Manakau Hui Mai edge to victory at the Domain

Manakau Hui Mai edge to victory at the Domain

Manakau United grabbed the only goal of the game at the Manakau Domain on Saturday afternoon to edge out a competitive Waikanae Leaders side and keep their unbeaten streak going. It was not a hugely entertaining game, with both teams closely matched throughout, and neither side able to maintain possession for long.

The first half was full of effort and endeavour, and the few chances that were created at either end were caused by pressuring and creating defensive lapses, rather than genuine creative play.

However, the Manakau team management did have a couple of aces up their sleeves on the substitutes roster, with Otaki College players Atain Halley and Jackson Murray starting on the bench after having already played a competitive game for their school earlier in the day.

The introduction of the students paid dividends just after halftime when a through ball from midfielder Paul Kulhavy reached Murray on the edge of the Waikanae area. Murray jinked inside his marker and although his shot was partially blocked it only fell as far as the lurking Halley, and the teenage striker made no mistake ramming his shot home from 12 yards.

Waikanae raised the tempo in an attempt to find an equaliser, but solid defensive work from Kimbal McHugo, Mark Tiumalu-Faleseuga and Chris Temperton generally kept a lid on Waikanae attackers and goalkeeper Paddy Sannazzaro handled the longer range shots and crosses quite comfortably.

At the attacking end for Manakau, Peter Rowe delivered a number of good crosses from set-pieces, and with time almost up Halley nearly made it 2-0 with a ferocious volley that was only kept out by a quality reflex save by the Waikanae goalkeeper.

But the score line stayed 1-0, a narrow win for the home side that keeps Manakau challenging near the top of Division Two.

In Division Three, the Manakau Hotel side faced a tough test against the top of the table Waikanae Youth side, and it proved to be a long hard afternoon as Waikanae ran out well deserved 5-0 winners.

Manakau did play with a lot of spirit however, with Simon Ryding putting in a man-of-the-match performance in the centre of defence, and note worthy efforts also coming from Chris Georgetti, and goalkeeper Chris Humpheys.