The first half was a tightly matched tussle with most of the play around the halfway line as both defences held their lines well and kept attacking chances to a minimum.
The centre-back pairing of Kimbal McHugo and Mark Tiumalu-Faleseuga kept Waikanae quiet all day, while Jackson Murray and Chris Temperton were outstanding on the flanks.
However, the game started to open up in the second period as legs began to tire, and Manakau grabbed the lead on the hour mark after good build up play from Jackson Murray and Mike Urlich set up a chance for Atain Halley who scored with a clinical finish.
It looked that that might be enough to win the game, as Manakau continued to defend tightly, but Waikanae equalised from a free-kick with 15 minutes to go with a well flighted shot that curled over the defensive wall.
Manakau pushed forward looking for the winning goal and Urlich was unlucky to see a shot come off the post, before Halley popped up in the penalty area to score the winning goal with just 5 minutes remaining.
The man of the match award went to right back Chris Temperton who was outstanding in the tackle all day, and provided an injection of pace when coming forward as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment