagher following a sliding tackle in which he copped a boot to the head, drawing blood near his left eye. With Gallagher requiring assistance to recover North Wellington were one man down after three minutes with Blucher dropping back into the central defence and Block likewise dropping back from striker to the midfield. Within a few minutes and Gallagher returned to action. After 10 minutes Blucher stopped a threatening breakaway attack on the edge of the penalty area with a key tackle.
Five minutes later and Waterside were given the opportunity to open the scoring when a right-wing cross skimmed off Gallagher's head and Magee handled inside the penalty area, however the penalty kick struck Smith with the rebound cleared by Gallagher.
North Wellington took the lead after 27 minutes when Black made a surging run inside the penalty area and from an angle drove strongly high into the goal. 1-0 North Wellington.
Waterside's response was immediate though and almost directly from the kickoff a right wing cross/shot floated over the back-pedalling Smith into the far corner. 1-1.
After 36 minutes North Wellington regained the lead with a move starting from inside their own penalty area with a quickly taken free-kick intended for Black slipping through to Kerrisk and when the play was switched down the left Pandelidis made a jinking run to square it across for Kerrisk to meet and blast into the roof of the Waterside goal. 2-1 North Wellington.
Halftime was brief given the rapidly deteriorating weather as the light became gloomier.
The second half (the fifteen minutes that were played before the abandonment) was marked by some particularly vicious bursts of heavy rain and soon the ground was turning play into a lottery with many puddles of water. After 12 minutes Block chased a through ball and was bundled over by the Waterside keeper with the resulting penalty taken by Kerrisk struck too close to the keeper who beat it out into the path of Block who fired wide.
Three minutes later and the match was abandoned. The Premier game scheduled after this game was also abandoned by their match officials following a review of conditions 30 minutes before the scheduled kick-off time.
With the other four games in the Federation Reserve league being completed today the results have seen North Wellington slip from fifth to seventh in the compressed mid-table section of this League, although this game will be re-scheduled for later in the season.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 10 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 3rd June 2000 - Alex Moore Park

North Wellington, without Greg McMaster (ligament damage to the right knee suffered in the previous game - out for six weeks at least) and Brent Woodhead (unavailable), halted their two game losing run with a hard-earned 2-1 win over Paraparaumu United with the match played on Alex Moore No. 2 ground having been transferred off the No. 1 ground due to inclement weather in the Wellington area over the past 36 hours.
Despite the recent rain the No. 2 ground was in good condition and did not hamper the quality of the football and both teams benefitted from the cancellation of some of the lower graded league competitions in that referees for those games turned out as assistant referees/linesmen.
Profligate defending by both teams early in the game afforded several good goalscoring chances with the first of these occurring after just 35 seconds when a Paraparaumu right-wing free-kick skimmed through the North Wellington defence to their striker who shot close to Miller who held the shot. Within 30 seconds and Kerrisk outpaced the covering defence to stab, under challenge, his shot that was diverted away by the Paraparaumu keeper. A minute later and a left-wing Paraparaumu cross eluded the North Wellington central defence and was headed wide of the far post.
With these early chances unconverted both sides looked to settle and establish some territorial and possession advantage. North Wellington had Gallagher to thank in the 11th minute when a Paraparaumu free-kick was partially blocked by the defensive wall and Gallagher won a crucial tackle from the rebound as Paraparaumu looked to shoot from close-range.
North Wellington's improving fortunes saw them rattle the metalwork (it's been a few years since they replaced the wooden ones) in the 22nd minute through Pearson with an 8 metre shot following a scramble from a right-wing throw-in. Two minutes later and Kerrisk was questionably caught offside, running through the Paraparaumu central defence, with Pearson intercepting shortly afterwards and progressing down the left flank, with his cross eluding Block. After 41 minutes Block was booked, despite his protests, by referee Parrott for a tackle.
Shortly before halftime Pandelidis's step-over from a cross field ball allowed Poole a 20 metre shot that skewed wide. From the goal-kick Paraparaumu attacked down the right-wing with the ball crossed in for a goalbound shot to be blocked by man of the match (according to player/coach Block) Gallagher.
Halftime 0-0. Chances to both sides but a failure to 'hit the target'. No substitutions.
North Wellington seized the initiative in this match after 3 minutes when a Thomas right flank pass was chased determinedly and well won by Blucher in a 40/60 tackle just inside the Paraparaumu half. Blucher recovered his footing and sped away with the Paraparaumu central defence nowhere in sight to slot home from the edge of the penalty area. 1-0 North Wellington.
Four minutes later and Pearson released Kerrisk down the right-wing with his cross being headed by Blucher straight at the keeper.
With 10 minutes gone in the half North Wellington increased their lead when Block intercepted a weak free-kick pass inside the North Wellington half and immediately swung a left-foot pass into open space down the left-wing for Kerrisk to chase and win off a Paraparaumu defender. Kerrisk made his way to the goal-line and crossed low to the onrushing Thomas on the edge of the penalty area. Thomas jinked past a defender and steadied himself before placing his shot into the corner of the net from 15 metres. 2-0 North Wellington.
Paraparaumu were presented with their goal 14 minutes later when firstly Burns then Gallagher were hesitant in clearing and an angled shot from inside the penalty area flew past Miller into the far corner. 2-1 North Wellington.
Sparked back into life by this setback, two minutes later North Wellington came close to restoring their two goal lead when Block headed over from a Pearson left-wing free-kick.
Paraparaumu were unable to create any clear-cut scoring opportunities in the remaining minutes with the North Wellington defence scrambling away any half-chances that were developing. Kerrisk came close to scoring late on when his shot from a right-wing angle flew across goal.
With this result North Wellington move up from eighth to fifth (although only three points separates fourth from tenth) in the eleven team Federation Reserve League. The game scheduled for Monday 5th June (Queen's Birthday holiday) has been re-scheduled to the end of the season due to the Chatham Cup commitments of their Premier team's opposition (namely Island Bay). Their next game will be at home, Alex Moore Park, against Waterside Karori on 10th June with North Wellington looking to restore some element of parity following their 4-0 loss to Waterside Karori earlier in the season (the review of that game is listed further below).
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 3 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 27th May 2000 - Wakefield Park

