Junior Navy Blues beat Bay to stay top

Words: ACFC Media

Sunday 26 November 2017

Picture: Phototek

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Junior Navy Blues were made to work by Hawke's Bay United after they scrape home in a 2-1 win in the National Youth League today.

A double by Justin Bailey was enough to see Auckland City FC over the line but they had to survive several close shaves as the visitors made for a difficult afternoon for Aaron McFarland's charges.

Bailey opened the scoring just two minutes into the match and there were further first half chances for Dino Botica and Thomas Drillien the visitors survived.

That proved to be a temporary reprieve when Bailey repeated his early scoring feat with a second goal two minutes after the break.

The Bay rocked the home side when they halved the deficit on the hour mark after a lapse in concentration in defence.

It was a moment that jolted the Junior Navy Blues back into gear when Antonio Bonkovich rattled the Bay crossbar just moments later.

Auckland City FC had claims for a penalty turned down midway through the second half and they held onto their slim lead by a thread after Botica somehow cleared a goalbound effort off the line.

Bailey had the ball in the back of the Bay net for a third time with 10 minutes left only for the effort to be ruled out for offside.

Assistant coach Hiroshi Miyazawa was measured in his praise for his players and kept thoughts of next week's derby crunch match with Eastern Suburbs AFC close to his chest.

"We needed three points and we achieved that today but in the first half we didn't control the game.

"We made a few tactical changes at halftime to things we needed to improve but then we allowed Hawke's Bay to score from a corner kick and that kept them in the game.

"The team delivered the win and that was the main objective.

"We talk to the players about having a hunger, energy and passion for what they're doing and to strive to be better.

"This is a quiet and nice group of players but we need to improve their attitude," he said.

AUDIO - Hiroshi Miyazawa

The Junior Navy Blues next match is with Eastern Suburbs AFC on Saturday 2 December at Michaels Avenue Reserve.

The game kicks off at 2pm.

Ends

Ends

Match Result
National Youth League
Sunday 26 November 2017
Auckland City FC 2 (Justin Bailey 2)
Hawke's Bay United 1 (TBC)
HT: 1-0

National Youth League Results

Saturday 25 November 2017

Canterbury United 2
Hamilton Wanderers 1

Sunday 26 November 2017
Tasman United 3
Eastern Suburbs AFC 0

Wellington Phoenix U-17 1
Southern United 2

Waitakere United 0
Team Wellington 1

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