Agonising loss in cup for Marist

A centimetre either way could have made a heck of a lot of difference for the Palmerston North Marist women’s football team.

Marist were beaten 2-1 in extra time by Upper Hutt in the national knockout cup quarterfinal in Hutt Valley on Saturday, after the scores were level 1-1 at fulltime, in a game where Marist twice came extremely close to scoring what would have been crucial goals.

Marist coach Simon Lees said they hit the crossbar and the ball spun out of the goal; then in the second half of extra time a shot from Rose Morton hit the post and the ball spun agonisingly along the goal line before the Upper Hutt keeper grabbed it.

The winning goal for Upper Hutt came before halftime in extra time when Marist keeper Aoife Gallagher-forbes got a hand to an Upper Hutt shot, but then the ball cruelly spun across the line.

‘‘It was extremely even to be honest,’’ Lees said. ‘‘It could have gone either way.

‘‘They had a couple of other chances and we had a couple of one on ones.

‘‘Both teams will look back and say they could have won.’’

He said it was an awesome game and was pleased it wasn’t decided on penalties.

Marist changed their formation to combat Upper Hutt and pressed Upper Hutt up high rather than letting them come and attack.

Upper Hutt’s first goal came 13 minutes into the game when Marist failed to clear their line and national age-group striker Emma Main attacked the ball and scored.

Marist answered back through TJ Lyne-lewis six minutes before halftime when Hannah Fitzgerald received a nice ball up front and she flicked it on for Lyne-lewis to score.

It was tight for the rest of the match until full time when it was level 1-all, and then Upper Hutt bagged the winner in extra time.

‘‘They scored right on halftime [of extra time],’’ Lees said. ‘‘It was a heart-breaking moment.

‘‘Not only the goal but also the timing of it as well. The girls were probably thinking about turning around.’’

Amber Phillips was outstanding at centre back and their midfield trio of Morton, Leah Gallie and Mikaela Boxall all worked hard against their Upper Hutt opposites.

Gallagher-forbes played well in goal too and Tilly James was a threat up front.

Former international Sarah Gregorius didn’t play for Upper Hutt. (Emma Main 13’, Lena De Ronde 105’) (TJ

Upper Hutt City 2 Palmerston North Marist 1

Lyne-lewis 39’). HT 1-1. In the Federation League,

Palmerston Reserves

League bye.

North

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North Wanderers Plymouth Rangers‘ Wanganui Athletic Marist

opened up an eight-point gap between them and the bottom two sides with a 3-0 win over at Massey. It was 0-0 at halftime, but Marist scored three second-half goals to Blair Lankshear, Javed Khan and Lucian Armstrong. thrashed 6-0 at Napier. leaders killed off title hopes in Taranaki, with Havelock North winning 2-1 to give them a ninepoint lead at the top of the table. had the

Havelock New

The relegation-bound Marist men’s Central League team didn’t play because it was a Chatham Cup weekend.