A bitterly disappointed player/coach Keith Block was left to rue what could have been as North Wellington frittered away a 2-0 halftime lead to a resurgent Island Bay team with the deciding goal coming three minutes from fulltime.
North Wellington overcame an early setback with a knee injury to left-back McMaster to open the scoring after 13 minutes when from well-won possession by Magee the ball was crossed, Beckham-like, by Block from the right flank to Thomas inside the penalty area to control and pass square inside to the unmarked Kerrisk for an easy finish. Moments earlier North Wellington had produced a sweeping move across the field to the left flank with Magee, Kerrisk, Blucher, Thomas and Poole linking for a cross by Poole to be hit over by Blucher.
Island Bay had an opportunity to equalise three minutes later when Gallagher was muscled off the ball by Michael Gaeta but Magee recovered sufficiently to block Gaeta's run on goal with the subsequent shot diverted for a corner.
Competition for the ball remained keen throughout with stern tackles committed by both sides with bookings handed out to Burns and Blucher, for an innocuous challenge on ex-North Wellington player Andrew Rae.
In the 35th minute North Wellington's scored their second goal, again via Block, with his strong right-wing throw-in flicked on by Pearson for Hopkins, playing in a defensive midfield role, to sweep a close-range shot in off the underside of the crossbar past keeper Bruce Walker.
Close to the break and Pearson hassled a defender to win possession and shoot from a narrow angle, to be denied by Walker, with the rebound finally struck over by Kerrisk.
Halftime 2-0 to North Wellington. One substitution made due to injury.
North Wellington made two positional changes at the start of the second half with Hopkins dropping back to a sweeper position and Thomas and Block swapping their midfield flank roles.
Block crossed from the left in the 7th minute for Blucher to rise and head goalwards only for Walker to push the ball away for a corner.
Three minutes later and from an Island Bay corner the ball was not cleared and a close range header saw the North Wellington lead cut to a 2-1 margin.
This goal rattled the North Wellington defence as two minutes later Poole was booked for dissent by referee Nathu. He was shortly followed by an Island Bay player booked for deliberately charging down, inside the 10 metres, a quickly taken free-kick as the game developed a sinister undertone with challenges testing the patience of players and the referee.
A free-kick awarded in the 24th minute for handball outside of the North Wellington penalty area saw Gaeta step forward to rifle home, past Miller and inside the far post, the 22 metre shot.
Four minutes later and Miller recovered to block well from close-range as Island Bay continued to assert their dominance in the late phases of the game.
Inside the last five minutes and a Pearson intercept broke free for Kerrisk to race forward against the onrushing Walker to nudge his shot off Walker's foot for a corner.
With three minutes left an Island Bay cross was met far post and headed across Miller into the far corner.
This was a fiercely contested game with five bookings (four for tackles) made by referee Nathu.
North Wellingon are now eighth in this eleven team league at the midway point of the 2000 season. Next Saturday they host bottom-placed Paraparaumu at Alex Moore Park and will be looking to overcome their latest 'run' of two losses in the Federation Reserve League.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 28 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 13th May 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Western Academy confirmed their place (as with their Premier team) at the top of the Federation Reserve League with a hard-fought 2-1 win over a North Wellington side which had gone into this game having won its last three games to move to a mid-table position.
With the game transferred to Alex Moore Park (No 2) due to heavy rain on the previous day Wests began promisingly with Miller denying a close-range header from a fourth minute corner. However he was powerless four minutes later to prevent Wests early lead in this game when the North Wellington defensive line failed to cut out a low right-wing ball and Irwin had time to control and slot home easily.
An early unplanned substitution saw the influential Blucher, having suffered an ankle injury, replaced by Block in the central defence.
A minute later and Kerrisk and Barton (Premier squad player back from injury a few weeks ago) then harried the Wests defence to produce an opportunity for Barton, muscling his way past a Wests defender, to get in an angled shot that Sandford beat out.
Halfway through the first-half saw North Wellington, playing with the advantage of the strong southerly wind, press forward to create out several good scoring chances with Barton releasing midfielder Sefou to shoot at Sandford from a decreasing angle, then Block's defensive free-kick striking Thomas to fall into the path of Barton with his shot cannoning off the left-hand post with Sandford beaten and a minute later Kerrisk linked with Barton to feed Woodhead with his cross being gathered by Sandford.
Wests were able to withstand this period without conceding a goal and attacked forward with Irwin being released after North Wellington unsuccessfully played for offside. Irwin's shot was blocked by the onrushing Miller with two Wests attackers at the far post marked only by Magee.
Six minutes from halftime and North Wellington were punished for poor marking at a Wests throw-in by the corner flag when the ball was squared across to Jones to crash a strong 22 metre left-shot shot past Miller.
On halftime and Carnihan met, for the second time in the half, a left-wing corner from Wilson only to again head over.
Halftime 2-0 to Wests.
Similar to the first half it was Wests who came closest to scoring in the initial stages of the second half with Woodside running on to a long ball that went through the North Wellington defence only to be blocked by Miller and then Woodside and Carnihan conspired to get in each others way from a neat pass from Jones and Miller smothered. Irwin then broke down the left and past Block to centre to Blithe to hook a shot wide after six minutes of the half.
Pandelidis then met a Block flick-on from a Gallagher free-kick only to slice wide a shot from the edge of the penalty area. North Wellington slowly worked themselves back into the game with Woodhead, having switched with Block in the defensive line, intercepting a Wests pass and releasing Block. Block's pass down the left flank allowed Barton to run on and square for Kerrisk to shoot at Sandford from 15 metres. Twenty minutes in and Gallagher intercepted and swept a long ball forward to Barton, in a one-on-one situation, to beat his man only to shoot at Sandford.
Reward for this improved team effort was forthcoming when McMaster adroitly fed Pandelidis and the midfielder outpaced the flank defence to cut inside the penalty area and crash home a shot into the roof of the Wests net. 2-1 to Wests.
North Wellington restricted Wests to mainly long-range efforts in the remaining period and were able to carve out more chances as with six minutes left possession was won by the hard-working Magee to then link with Gallagher. Gallagher's flank pass to Thomas saw Thomas delightfully turn his marker and jink his way forward to then release Block inside the penalty area only for Block, in space, to shoot poorly.
Right on fulltime Pandelidis again cut inside the left side of the penalty area to cross for a fully diving Kerrisk to narrowly miss connecting with what would have been a not undeserved equaliser.
Despite the loss North Wellington can feel satisfied with this result against a Wests team that will undoubtedly finish high in this league and will look forward to the return of centre-back Burns (injured last week - dental work required), Pearson and Blucher for the next league match in two weeks against Island Bay at Wakefield Park (no match for the Reserve team next Saturday due to the Chatham Cup 2nd round).
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 13 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 6th May 2000 - Harcourt Park

The Reserve team continued on their winning way with their third (fourth if you count the friendly game last Saturday) successive win after a 1-0 victory over the previously second placed Upper Hutt, coached by Ian (Chicken) Howard.
Having left a raining Wellington city we were pleased to come across some reasonably good weather at Upper Hutt with the wide Harcourt Park pitch in good order.
Coach Keith Block, playing in his first league game for the Reserve team (having scored the winner for the Premier team last week), maintained his 4-4-2 formation for the match with himself and Kerrisk leading the attack.
Early nerves in the North Wellington defence after 13 minutes saw Burns cough up possession and the ball squared across goal for an Upper Hutt player to beat Miller only for the covering Poole to clear off the line with the rebound knocked over the crossbar for a goal-kick.
Unrattled by this scare North Wellington pressed on and 10 minutes later a quick Block throw-in released Kerrisk down the left flank. Kerrisk checked inside and delivered a right foot cross to the onrushing Blucher to control and under pressure from two defenders neatly nudge the ball with the outside of his right foot into the far corner. 1-0 North Wellington.
Upper Hutt continued their attacks on the North Wellington goal and Miller produced a fine save to tip over a 20 metre free kick on the half hour. Further efforts by Upper Hutt throughout the half were firmly held by Miller with the North Wellington defence, ably marshalled by Gallagher, restricting most scoring efforts to be taken from outside of the penalty area.
Halftime 1-0 North Wellington. No substitutions had been made. Coach Keith Block emphasising to his players during the break the need to seize the game which despite the scoreline had drifted towards Upper Hutt.
Upper Hutt had an early chance when after 4 minutes a left-wing free kick found an unmarked player at the far post who was unable to direct his effort on target.
North Wellington created two good chances midway through the half with firstly Blucher, in the 19th minute, releasing Block on the left with his pass finding Pandelidis on the edge of the penalty area. Pandelidis's shot was palmed away for a corner by the Upper Hutt keeper James. From this corner Block outjumped the defence to head narrowly over the crossbar. Then five minutes later Pearson skilfully avoided several would-be tacklers and send in a pinpoint cross for a totally unmarked Block to head directly at James from 8 metres.
Pandelidis earned a yellow card in the 32nd minute for a reckless challenge.
The last 15 minutes saw North Wellington hold on determinably to register the second clean sheet of the season, testament to their growing defensive confidence. Man of the Match for North Wellington was Ken Blucher.

Garry Hepburn, coach of the Reserve team for the 1997-1999 seasons, travelled across from his nearby Totara Park home with his wife Helen and new son Jacob to watch both the Reserve and Premier teams play this afternoon. Garry maintains his interest in the club (he played as substitute and scored the winning goal for our 3rd team earlier this season at Harcourt Park - check on the Wgtn 2 reviews below).

The photos taken during the game will be processed by Mark Ross early this week. Check the photos page on 11th May 2000.

Mens 2nd team - "Friendly match" - 29th April 2000 - Petone Memorial Park

With Chatham Cup games on today and no scheduled matches for the Federation Reserve league teams a friendly match was arranged against the Petone Reserve team (beaten 3-2 by North Wellington four days earlier). Only 10 of our players turned up so we were grateful to Petone to lend us one of their players for the game. Goalscorers for North Wellington were Thomas and Gallagher with Petone's goal coming late in the match. A good game for both teams to help maintain the match fitness.
On a personal note it was good to feel fit enough to be able to have a run - Warwick.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 6 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 25th April 2000 - Petone Memorial Park

North Wellington's Federation Reserve league team came from two goals down after twenty minutes to record their second consecutive win, following a sequence of four losses, in a match played in cold conditions with a strong southerly wind and frequent rain bursts.
Coach Keith Block put faith in the same starting eleven (except for Hopkins in for MacIntyre, required by the Premier team) that carried the side to victory last week over Wellington College.
This faith was put to the test though after twenty minutes when Petone took a 2-0 lead with both goals coming inside a minute. Firstly, a 20 metre free kick struck the crossbar and, with North Wellington unable to clear, was struck home. Then a right-wing cross skidded past Miller into the path of an unmarked Petone player to walk it in.
North Wellington's reply was immediate though as Blucher initiated a move inside the Petone half in feeding Poole with the ball being sent wide to Thomas. Thomas escaped his marker sufficiently to send in a fine cross for Blucher to head home. Poole proved to be the last line of defence two minutes later in clearing off his goal-line from a corner. After 36 minutes a Gallagher free kick from half-way was lofted deep, with the assistance of the prevailing wind, to the far post to be met by Hopkins with his looping header sailing into the far corner for the equaliser.
Halftime 2-2. No substitutions had been made by either side.
North Wellington continued to play with increased confidence in the second half and Kerrisk put them ahead after 18 minutes when he latched on to a Pearson flick-on and ran at goal to fire a shot on the angle that flew past the Petone keeper into the far corner. Kerrisk was named man of the match with several positive runs being made at defenders and some fine displays of close control evident in the difficult weather conditions.
Petone pressed on in search of an equaliser only to be denied by Miller and a committed North Wellington defence marshalled by the experienced Gallagher, Hopkins and Blucher.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 25 April 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 15th April 2000 - Centennial Park

North Wellington ended their four game losing sequence with a flattering 4-0 win over Wellington College on a well-presented Centennial Park.
Wellington College had dominated proceedings in the first half hour and peppered Miller's goal with several long range efforts. North Wellington's only chance in this period came when MacIntyre met a Gallagher free-kick and glanced a header wide with the College keeper, Caddy, committed. College midfielder Crump had the first of their opportunities after 9 minutes with his 20 metre pushed away and the rebound being gathered by Thornton with his shot from a narrow angle smothered by Miller. Harrison laid off a square ball to an unmarked Rogan to fire over from 20 metres after 24 minutes. Twelve minutes later and Woodhead's midfield pass was easily intercepted and play quickly went forward to Whatling who shot on an angle at Miller from 15 metres.
On 37 minutes, North Wellington were awarded a penalty when Pearson, attempting to progress along the goal-line, was adjudged to have been brought down by referee Barry Billing. MacIntyre, starting in only his second league game following a knee injury, placing the penalty past Caddy to open the scoring.
Four minutes later and a clumsy challenge on Kerrisk saw the second penalty of the game awarded and MacIntyre duly converted again to give North Wellington a somewhat undeserved 2-0 lead, with the College having had the bulk of possession, territory and scoring opportunities.
Halftime 2-0 to North Wellington. No substitutions made by either side.
In contrast to their sluggish opening in the first half, North Wellington began promisingly after three minutes with a sparkling one-two exchange between Pearson and Kerrisk with Pearson's left-foot shot from 20 metres being held at the second attempt by Caddy. Pearson was involved again five minutes later as he crossed for Thomas to flick-on to MacIntyre who was denied a shot by a covering defender conceding a corner. Thomas's corner was met by Blucher and from the resultant scramble Kerrisk netted from close-range to extend North Wellington's lead to 3-0.
College, stung by this, attacked through the middle with Thornton springing the offside trap only to be closed out by the advancing Miller. Miller then saved from Crump's 25 metre effort and cleared for Kerrisk to race through, halted by the College defence conceding another corner. Thomas again found a teammate with MacIntyre's left-foot volley striking the crossbar, although Caddy had the shot covered.
Caddy was beaten again after 63 minutes as Pearson, released in space ran on evading two tackles and shot from 20 metres with Caddy blocking into the path of the Kerrisk, following in, to net into the empty goal for 4-0.
North Wellington Coach Keith Block, delighted by the performance of his starting eleven, then took the opportunity to 'clear his bench' with the maximum three substitutions being made during the remainder of the game. The final 20 minutes wound down with neither side able to create a clear-cut scoring chance.
Burns was named player of the game for his solid tackling and positive approach, although he was fortunate not to be booked for a reckless first-half tackle.
North Wellington have the bye in this 11 team league next Saturday. Their next scheduled match is on ANZAC day, April 25th against Petone at Memorial Park.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 15 April 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 8th April 2000 - Alex Moore Park

With steady rain midweek having softened local grounds, Alex Moore Park provided players with a near ideal surface for this fifth round game in the Federation Reserve League.
After sluggish starts in all four previous league games North Wellington displayed a vastly improved and committed performance for the opening thirty minutes. With players demonstrating greater confidence in their own abilities and more determination in tackling and defence, Olympic were more than matched in the early exchanges. The first scoring opportunity fell to Pearson when he was released by Magee, having intercepted an errant Olympic pass near halfway. Pearson's angled shot was beaten out by Dimakis and cleared down Olympic's right flank and play switched quickly to the opposite end where Ah-Kuoi eluded two defenders on the edge of the penalty area only to have his goal-bound shot blocked by Gallagher. This seemed to spur Olympic on as a minute later Ah-Kuoi rose above the defence to flick a left-wing free kick just past Miller's far post. Three minutes later, at 33 minutes, and Olympic took the lead through Clarke as North Wellington lost possession on halfway and a right-wing break and cross was converted from 15 metres.
North Wellington again demonstrated their propensity to lose confidence with this initial goal and three minutes later Olympic increased their lead when Ah-Kuoi found space down the right and crossed for Woodhead to head back into the path of an Olympic player. Their shot from 10 metres beat Miller but was spectacularly cleared of the line by Burns with the rebound bouncing back for Gonzales to beat the defence and head home from close range. Olympic continued to apply the pressure before halftime with Ah-Kuoi evading Magee and shooting wide from a decreasing angle and Ridge jinking through some ineffectual tackles and firing over the bar. North Wellington's passing, which had been positive and to player's feet earlier had became hesitant and directionless. On halftime a free-kick was partially cleared by Dimakis to Blucher whose shot skewed off-target.
Halftime 2-0 Olympic. Coach Keith Block made no substitutions at halftime. Olympic substituted on Darryl Pettit (in North Wellington's 3rd team last season) into midfield.
Four minutes in and a clearance from Burns found Kerrisk outpacing the covering Olympic defenders and with Dimakis advancing Kerrisk lifted the ball over him only to see the ball bounce over the crossbar. Gonzales then created room inside the North Wellington penalty area to fire against the near post with the rebound going out for a goal-kick. Woodhead found MacIntyre unmarked in the inside-right position and his low driven cross was met by Kerrisk and an Olympic defender both sliding into the six-yard box with the ball spilling away for a goal-kick. Pettit then tested his former team-mate Miller with a 20 metre shot which Miller comfortably held. After 20 minutes, Kerrisk charged down Dimakis's clearance from a pass back and MacIntyre confronted by an empty net rolled a 25 metre shot agonisingly wide of the left-hand post.
This close call sparked Olympic back into the game and Pettit missed from close range when meeting a left-wing cross from Ah-Kuoi. Miller then saved smartly from substitute Bertos as Olympic looked to close the game inside the last ten minutes. Sole was extremely fortunate not to be booked by referee Longhurst for a cynical tackle from behind on Blucher. Sole discredited himself further at the conclusion of the game with his "trash talk" as he left the field.
North Wellington's final chances fell to Pearson, when after MacIntyre was fouled 20 metres out, his tame chipped free-kick went straight to Dimakis and then to Gallagher, with a deep angled direct free-kick, taking advantage of the prevailing wind conditions to defeat Dimakis to score in a style reminiscent to his goal scored against Tawa last season.
With four minutes left North Wellington pressed but were unable to create a serious opportunity to equalise and suffered their fourth consecutive loss since their win against Paraparaumu in the opening round.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 9 April 2000 - please note the disclaimer on the home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 1st April 2000 - Alex Moore Park

The Reserve team suffered their third consecutive loss of the league season, losing to their near neighbours Tawa. With the return of Miller, Kerrisk, Byrne and Gallagher, Coach Keith Block was understandably disappointed at the result which leaves the team 10th in the 11 team league.
Played in a strong north-westerly wind which swept across the Alex Moore Park, North Wellington were (again) slow to start and conceded an early goal after eight minutes when a through ball down the inside right channel was slipped under Miller into the far corner. 1-0 Tawa.
Two minutes later and Pandelidis, playing at left midfield, cut infield and when his firm pass intended for Kerrisk rebounded into the path of Thomas his angled shot from 15 metres was bobbled but regathered by the Tawa keeper. Further troubles for North Wellington came after 15 minutes when from a Blucher foul 22 metres out, Tawa scored directly from the ensuing free kick with a well struck shot. More turnovers led to two more Tawa scoring efforts in the next few minutes as North Wellington struggled to retain possession in the challenging weather conditions.
The remainder of the half was a scrabby affair with the wind affecting the ability of players to produce cohesive passing moves.
Halftime 2-0 Tawa. No substitutions made by either side.
Three minutes in and McMaster was replaced by Poole. As with the latter part of the first half the first 25 minutes of the second half were devoid of any clear-cut chances. Kerrisk, after 71 minutes, was put clean through but was unable to cleanly control the ball with a closing defender on his heels and the Tawa keeper smothered at his feet. Gallagher was then substituted off, as he was required for the Premier match later, and Burns came on in a straight switch at centre-back.
Pandelidis burst down the left flank on 73 minutes linking with Pearson who cut inside and from wide out hit a cross/shot that the Tawa keeper stretched to palm away, as it held up in the wind, into the path of Blucher with his shot from an ever decreasing angle blocked by the recovering keeper. Pandelidis received a booking late in the game. The final ten minutes passed without either side threatening.
Coach Block will be looking forward to training under lights for the first time this week and being able to remedy the retention of possession difficulties that have plagued the team in the last few weeks.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 1 April 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 25th March 2000 - Petone Memorial Park

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 18th March 2000 - Petone Memorial Park

Mens 2nd team - Hilton Petone pre-season tournament - SEMI FINAL - 14th March 2000

Mens 2nd team - Federation Reserve League - 11th March 2000 - James Cook Park, Waikanae

Mens 2nd team - Hilton Petone pre-season tournament - QUARTER FINAL - 6th March 2000

Mens 2nd team - Hilton Petone pre-season tournament - 27th February 2000

Mens 2nd team - Hilton Petone pre-season tournament - 20th February 2000

Mens 2nd team - Hilton Petone pre-season tournament - 13th February 2000

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 12th August 2000 - Mazengarb Road Park

BLAIR WRIGHT BOYS FINISH IN STYLE

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 5th August 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Fight Back at the Home of Football

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 29th July 2000 - Alexz Moore Park

Firstly, apologies for the tardiness in lodging the match report but owing to an extremely protracted sales conference the author is attending, not only is this report late, it will be of short duration as well.

