Marist in relegation trouble after defeat
Palmerston North Marist suffered their fifth Central League loss in six games as they were beaten 5-3 by Miramar Rangers at Memorial Park on Saturday.
After the loss, Marist is firmly anchored at the bottom of the table along with Lower Hutt and Napier City Rovers, and the three sides look destined to fight out the relegation spot, with all the other teams on at least nine points.
Marist coach Shane Rufer admitted it looks a three-way battle for relegation even after just six games in the season.
‘‘We lost to both those two sides at home, so we’re going to have to go there and get a result,’’ Rufer said. ‘‘But it’s pretty obvious we can’t afford to give away five goals and win games.’’
Rufer said it was disappointing to see the lessons learnt in last week’s draw with Wellington Olympic go out the window.
‘‘Last week everyone played average or above and battled for every ball, but this week we didn’t reach the same level.
‘‘If we want to stay up we’re going to have to fight for everything for the entire 90 minutes.’’
Marist made a poor start, conceding after one minute, before Taylor Monk scored after three minutes to level it at 1-all.
But Marist conceded two more goals, the final one right on halftime, giving them an uphill battle.
Rufer changed his formation back to what they’ been playing and Marist was like a changed team, though they did go 4-1 down.
Two goals from Monk and Robbie Yule brought Marist back to 4-3 down and they had chances, before Miramar scored right on fulltime.
The women’s team blew a great chance of toppling
the defending Central League champions and favourite to win the new Capital W
Marist Wellington United,
League after drawing 2-all in Wellington.
Marist led twice before allowing Wellington back into the game, then they missed four clear chances, including an open goal that would have given them an important win.
Coach Simon Lees was disappointed his side couldn’t make the trip back from Wellington with three points in the bag.
‘‘We did more than enough to win the game’’ Lees said. ‘‘We just weren’t clinical enough in front of goal.
‘‘Even their coach admitted they were very lucky to get away with a point.’’
Exciting youngster Tilly James gave Marist the lead in each half, with Wellington equalising twice, the final goal coming 10 minutes from the end.
On the positive Lees said it was an important point that keeps Marist handily placed and with three rounds to the competition there’s still plenty of chances.
‘‘By a country mile it was our best effort of the season and we’ll be a tough team to beat if we keep playing like that.’’
Leah Gallie proved the difference in the midfield with her physical style of play.
While defenders Amber Phillips, Kate Bennett, Kate Watson and Molly Woodhead all had strong games.
notched their first point of the season with a high-scoring 4-all draw with unbeaten
at the university, but it should have been much more.
Down 2-0 Massey, got back to 2-all by halftime before then took a 4-2 lead before allowing Rangers to score two goals in the final 15 minutes.
Coach Donald Piper said they’re still on the improve and a bye next week will give them further time to work on the tactical way he wants the team to play.
Striker Ismael Mimbi added two more goals to the two he scored last week, with Matt Bertelson getting the other two. In the other game was beaten 6-3 by
in an entertaining game at Skoglund Park, with coach Neil Perry lamenting his side missing three clear scoring chances after they’d taken a 1-0 lead.
‘‘They changed their game, becoming more physical,’’ Perry said. ‘‘There was nothing wrong with their play, but we couldn’t keep up the pressure we had on them in the first 20 minutes.
won 2-0
Massey University Rangers
against
New Plymouth Red Soxmanawatu Havelock North Wanderers Wanganui Athletic Gisborne Thistle.