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Auckland City FC versus Canterbury United
Played on 21/02/2010 at Kiwitea Street |
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Deserved Point For Plucky Canterbury At Auckland
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Goals |
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Jacob Spoonley |
1 |
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Ki-Hyung Lee |
1 |
Yellow Cards |
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Alex Feneridis |
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Grant Young |
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Greg Uhlmann |
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Alex Feneridis |
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Grant Young |
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Greg Uhlmann |
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Deserved Point For Plucky Canterbury At Auckland
by Jeremy Ruane
with the compliments of www.sportswebsoccer.com
A plucky Canterbury United combination produced some very tidy football and earned a richly deserved point from their visit to Kiwitea Street on February 21, a result of holding reigning NZ Football Championship title-holders Auckland City to a 1-1 draw.
Auckland started strongly, Ian Hogg rampaging down the left before picking out Daniel Koprivcic in the third minute. His shot on the turn was directed straight at Tom Batty, who looked on with relief as Ki Hyung Lee’s thirty yard firecracker of a free-kick fizzed a yard over the crossbar.
Seconds later, Adam McGeorge fired over a low cross from the right which Batty parried away from the incoming Koprivcic. Grant Young was following in, but Canterbury’s custodian recovered quickly to save at his feet.
Canterbury were giving as good as they got, however, and in the best tradition of Keith Braithwaite-coached teams, were playing some stylish football to boot. Referee Wayne Scott, whose inconsistency throughout proceedings frustrated many, was unsighted when Matt Williams handled the ball in his penalty area just four minutes in, so couldn’t give the appropriate award, much to the visitors’ annoyance.
Jacob Spoonley was little troubled by Russell Kamo’s long-range headed effort in the twentieth minute, but that wasn’t the case two minutes later. Dan Terris, Darren Overton and the hard-working Aaron Clapham combined on the right, with the last-mentioned picking out Kamo with a peach of a cross which the striker met with a powerful header, forcing Spoonley to smother low to his left.
Auckland’s response was a right-wing raid featuring Ivan Vicelich and Pritchett, whose cross found Young completely unmarked on the far post. Dan Terris charged towards him, but the striker deftly side-stepped the defender, only to shoot straight at him - the standards Young has set meant better was expected of him from this 24th minute opening.
Clapham went close with a free-kick from the edge of the ‘D’ on the half-hour, before a dipping long-range effort from Overton forced Spoonley to back-pedal and tip the ball over his crossbar, with Tom Lancaster’s resulting corner to the far post being headed back across goal by Gareth Rowe to Paul Dirou, who headed narrowly over the bar.
On the stroke of half-time, the visitors took the lead, and deservedly so, too. Nick Wortelboer played the ball forward to Kamo, who got in behind the defence and held the ball up well despite the pressure applied by Greg Uhlmann on the edge of the penalty area.
Kamo laid the ball back to Clapham, who took the ball on in his stride and thrashed the ball beyond Spoonley into the top right-hand corner of the net, the ball swerving away from the diving goalkeeper towards its destiny.
City sought a swift riposte straight from the resumption, and only a timely tackle from Terris thwarted Koprivcic on the edge of the penalty area two minutes into the second half, following some good work by Jason Hayne down the right.
But their initial flurry petered out, and Canterbury gradually gained the upper hand once more, a rasping 54th minute drive from Lancaster - Spoonley dived to his right to save well - signalling the start of their most dominant spell in the match, in which they executed the basics really well.
City held firm, but struggled to penetrate United’s organised ranks. It looked like it was going to take something special for the home team to maintain their year-long unbeaten record on home turf, and in the 74th minute, that’s exactly what materialised.
Hogg raced down the left before sparking off an interchange of passes to which substitute Adam Dickinson, McGeorge and Koprivcic all contributed. The last-mentioned played the ball back to Dickinson, who stroked it across the edge of the penalty area.
Arriving on cue was Lee, who unleashed an absolute scorcher of a shot which tore past Batty and slammed into the back of the net - 1-1, and how!
The self-belief with which Canterbury’s performance had, to this point, been imbued all but evaporated upon conceding the equaliser, and Auckland, sensing the game was now theirs for the taking, looked to press home the advantage which the change of momentum brought about.
While Lee was lying prone inside his own penalty area, after being accidentally caught by substitute Hue Frame as the goalscorer foiled the replacement with a well-timed tackle, his team-mates stormed downfield in the 82nd minute, Hayne leading the charge with Pritchett in support.
The latter’s cross targeted the head of Dickinson, but Batty managed to scramble the ball to safety, with assistance from Gareth Rowe and Matt Boyd, who were rock-solid at the heart of Canterbury’s rearguard.
Their efforts were almost in vain three minutes from time, as Auckland came desperately close to stealing a late winner. Substitute Alex Feneridis swept the ball downfield, and Wortelboer allowed the ball to bounce over his head … not the smartest idea when a speedster like Hayne is hovering with intent.
In he nipped, instantly sizing up the situation and lobbing the stranded figure of Batty. But Wortelboer, along with Rowe and Boyd, were racing back towards the target, and the first-mentioned got there just in time to hook the ball to safety, and confirm a thoroughly deserved point for the Cantabrians, who climbed back into the play-off placings with this result.
And on this showing, they should be a racing certainty to confirm a top-four finish. There is much to like about this young team, and they will give as good as they get come play-offs time, make no mistake.
As will the reigning champions, who took the outright lead in the competition with the point earned from a game in which they sorely missed the vibrancy and energy of the suspended Chad Coombes.
City now require two wins from their last four matches to clinch a first-placed finish, and the first of New Zealand’s two berths in the 2010-11 OFC Champions League, and it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they could confirm that placing before they next grace Kiwitea Street in five weeks’ time.
Auckland: Spoonley; Pritchett, Vicelich, Uhlmann (booked, 8), Hogg; Williams (Feneridis, 63 (booked, 90)), Lee, McGeorge; Hayne, Koprivcic (Urlovic, 79), Young (booked, 42) (Dickinson, 59)
Canterbury: Batty; Terris, Rowe, Boyd, Wortelboer; Clapham, Pitman (Collins, 83), Dirou, Overton, Lancaster (booked, 19) (Wild, 77); Kamo (Frame, 70)
Referee: Wayne Scott
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Club World Cup December 2009 - UAE |
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