YEAH - WE WON 2-0

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 22nd July 2000 - Karori Park

IT’S DEJA-VU ALL OVER AGAIN
Before I sat down and wrote this match report I read the review of the previous week’s match against Varsity. The two games were so similar that I could have got away with using the same report and just changed a couple of names. Unfortunately there was no change to the score, another disappointing 1-2 loss.
We had some key personnel unavailable (Big Spotty, Geoffrey, Bruce and Scott Evans) but that was no excuse to lose to a very ordinary WK Wanderers outfit. The signs weren’t good from the start when we played the first 10 minutes a player short before Bailey arrived to make his Blair Wright debut.
We led 1-0 at half time after Scotty M had rounded the keeper to give us a deserved lead. The back four of Meatloaf, Scotty B, Spotty Herbert and Doogie had a combined total of 639 appearances for Blair Wright XI and had looked pretty solid, but at half time decided to take a 10 minute rest. Unfortunately the half time break was only 5 minutes long and by the time we woke up Wanderers had scored two quick goals to put us 1-2 down.
Hughie and Spotty Herbert tried hard, Jimmy had a lively first half, Scotty M was a constant threat down the left flank and Plank made a couple of good saves and commanded his area as usual, but no one else played that well. We had chances to equalise but lacked a bit of composure in front of goal as several good chances were wasted.
Hopefully we can turn things around next week against Seatoun as we have fallen to 6th place in the table and the lowest the Blair Wright XI has ever finished in its 12 year history is 5th.
Reviewed by Scott Barber (thanks Scott) and added to website on 24 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 15th July 2000 - Anderson Park

Game Over for Blair Wright Boys
It troubles me! As I sit here trying to think of the material I require to keep the jovial, witty, insightful, revealing, good-humoured, fun loving, high spirited, frivolous, bright and breezy, happy, positive (you have gotta love the thesaurus) tradition of the Blair Wright match report going I find myself troubled.
In the murky depths of a well grassed Anderson Park the challenge of The Blair Wright Boys as pretenders to the Div. 2 title petered out against an extremely average University side. A University side who, despite being below us on the table, have now achieved the double over the boys (the first team ever in the history of the side - Bader to confirm on Saturday) and condemned us to a mid-table position which for so long we have looked much better than.
The game started in fading sunshine with the boys desperate to avenge the 3-0 pasting we received at home from the Scarfies. With the on again off again Evans returning to the side and Jimeh taking a place on the bench due to lateness we started the better of the two sides and dominated possession and territory.
Unfortunately poor quality delivery into the danger area coupled with poor finishing when the ball was delivered meant that we were unable to convert this dominance into goals. A series of corners and some awry long distance shooting did nothing to break the deadlock and it came as a surprise when a Varsity mistake provided Bader with an opportunity to bobble the ball pass the keeper and put us ahead (22 mins).
Having achieved this we promptly gifted the Scarfies an equaliser when Meatloaf and Herbert decided the best way to deal with a long clearance from their keeper was to sit on the moist grass and have a cuddle. Their striker pounced quicker than a student during half price happy hour at The Lazy Shag and finished well past Stir into the far corner (23 mins).
As the frustrated cursing of Spotty Shields was still echoing around the Tinakori Hills we promptly gifted them a second when some poor defending on the right was nicely complemented by some woeful marking on the left and they nodded home to make it 2-1 (27 mins).
Halftime came and big Spotty made a forlorn sight on the halfway line remonstrating with his alter ego about the defensive blunders. Still the boys were positive and we all thought we could quickly remove the deficit and stride on to a comfortable win we seemed to think was our right.
Unfortunately it was not to be. Their keeper decided to have a blinder in the second 45. Basically anything to his right he saved. A left foot strike from Hughie, headers from Spotty S and Meatloaf, a repeat one-on-one opportunity from Bader all saved. Jimeh created two beautiful chances with some deft touches but then failed to hit the target. Hughie couldn’t force home an error from the keeper on a tight angle, Spotty, Geoffrey and Dave Ads all did their best with shots but all to no avail.
At the other end Stir was playing fetch with his dog Josh and wasn’t called upon to make a save although they did miss a clear one-on-one as we pushed forward and Geoffrey used his pace to clean up on a couple of occasions.
And so to the Stats: Shots: Us 53 Them 3 Corners: Us 21 Them 4: Possession: Us 81% Them 19%: Territory Us 83% Them 17%: Pissed off meter: Us Extremely Them Damn delighted.
Dave Ads tried hard; Spotty did his best to spark things and the left-hand side tried hard without ever quite delivering the telling ball.
The one positive for me was that my theory regarding referees being superfluous at this level was again proven. Brucie and Dougie with a half a game each did a fine job and the game flowed well apart from when Geoffrey took a five-minute liking to their striker’s kneecaps.
As I drowned my sorrows in the Fat Ladies Arms drinking with a victorious first team and watching the All Blacks restore some pride the phrase, “Too old, too fat, too slow” reverberated through my head. As I downed my flat, watery $2 a pint DB Export I wondered if indeed some of the lads were looking for greener pastures somewhere down the grades. The word statue was used more then one would of liked and the younger and nippier boys with the big student loans continually beat us to the ball.
Still……..the rugby finished, the young girls started dancing and the boys dreamed of days gone by, of hair, of pace and of being able to knock 25 yard crosses consistently. As we wandered off for a late night kebab we still looked forward to next week and the Wanderers (them of the great Spice Girl website) and a chance to do a little better………..Onwards and Upwards!
Reviewed by Paul Shields (thanks Paul) and added to website on 17 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 8th July 2000 - Melrose Park

Petone Repel Double Figures
Spurred on by the fear of conceding 10 goals for the first time this season Petone managed to hold out for a respectable 9-1 loss. Is this the best lower grade Petone teams can hope for? Isn't this the town that has produced more All Blacks than any other club, has the longest unswimable foreshore and the biggest pitch and putt golf course in the country. Andy Leslie would turn in his grave watching Saturday's performance, if he was dead that is. This reporter has seen jellyfish with more backbone. The team couldn't wait for North Wellington to score the first goal so they could open the flood gates and shout "this way".
That said it was a good 20 minutes before the first goal was scored. After squandering what must have been 10 chances or more finally Jimeh put the ball in the back of the net. Until that time Petone only had 9 players but such is the sporting nature of North Wellington we waited until they had the full compliment of 11 on the park scoring. By the end of the half Hughie and the Petone centre back, desperate to open his account for season, had managed to add to the tally, much to the relief of Petone who now felt they could really give up trying.
The second half saw Dave Ads show his tremendous versatility by pulling on the goalkeeper's allowing the big fella (Plank) to move up to centre forward and play alongside Spotty Herbet. Douglas Bader-Wright, after some gentle persuasion, slotted in at left back. With playmaker Jimeh Smith controlling things from the back goals were sure to follow and it wasn't long before Plank had steamed in to open his account. A slight hick-up followed when Petone scored a lovely goal and then promptly went to sleep and conceded 5 more. Plank found the net twice more for his hat-trick, Spottie Herbet once but the most relieved man on the park was undoubtedly former NWFC golden boot Scottie Moran who opened his account for the season with a brace.

Other highlights of the match included:

• Geoffrey pulled off the difficult trip over the ball manoeuvre without a Petone player within 10 yards


• Bruce Cairns' failure to score despite numerous attempts and a penalty. It must be said the keeper pulled off some great saves to 2 Spottie Shields headers, one over the bar from 5 yards and the other headed so hard into the ground that it bounced over the bar


• Meatloaf's 53 crosses which we still couldn't score from


• Bruce Collier replacing Douglas Bader making him the 10th person to play left back this season


• Plank's defensive header off their line denying Geoffrey a goal

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 1st July 2000 - Melrose Park

League chances explode under counter attacks at Jumbo's farewell.
The lads travelled the southern burbs well aware of the fact that a win over Wellington United was imperative if we were to mount a challenge for the league. I'd have to say confidence wasn't high upon reading the paper on Thursday night and seeing that not only were we scheduled to play in the baboon enclosure at the zoo, but also had the services of the last official from the '36 world cup (or Andy Whitman-Greg's long lost grandfather).... yes last week's referee. Thankfully he never showed up, and the baboons and zebras kept relatively quiet, which really leaves me with no excuse for the 4-3 loss other to say that you can't gift a team of Wellington United experience 4 goals and expect to get a result.
The game started fairly evenly with Melrose park being reasonably sheltered in the zephyr like conditions. Both sides created early half chances but it wasn't until our tireless, "young", center-forward Jimeh chased hard on to a Hughie LW and centered for Nigel Ingham (returning to NZ from a starring role for Yugoslavia at the European champs) to ...... sort of ..... dive header the first goal. Amazing that a) Nigel got dirty and b) he scored with his head.
This signaled the traditional siesta for the boys .... upon pushing up for an attacking corner we found the scores locked 1-1 after slack defending meant they equalised all of 8 seconds after Jumbo curled in our corner.
The game meandered along again until a free kick was awarded on the edge of the Wellington United 18 yard box and Jumbo curled in a lovely cross for Spotty Shields to nod home a simple tap in at the far post for a 2-1 lead. (28 mins). Then we slept again. Geoffrey being dispossessed and Spotty Herbert making a great covering tackle, only for the ball to cruelly ricochet to the same attackers feet who blasted home from 12 yards. 2-2 at half time and the lads wondering how the hell we'd gifted them 2 soft goals.
The second half saw the well known rotation policy that Wayne Smith stole from "The Dave Wright Coaching Manual for All Sports" take effect with Hughie rested, Bruce mate pushing up and Meatloaf slotting into right back. It was a funny half .... not a hell of a lot of clear cut chances but somehow or other out of nothing the scoreboard read 4-2 to Wellington United with 20 mins remaining. Once again both the goals coming from us giving the ball away whilst looking promising and their fast break crucifying our slothful like defenders.
Thankfully we finally started to look more urgent and dominated the last 20 mins - Tin Legs pulling one back with 5 to go - but alas too little too late.
The game was marred with a nasty fracas involving a set of testicles, Jumbo, a choker hold, Frank Van Hattum, pushing and shoving, Spotty Shields, and a lot of bad language. One quote sticks in the mind from the frivolities .... "That's great language coming from the Chairman of the WSA" .... directed I think at Frank after a verbal barrage the likes of which have not been heard since the baboon in the adjoining cage got his testicles caught in the chicken wire fence in 1982 - about the time Frank was in Spain.
It was a game we competed well in, but our lack of tight marking and our obvious lack of pace at the back (apart from the Giselle like Geoffrey) was cruelly exposed.
It was also the end of an era with our dead ball expert and Zinedane look alike (but with more hair) Jumbo signing off after an illustrious career, as he's off to Europe. You'll be missed big fella, but I know you'll take many fond memories from the football field ... as well as an '82 All Whites testicle.
Roll on next week with Petone coming to Alex Moore Wembley .... a Petone team on somewhat of a high after only conceding 6 last week and actually scoring 1. Till then.....
Reviewed by Grant Shields (thanks Grant) and added to website on 3 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 24th June 2000 - Alex Moore Park

TIN LEGS STEALS SHOW FROM COMIC REFEREE.
Blair Wright XI drew 2 all with Marist, a team we have had a lot of problems with over the last two seasons in a match played in typically windy conditions at Alex Moore Park No 2 on Saturday.
Both teams needed to win to stay in touch with Wellington United who top the table and not surprisingly it was a very hard fought match.
Unfortunately the match will be remembered for a bizarre refereeing display by WSA official D. Lee. While he is a pleasant enough old fellow with buckets of experience and is best known for his handling of matches in the group stages of the inaugural 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, he is well past his best.
He made so many bad decisions on the day it’s amazing he didn’t turn right instead left at the Johnsonville traffic lights and drive to Taupo for the match.
Playing with the wind Nth Wgtn made the better start with Jimmy looking particularly dangerous up front with his running and ability to hold the ball up. Scotty M and Hughie had half chances saved and it looked like only at matter of time before North Wgtn took the lead. So it proved when 20 mins in Spotty Shields rose to meet a pinpoint accurate corner from Jumbo to head home from close range. Nth Wgtn 1-0.
Nth Wgth continued to dominate territory and possession and Meatloaf who later in the half was forced from the field with a hamstring strain hitting the cross bar from 25 metres. But against the run of play Marist equalised after 30 mins. The ball went a metre over the touchline on the right wing and Nth Wgtn stopped, foolishly thinking the ref might notice the ball no longer being in play, Marist played on and the ball was crossed in to the penalty area where an unmarked Marist player had time to completely miss the ball, regain his composure and beat Plank for the equaliser.
About now the game degenerated into a farce with both teams becoming frustrated by Mr Lee’s eccentric display and resorted to niggling fouls and pushing matches. (Do players not realise how embarrassing it looks to shove and threaten people when everyone knows they have no intention of doing anything about it. This was the Marist sweepers personal favourite and each time he looked more pathetic)
This was made worse by the refs habit of reaching for his notebook as if he is about to book someone but then doing nothing. He’s the first ref I’ve seen who sells the players a dummy. Marist got back to playing soccer first and went ahead when a Spotty Shields error and more slack marking from the rest of the defence allowed a Marist striker to get a rather tame looking shot on goal that somehow spun past Plank. Marist 2-1 at half time.
Marist, with the wind at their backs seemed determined to sit on their one goal lead and their main second half tactic was to welly the ball and let the wind take it over our goal line for a goal kick.
This allowed Nth Wgtn to attack more and they dominated the rest of the game which featured a number of scrambles in the Marist penalty area, with Dave Ads, Jimmy and Hughie going close. By now both teams had gotten used to the ref and pretty much assumed he wasn’t there for the second half. As a result the game had a far better flow and spirit to it.
Dave “ Tin Legs” Wright had been resting as sub after the birth of his daughter Ashton the previous night, but he brought himself on with 20 mins to go and fittingly he was the one who scored the equaliser.
Good work down the right wing by Scotty E, and Jimmy who sent in a low cross which was met by tin legs 10 metres out and he crashed home a right foot volley to level the scores 2 all with 10 mins to go.
Neither team was able to carve out any good chances in the closing stages which were marred by the injury to the troublesome right knee of Scotty E who had to be carried off. The game ended in a 2 all draw which over the 90 mins was a fair result and left both teams in equal 4th on 21 points.
This week Nth Wgtn meet top of the table Wgtn Utd at Melrose Park, 12.30 kick off.
Reviewed by Scott Barber (thanks Scott) and added to website on 27 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 17th June 2000 - Endeavour Park

The Blair Wright Boys arrived at a rather wide but very flat Endeavour No. 1 with a degree of trepidation following two consecutive cancellations and what little match fitness therefore completely evaporated. With memories of a first round clash with a fit West’s side, many of whom had yet to have their first encounter with a “Gillette - The best a man can get“ razor, and minus Geoffrey and Scotty Evans our only fit players, the pressure on the BW boys was immense.
Tin Legs sent confusion through both sides by craftily replacing himself with the dynamic Keano in the starting line-up following the toss. This strategic pre-match switch had the desired impact and North Wellington duly settled in to our standard early match state of disarray for the first ten minutes.
We were punished for defending like we were 20 and 12 stone rather than 30+ and a little heavier when a wind assisted kick from their keeper evaded Spotty S, who had failed to leap like a salmon. Their South African striker who had obviously backed himself with the bookies to score the first goal rounded Daubs - his first one-on-one miss of the year - and slotted home. Spotty sought to remonstrate with his side until silenced by Jumbo’s observation that the call was, “Spotty’s up!!”.
Finding themselves 1-0 down after 10 minutes North Wellington slowly started to play some football despite the 60-yard gap between the defence and attack. We were rewarded when Jimmy beautifully stoked a Keano static lay-off into the roof of the net. 1-1 after 18 minutes.
We continued to have the better of the first half although Hansie Cronje managed to hit both the crossbar and the post and we still looked vulnerable on the break. Dougie and Meatloaf were starting to make the tackles while Dave Ads and Jumbo were starting to get to grips with Sloth in the mid-field.
Unfortunately Hughie and Keano had left their shooting boots at home (although Keano finished nicely only to have his belly ruled six yards offside) while Spotty S had a well struck header beaten out by their Keeper.
Then just before halftime Hughie had a deceptively curving left foot shot turned in to his own net by one of their defenders. Unbelievably the ageing referee who later confessed to being a banker ruled an own goal and the boys were happy to go to the break 2-1 ahead. Tin Legs threw caution to the wind by making three changes at halftime. This risky decision paid dividends with North Wellington controlling the majority of the second half with the wind at our backs.
Scotty Moran benefited from the creative skills and go-forward of Brucie at left back. Unfortunately for Scott the goal drought continued and it will surely be another sleepless Friday night for the veteran left midfielder as he contemplates his 11th game of the season without a goal to his name.
Jimmy finished nicely following a pass from Dave Ads and the boys were starting to look comfortable at 3-1 after 59 minutes.
Hughie blasted both high and wide from good positions while some of our heading left a lot to be desired. However the passing was excellent and the midfield and defence showed some lovely interchanges and running off the ball.
On 79 minutes Scotty Moran received a nice ball from Spotty S and delivered a lovely cross to the far post where Hughie did what his brother couldn’t do and left the ground to head home from five yards.
Hence a solid 4-1 victory which keeps the boys in touch in a very tight league. Jimmy and Meatloaf share man of the match with a special mention to Brucie for his 45 minutes at left back.
Next week it’s our bogey team Marist at home. The next two weeks will basically decide whether the boys will challenge for the league and hopefully we can carry our second half against West’s into the Marist game. Onwards and upwards……
Reviewed by Paul Shields (thanks Paul) and added to website on 21 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 27th May 2000 - Seatoun Park

NORTH WELLINGTON PONDEROUS - MISS OPPORTUNITY TO CEMENT POSITION AT TOP OF TABLE
The Blair Wright boys ventured to Seatoun Park, buoyed by an impressive performance the week before against a strong Wharfies side, and full of confidence against a Seatoun side languishing in the bottom two of the table.
However, the lads (apart from the obvious weight problems) were hampered by some injuries - namely Spotty Herbert's groin (twanged on the stroke of kick off to allow Spotty Shields to start - yes I did play the ball slightly out of Herbert's reach resulting in a stretch and subsequent twang), Spotty Shield's entire left leg, Hughie's calves, Scotty B's groin, Jumbo's knees, calves, ankles and groin, Keeno's stomach and rust on Tin-Leg's tin legs.
But kick-off took place on a well grassed but uneven Seatoun Park bang on time and the Blair Wright boys looked very, very flat. It took 10 mins before we finally strung 3 decent passes together, but there after proceeded to string together some flowing moves, one of which resulted in the opening goal in the 19th minute. The ball went through 6 different players before Scotty Moran delivered a delightfully weighted cross for young Jimeh to nod the ball home from 6 yards. 1-0 North Wgtn, 19 mins.
The rest of the first half passed fairly uneventfully with Seatoun resorting to long range shots, none of which troubled Plank in goal, and it would have to be said that North Wgtn never really threatened either. Then, on the stroke of half-time, the portly Seatoun centre forward hit a cross shot as he was falling (he was adamant it was a shot - yeah right) which wrong footed Plank in goal and trickled over the line for the equaliser. 1-1, 45 mins.
Half time consisted of the traditional bickering and grumpiness and old Tin-Legs procrastinating over substitutions. To be honest, he was spoilt for choice with any one of four lads holding hands up - Meatloaf was the victor however, hence Mr Versatility Scotty B going to right back, man-mountain Dougie slipping to centre back (where it must be said he had a strong 2nd half), the flying Geoffrey dropping to his "accustomed" position of left back and Dave Ads slipping in with Jumbo at centre half.
The second half..... well we certainly dominated possession and territory and carved out plenty of decent chances. Jimeh and Spotty Shields both squandered great chances and the Seatoun keeper stood very strong in their goal. Ironically, Seatoun probably had the best chances of the 2nd half, care of the Blair Wright boys pushing plenty forward, searching for the winner, and thus leaving themselves vulnerable for the fast counter-attack. Thankfully Geoffrey and Dougie standing strong, backed up by some superb one on one saves by Plank (just wish he'd hold a few of them!!!) ensured the onion-bag wouldn't bulge again. In the end, a draw was probably a fair result.
Comment of the Day - "Jumbo, you bruise easier than a ripe peach" made after Jumbo revealed a rather nasty gash and bruise suffered after he, once again, tackled himself.
So half way through the season, 2nd equal (3rd equal actually - ed)on the table, 2nd best defensive record, but sadly 4th worst offensive record.... what's Gundy's e-mail address????
Reviewed by Grant Shields (thanks Grant) and added to website on 29 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 20th May 2000 - Churton Park

