The Karori Boomers had their first game on grass this at Petone last Saturday. It was also their first orthodox Saturday 2:30 game.
Petone Chicago's results had them at the top of the league, a commendable achievement considering it is their first season in Capital 5 following their promotion last year.
Alex Rothman will be missing for 5 weeks and his distribution and ability to keep the ball will be sorely missed by the Boomers. It was the first game without him so Jesse Strafford moved back to his position of last season sitting in the midfield. Cam and McSweeny kept their places at right and centre back respectively while it was a welcome return for Jesse Halford. Michael Candy completed the back four at left back.
Handley returned to the midfield with Tadhg in the hole and Ollie on the left. Novak received a debut start on the right while Darryl Jones started up front.
Petone Chicago may have been the league leaders with goals aplenty however their graceless style of football bamboozled the Boomers who expected a dangerous attacking side. Despite Petone being far from Barcelona, they were penetrative and the Boomers struggled to snuff them out in the first half. There were several realistic goal scoring chances and goalkeeper Jimmy Bascand was lucky to keep a clean sheet in the first half.
Petone immediately proved their aerial prowess, winning any ball the Boomers put to air. Petone's unceremonious pleasure to throw a long ball forward became all too predictable for the Boomers who were happy to swat most deliveries away. Their best chance fell to their striker who managed to lob Bascand from the side of the box and hit the crossbar. The Boomers were lacking the fluidity they needed to stretch the Petone side and create chances though so the match was turning into a gritty, unattractive scrap.
In the second half the deadlock was broken by a goalkeeping howler. After a Boomers chance in the box, with the opportunity to clear, the Petone keeper instead went on a marauding run into the middle of the park. He was tackled by Cam Holm who managed to offload the ball to Tadhg. From around 35 yards, Tadhg had plenty of work to do but sent a beautiful curling strike around the defender rushing back to cover his keeper. Boomers 1-0.
Not long after, a fight broke out involving several of the Boomers and opposition players. Without a proper referee it was an unfortunate situation to have. The commotion ended and the heat in the Petone side was notched up a bit while the Boomers were stagnant. Momentum was slowly going the way of Petone who seemed to want it more. Suddenly the Boomers were playing pressed in their half and could not get themselves back into the game. The ball was given away again in their own half and a quick counter with several Boomers out of position a tap-in goal came off a cross and with 15 minutes still to go it wasn't looking good for the Boomers as Petone were clearly buoyed by their goal.
The Boomers ruggedly and luckily held on in the final moments but will come away feeling lucky to have a point. They clearly failed to take advantage of a Petone side who lacked footballing ability and relied on hefty long balls, hard tackling and pumped up anger. For the Boomers it was a chance to keep up with Stokes Valley and take a mental win over Petone.
It was a chance not taken from the Boomers and they will look to turn that around against Marist at home in Karori. If the Boomers can't imrpove and take all three points this weekend, and results elsewhere don't go their way, they will lose significant early ground on the other title contenders.
GTFU.
No comments:
Post a Comment