Solid Performance Seals Win For Blair Wright Boys.
Blair Wright XI beat WK Wanderers 1-0 in a close match played in perfect conditions at Churton Park on Saturday.
We were making our first appearance of the season at Churton Park and were pleasantly surprised at the good condition and size of the pitch. It's also a lot more sheltered than the top field at Alex Moore.
Before the match we listened to a bizarre, rambling 20 minute monologue from Player/Coach Wright. It was hard to follow the meaning of the speech but he was very passionate and seemed to be emphasising discipline after two yellow cards the previous game.
Wanderers started strongly and dominated the first quarter. The two Spotty’s were called on to hold them out and Herbert, in particular was playing his best match of the season.
We responded with Scotty M having a lively game upfront and Wright holding the ball up nicely. Both these players had their chances with one-on-ones with the keeper but shot too early when they could have tried to take the keeper on.
The best chance of the half fell to Wanderers when one of their strikers was put away but Plank pulled off a superb double save after the first shot was parried back to Wanderers. Their striker commented that Plank looked as if he was ten foot tall.
Nil all at half time.
We knew a bit more composure in front of goal was all we needed and Wanderers were obviously very confident as well, as a spectator over heard their half time team talk which included the line “lets put pressure on their back four, they’re all fat and slow”. Now, while we can’t argue with this opinion you have to have some sort of skill to exploit a team's weight and speed problems. Wanderers showed no such skill and in fact didn’t manage a shot at goal in the entire second half.
We came out a lot stronger in the second half with Dave Ads, Scotty E, Hughie and Geoffrey dominating the midfield and the defence untroubled except when Scott B, who was labouring under a groin strain trod on the ball just outside the area presenting Wanderers with their only semblance of a chance in the half. Fortunately the danger was cleared immediately.
We took the lead 10 minutes into the half when a clearance fell to Dave Ads 20 metres out and despite calls for the ball to be spread wide he drove the ball in the top left hand corner of the net. 1-0 North Wellington.
We almost went two up soon after when Geoffrey made one of his many storming runs down the left wing and whipped over a perfect cross which Hughie met at the far post with a diving header. Somehow he managed to head over the bar from 2 metres out.
For the remainder of the match we looked the more likely to score as Wanderers resorted to hopeful long balls that found the touchline more often than not.
The win put us equal on 16 points with Wellington Utd and Paraparaumu at the top of the table and our next game is away to Seatoun who are second from the bottom.
Reviewed by Scott Barber (thanks Scott) and added to website on 22 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 13th May 2000 - Alex Moore Park

North Wellington crash at home
North Wellington went into the clash with Varsity hoping to keep the pressure on the leading two sides of Wgtn Div 2, Wgtn United and WK Wanderers (Also Known as TC’s).
After heavy rain the day before, the match was transferred from the spacious Alex Wembley no. 2 to the postage stamp no. 3.
As usual the opposition looked young and fit compared to their hosts so a switch to the smaller pitch might have helped the home side.
After winning the toss, it was unusual to see the home team elect to play into a stiff southerly breeze. Varsity's plan was obviously to get the ball to the fast guys out wide and when near the box go for goal. This resulted in a number of early shots for Varsity - none that proved too difficult for the returning Plankster who is only available every other week.
J’Ville looked to play football into the wind knowing too well that the long ball was not going to be the answer and some nice interchanges were happening between the midfield and the 2 front players with Dave Wright holding the ball up well.
But too often than not, the ball would be lost in the attacking third with Varsity packing behind the ball when defending and relying on the fast break to utilise their speed out wide.
A blow for J’Ville was the injury to Jumbo which saw him depart after only 18 minutes, a quick reshuffle saw Scotty B (The Hit man) come on at Left back and Geoffrey moving to the middle of the park.
A goal was scored while the reporter was showering but was disallowed.
The game seemed to be going along nicely for the home side as Varsity continued the shoot on site policy.
Then on about the 35th minute what seemed a harmless situation on halfway where Meatloaf and Spotty Herbert had a nice interchange. Then while in possession Herbert stumbled leaving Meatloaf exposed to the impressive left sided player for Varsity who scampered down the left sending a good cross for Varsity to pounce resulting in a one nil lead.
This shouldn’t have fazed the vastly experienced home side and the encouragement on the pitch reinforced this.
The killer was about ten minutes later when the player-coach for Varsity picked the ball up inside his own half and ran unopposed 20 metres before unleashing a shot at the J’Ville goal. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem for Plank but on a windy day the ball kept accelerating and caught Plank out.
Two down at the half.
The mood in the J’Ville camp at the break was positive as now they had the wind and shots on goal were stressed. Hughie replaced Scott Moran leaving Bruce on the bench.
Barber urged a bit of urgency and demanded a bit of snap in the tackle the gleam in his eye suggested his was going to unleash something on the Varsity team.
It didn’t take long for him to make his mark. He was flying in from all quarters then not long into the second half after a foray up the left hand side he was jogging back for a throw in with the Varsity player-coach sprawled out in his wake. The assassin had started his private war against the men in yellow.
Things were not looking good as tempers were rising.
J’Ville heeded the half time call and the physical aspect of the game picked up. The ref, who had a good first half, decided he was going to have a mare. A good covering tackle by Spotty resulted in a free kick and the ensuing verbal barrage at the ref saw the Hit Man pick up a booking for decent. The ref was losing it.
Yet worst was to come with Geoffrey also picking up a booking for a scuffle that resembled something two old women would do in a grocery line. Apparently this was Geoffrey’s first ever booking but then revealed he hadn’t played too much football with official Referee’s in charge.
On the football side things were not improving with no real opportunities being created and the fast break was stretching the home side. Then the final blow was hit.
Spotty Shields under pressure slipped while trying to clear which left three Varsity players streaming through on the Home goal. The controversy now began as it blatantly appeared that there was a handball but the ref decided it was more ball to hand and waved play on which left Plank no chance as the third ripped into the net.
This now left a mountain to climb and with some players more concerned with the ref’s decisions it seemed more than likely the visitors would claim all three points.
Not a good day for the team but as luck would have it the top teams lost in the weekend creating a log jam at the top of the table and a big match next week against the Tawa’s disguised as Waterside. A win is essential if a title challenge is to be maintained.

Late news - Jumbo has been ruled out of this week’s encounter.
Reviewed by Konrad Chee (thanks Konrad) and added to website on 18 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 6th May 2000 - Petone Memorial Park

Putting last week's 2 goal hero Spotty Shields on the bench proved to be a master stroke from player coach David Wright. Petone were visibly stunned that a man of such skill not to mention girth could be left out of the starting line-up.
A slow start as North Wellington found it difficult to get fired up about playing a team that had conceded 35 goals in its first 6 games. Jumbo scored the opener with a lovely jinking run down the left, a little in and away before whipping one into the box, past the keeper and into the back of the net. After 126 games for the Blair Wright side his relief was obvious at finally opening his goal tally. 10 minutes later a through ball from Scottie Evans put Jimeh away who held off his marker and finished under the advancing keeper. Jimeh celebrated moments later by trying to remove a Petone defender's head which was on the other side of the ball he was attempting to kick. The scoring in the first half was completed by Scottie B from the penalty spot for some offence which missed by the reporter. (Spotty Shields was reliving last week's goal again on the sideline).
Half-time substitutions: Hughie replaced in goal by Spotty Herbert, Dave Wright on up front for Keano and Dave Ads off replaced by Spotty. 5 minutes into the half Scottie Evans pulled himself off and was replaced by Geoffrey.
The second half came to life with a contender for goal of the season by Meatloaf. The ball was swung in from the left and the strapping right back, calling so loud he was heard in Naenae, hit a thundering drive in off the left hand post. One of the opposition remarked it was "the best goal I have seen in this league all season", a compliment indeed from a player who must have seen more than his fair share of goals already.
The game opened up even more after that with chances at both ends. Dave Wright, Geoffrey and Scottie Moran's impression of human dominos in front of the Petone goal was appreciated by the large crowd. David made amends with a flick off his shin according to him (video replays suggest somewhere slightly higher on the leg) from a Jumbo corner for the fifth goal.
The game then took on a farcical edge with two deliberate handballs from Petone. The first was almost excusable earning a yellow card but the second was comical. Unfortunately the referee didn't laugh and sent the culprit for an early shower. The referee's benevolent fund was bolstered further by another booking this time for a late challenge on Spotty Shields, the big man showing characteristic restraint after the offense.
Hughie completed the scoring with a nice finish from just inside the area. So 6–0 the final score and the promise of plenty more hidings to come for Petone in the rest of the season.
Reviewed by Geoff Martin (thanks Geoff) and added to website on 7 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 29th April 2000 - Alex Moore Park

SHIELDS FAMILY TREBLE SENDS TOP WEIGHTS SOARING..........
A week is indeed a long time in football as the boys in the small shirts kept their season on track with a well deserved win over the previously unbeaten Wellington United.
Following the disappointing loss to Marist the starting line-up showed four changes. The transient Geoffrey, our one fit player, was restored to left midfield along with Jumbo and Dave Ads in the centre. Scotty B moved to right-back to allow the two Spotties to resume their love/hate centre back pairing.
On a well grassed but windy (for a change!) Alex Wembley J'ville started well against an experienced United side. With the team knocking the ball around and looking threatening down the left we went ahead after 11 minutes when Spotty Shields belied his critics with a well taken left-footed 'proper' goal from 19 yards (32 yards by 7.30p.m., 40 yards by 11.00p.m.).
Having established the lead we then allowed United to take hold of the game with the former All White keeper Van Hattum feeding their speedy front runners. A flick on wasn't dealt with by the two Spotties (enter the hate part) and the striker gave Plank no chance. 1-1, 26 mins.
J'ville were struggling. Barber's passes lacked the firmness of his nipples: Jumbo was showing the strain of only having eight games left to break his goal duck for Blair Wrights: The Spotties weren't talking: Dougies injuries were testing Keeno's fitness with the water bottle while Jimhe and Forest were left to pit their renowned speed against a series of high long balls.
Further poor defending coupled with a good finish saw J'ville 2-1 down after 35 mins. Dave Wright spurned a golden chance to level the sides when his eight yard shot failed to curl the necessary seven yards to sneak inside the post with Jimhe and Hughie wide open.
The boys weren't too despondent at halftime. Moran replaced Dougie and Martin slotted into his favoured left-back position where he hopes to spend the remainder of the season. We again started the second half well with Adams and Chee gaining ascendancy in the midfield with Wrighty and the evergreen Smith starting to get some ball to feet.
Spotty got his second with a thundering eight yard (12 yards by 7.30p.m., 18 yards by 11.00p.m.) header from an excellent Jumbo corner. 2-2 58 mins.
Tighter marking and better control saw J'ville continue to have the better of the game although Plank was forced to make an excellent one-on-one save.
Keeno replaced Jimmy and it was confirmed we had the least mobile strike force in the history of football. The situation was remedied when Scotty Evans (our other fit player) replaced Wright and the fresh legs were quick to make an impact. Moran and Martin continued to combine well down the left as the game headed for a draw. With six minutes to go Hughie broke the deadlock with a well struck 20 yard shot off his left shinpad which sailed over the keeper's head for the 3-2 lead.
Spotty spurned the hat-trick as fatigue consumed him in the one-on-one and J'ville had a well deserved win.
At the handshake it was nearly hand-bags at 10 paces with their sorry excuse for a left back wanting a piece of Hughie - there is plenty to go round.
Spotty Shields a resounding man of the match and the Blair Wright boys closed up to second two points behind the vanquished United. Late that evening Spotty was seen in deep conversation with Bruce Polyanszky and one can only speculate as to the potential for a first team return for the former child prodigy whose career was cut short by a debilitating ankle and midsection problem.
With the beers tasting so much better it's onwards to Petone with our confidence restored and all rosy in the land of the consummate athlete...............
Reviewed by Paul Shields (thanks Paul) and added to website on 2 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 22nd April 2000 - Kilbirnie Park

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 15th April 2000 - Alex Moore Park

North Wellington overcame a very young Western Suburbs in a hard fought 3-1 victory at a windswept Alex Moore Park on Saturday. North Wgtn with the strong wind at their backs made the better start and went a goal up after 5 mins when Dave Adams finished after good work down the right wing from Paul Shields. Though North Wgtn dominated the rest of the first half they couldn’t add to their lead and several good chances were missed. West’s seemed to gain confidence from only being one goal down at half time and started the second half very strongly with their midfield running at the North Wgtn defence. Andrew Daube , in goal for the first time this season was called on to deal a number of Wests crosses. However it was North Wgtn who scored next after 65 mins when a Konrad Chee through ball found Paul Shields unmarked and he beat the keeper with the Wests defence appealing in vain for offside. Wests got a goal back 5 mins later when slack marking allowed a Wests forward space in the penalty area to beat Daube. This seemed to awake North Wgtn and they started to play better soccer and with 10 mins to go a Chris Keen corner was headed back across the goalmouth by Grant Shields for Jimmy Smith to finish and make the final score 3-1. The win puts North Wgtn in second place on 7 points behind Wellington Utd who have a maximum 9 points. This Saturdays game is against third placed Marist at Kilbirnie Park at 12.30.

Mens 3rd team - Wellington Division 2 - 8th April 2000 - Harcourt Park

Late strike earns Blair Wright maximum points.
In still conditions at Harcourt Park a late strike by Garry Hepburn gave North Wellington maximum points in a game where Upper Hutt City considered themselves unlucky to walk away empty handed.
North Wellington troubles began before kickoff when ex First Team keeper Andrew Daube phoned 10 minutes before the start of play announcing his unavailability. With only 12 on the sheet it very quickly became 11.
Garry Hepburn, who had come down to watch, was quickly recruited and became the only sub to a team with an average age well over 30 and a waistline to match.
Some reshuffling saw Paul Shields move into goal where his performance saw him claim Man of the Match honours. A pre-match speech by Player Manager Dave Wright drew inspiration from the Hurricanes performance the night before but seem to have little to do with the task ahead. Upper Hutt started the game with some nice football and close to a 100% possession leaving a J’ville team feeling like they were chasing shadows. Slowly J’ville became more involved, but the adjustment to a park the size of Harcourt took some time with a team shape as stretched as Grant Shields shirt.
With all their possession Upper Hutt couldn’t carve a decent chance with a break away one on one when Konrad Chee lost possession on half way which produced a good save from Paul Shields their only real clear effort of the first half.
The back four of Scott Barber, Dave Cocker, Grant Shields and Tony Davies were doing a magnificent job on defense, superbly marshalled by Grant Shields who was a dominating force in the air winning some crucial headers on halfway as Upper Hutt decided to bombard the J’ville rear guard.
Half time couldn’t of come quicker for some of the J’ville players and the general consensus was a nil all score line was flattering.
The second half saw J’ville controlling possession as the midfield duo of Dave Adams and Chee demanded more ball and started controlling play, giving the visiting team a more controlled look. Though it did take a fine challenge just outside the 6 yard box from Dave Cocker to keep J’ville in the game.
Surprisingly the home team started to fade a little quicker than their heftier counterparts and this was when J’ville looked like a point wasn’t going to be enough.
What now appears to be an inspired substitution saw Garry Hepburn come on for Chris Keen with about 15 minutes to go. Hepburn instantaneously gave the visitors a more mobile force up front, which started to provide the Home team with a problem. Scott Moran was also to provide a threat on the left side of midfield even after doing a mountain of work in the first half along with left back Scott Barber.
Hepburn’s moment of glory was soon to follow. A free kick from Chee wasn’t cleared by the home defense, this provided Jimmy Smith to clean up and feed Chee who sent in a teasing first time cross which Hepburn climbed majestically to header over an out of position keeper. To the obvious delight of his team mates and travelling fans.
A Reward of maximum points for a great team effort and a confidence boost to the Blair Wright side ahead of next week’s match with Wests at Alex Moore.
Reviewed by Konrad Chee (thanks Konrad) and added to website on 10 April 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page
Postcript: Excellent to hear that their "mobile force" Garry scored - sounds like a good result. Garry was the Coach of the Mens Reserve team for the previous three seasons. - Warwick

Mens 6th team - Wellington Division 6 - 15th July 2000 - Wakefield Park

In an absolutely brilliant Saturday at Wakefield Park, The Sinners started off as they usually do, a goal down after a slight defensive lapse. After Gavy Underhill made a tactical decision to move Shaunovsky into the midfield the team stabilised with Blacky scoring his first of the match. Olympic then received a very suspicious penalty (which Olympic hit over the bar, everyone laugh now). After several arguments between the pit bull in the team (Poultney) and the other team (+ ref) things were starting to heat up. Olympic then scored just before half time to make it 2-1.
Second half arrived and with it came yet another dubious penalty which Olympic converted, 3-1. Olympic scored again to put the score to a near defeat for the Sinners (4-1). The Sinners came back to 4-2 with a Blacky shot over the goalkeeper, then a N Ward volley over the keeper, the score was now 4-3 with 2 minutes to go.
The Olympic ref, (as what M Underhill thinks) didn't have the guts to play any longer as his team could have drawn or lost, he blew the whistle for full time. Another Loss for the Sinners, but a thoroughly enjoyable game and yet again, the Sinners are coming into form at the end of the season.
Reviewed by Shaun Inwood (thanks Shaun) and added to website on 16 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 6th team - Wellington Division 6 - 1st July 2000 - Te Whiti Park

With the Sinners short on numbers with the unavailability of regulars Steve Toplis, Gavin Underhill, Gareth Elmey, Barry Cooney, Andrew Burt and Steve Storey (broken leg) it was a makeshift team that fought out a spirited but ultimately fruitless performance in near ideal conditions at Te Whiti Park.
Stop Out scored first after 20 minutes when a right-wing cross hit keeper Windsor on the knee and went in. Austin restored the balance 5 minutes later in turning in a left-wing cross from Poultney.
Some defensive lapses allowed Stop Out to grab two more before the halftime break.
With Stu substituted for Nathan, Jeff moved from striker to central defence while Nathan went up front and scored with an early touch 10 minutes into the half with a header from a chip through by Poultney. Stop Out restored the two goal advantage with a 20 metre shot past the second-half keeper Cooke.
With 5 minutes to go Nathan scored from close-range to give North Wellington an outside hope, however late in the game a right-wing corner eluded Cooke and was headed home.
An entertaining game in which North Wellington created plenty of chances with Windsor (20 metre shot) and Smith (header) hitting the crossbar in the second half, the Stop Out keeper saving well from Grace and Black and other opportunities being squandered with options available.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 1 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 6th team - Wellington Division 6 - 10th June 2000 - Wakefield Park

In rainy conditions, the Sinners played great one touch football in what seemed like winter in Iceland. North Wgtn took a one goal lead in the first 20 minutes with Baz Cooney running from half way to score, untouched. But due to a defensive lapse (sound familiar), Island Bay pulled it back to 1-1. Thus the score remained till half time.
Second half arrived and the "Super subs" of Muzza and Shaunovsky injected themselves quickly into the game (must have been the cans of "V" they had before the game). Baz Cooney scored 20 minutes in and Island Bay equalised with a goal that left half the Sinners' defence screaming offside. With 5-10 minutes to go, a penalty was awarded to the Sinners, in which Elmey stepped up to slot it in the corner.
Reviewed by Shaun Inwood (thanks Shaun) and added to website on 13 June 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 6th team - Wellington Division 6 - 20th May 2000 - Fraser Park

In brilliantly fine and calm conditions (especially in the first half) the "Sinners" snapped their six game losing streak against their fellow strugglers in the division, Lower Hutt, who have now lost all their seven games.
Jeff Grace broke through two tacklers inside the box to score after 15 minutes. Lower Hutt equalised when their striker shook off Gavin Underhill to finish inside the far post. However Steve Storey restored the lead shortly afterwards with a penalty after the Lower Hutt central defender bowled him over. Five minutes from the break and a Greg Windsor cross/shot broke through the Lower Hutt keeper's gloves to make it 3-1.
North Wellington had the better of the second half with several good attempts thwarted by the post (from Glen's volley off a corner) and the keeper (from Smith's 15 metre shot) and had to wait until three minutes from time when Storey ran through and shot home.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 21 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 6th team - Wellington Division 6 - 28th April 2000 - Churton Park

In pleasant playing conditions on their "home" ground of Churton Park, the "Sinners" lost their fifth consecutive game of the season as Stop Out came from behind after Barry Cooney had given North Wellington the lead in the 18th minute. Stop Out equalised within ten minutes and took the advantage with two goals inside the first 15 minutes of the second half. For North Wellington Greg Windsor had an industrious game in goal and Murray Poultney (off overseas now for a few weeks), Barry Cooney and Steve Storey worked hard in midfield. The reviewer refereed the first half and played at full-back in the second half.
Reviewed by Warwick Smith and added to website on 29 April 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 6th team - Wellington Division 6 - 1st April 2000

After going down 0-2 in the first 20 minutes, the "Sinners" came back in the second half to equalise at 4-4. Due to a dubious decision in the last 3 minutes to award a penalty to Petone, the Sinners were forced into catch up football for the second time in the game. The Sinners lost their first game, 4-5.
Scorers: S Storey 2 (1 pen), B Cooney, M Poultney.
Reviewed by Shaun Inwood (thanks Shaun) and added to website on 4 April 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 7th team - Wellington Division 7 - 8th July 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Finally ... for the third week in a row we have gone in at half time 1-0 up, but this week we maintained our concentration for the full 90 minutes and pulled off a good 3-1 win against Miramar at Alex Moore Park No. 2 on Saturday.
However, we did look like letting it slip again as Miramar pulled it back to 2-1 in about the 60th minute and then had a shot hit one post and roll along the line past the other post. That was the defining moment as we cleared quickly upfield and scored on the break to break Miramar's spirit and chances of a comeback.
The best aspect though was that the guys have finally clicked and shown that they can play some fantastic football. For most of the season we have been panicking on the ball and playing too many long balls, but now we have got the short passing game going and we are now a different team. It is like everyone has had the blinkers removed from their eyes and they have finally realised how to play football. It is too late for us to make an impact this season, but we will be definitely be a different side next season.
As for the game, Lee gave a man-of-the-match performance with some good runs from left back, while Andrew finally broke his duck with a great headed goal after good lead up work down the left by Andy number 2 and Guy. Bruce had a penalty saved and Guy and Mike missed a hatful of chances, included two off the line and a few more fired high and wide.
Next week we have the second-to-top team to test us .... will be a good test.
Reviewed by Guy Mullon (thanks Guy) and added to website on 10 July 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 7th team - Wellington Division 7 - 10th June 2000 - Churton Park

In weather more suitable for ducks than men, we were unlucky to not come away with a result against arguably the best team in our grade, Wellington United.
Missing Jo, Bruce and goalie Stephan we fielded a somewhat experimental line-up with midfielder Guy Mullon playing sweeper and Mike Thomas moving infield to centre half.
While Wellington United dominated possession and had more good chances, we were left ruing two mistakes that let in goals 5 minutes from the start and 5 minutes from the end to send us home 2-0 losers on the day.
Firstly, Mullon screwed up when he misjudged a through ball allowing United to score, and then as we were pushing for an equaliser, a throw from stand-in keeper Matt that stopped dead in the slosh was jumped on by a United striker who crossed for another to head home.
Despite the loss, we have improved considerably in the last few games as the lads have got to know each other a little better, and the 2-0 was a drastic improvement on the first time we played United when they beat us 6-0 (which could have been more). We were content to play counter-attacking football against United and it almost worked for us in the wet and muddy conditions.
Yasu was the danger man for us down the right hand flank delivering some good ball, Mike and our man of the match, Grant Upjohn fought hard in midfield and Simon Roper defended well at left back. However, some shooting practice might be on order for John Chandler who just seems to keep missing the target by inches again and again, ... but we've got faith in you John to get back on track ..
Reviewed by Guy Mullon (thanks Guy) and added to website on 29 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 7th team - Wellington Division 7 - 27th May 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Finally, our first win of the season came in the last game of the round with a hard fought and entertaining game at Alex Moore number one on Saturday.
After champions the previous two years the team has had to deal with a number of retirements and new players coming in and it has taken some time for us to build a team pattern.
However, we certainly did that on Saturday with everyone running themselves into the ground and playing some great football. Our defence was at last solid, bolstered by the return from extended injury of old man Andrew (Jo) Fraser and great saves by our Swiss import, Stephan.
It could have been 1-0 after just 1 minute except that Guy Mullon could not catch up with a diving header with the goal open (rumour has it his eyes were shut!!).
But the winner came from a superb header from the villain from the previous week, Simon Roper, who rose well and headed in a Mike Thomas cross after good lead up work by Bruce Collier, John Chandler and Guy Mullon.
The win from beating a good performing side like United has given the squad the confidence they need now to go on with it and perform for the rest of the season.
Reviewed by Guy Mullon (thanks Guy) and added to website on 29 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Mens 8th team - Wellington Division 8

Womens 1st team - Wellington Womens Premier - 6th May 2000 - Alex Moore Park

In a game called off after 70 minutes by referee Longhurst due to heavy rain the Womens Premier league leaders Wairarapa maintained their 100% winning record after six games with an emphatic victory over a North Wellington team which themselves maintained their 100% (losing !) playing record for the season.
Wairarapa were held scoreless for the first twenty minutes then scored twice in three minutes with both goals created by SWANZ (New Zealand team) player Wendi Henderson with through balls that firstly led to a penalty, converted by the Wairarapa sweeper, and then a second goal slotted past North Wellington keeper Erika Mackay.
The rain then drove me away !
Review by Warwick Smith and added to website on 8 May 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Womens 1st team - Wellington Womens Premier - 2nd April 2000 - Alex Moore Park

Our womens premier team began their league season with a disappointing 4-0 loss to newly promoted Seatoun on Alex Moore Park.
In pleasant playing conditions with a light southerly wind, contrasting the fierce winds that yesterdays mens games were played in, Seatoun took advantage of poor play by a North Wellington team fielding only a few players from the 1999 season.
A deserved Seatoun lead of 3-0 at halftime
Coach Bobby Wallace gave his substitutes a run midway through the second half as Seatoun added a fourth after 70 minutes through an own-goal header over the North Wellington keeper from a left-wing cross. North Wellington created several chances but were thwarted by the Seatoun defence and keeper.
Review by Warwick Smith and added to website on 2 April 2000 - please note the disclaimer on home page

Womens Premier - Pre-season tournament - 19th March 2000 - Awa Kairangi Park

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Last updated: 7th January 2001