Mariners make a bright start
FOOTBALL: The Marlborough Mariners have already put themselves in a commanding position to progress through to the knockout stages of the Tasman Trophy after beating Tahuna 4-0 in the pouring rain at the Tahunanui Playing Fields in Nelson on Saturday.
With two second division sides joining them in Pool B, the away trip against Tahuna was always going to be the toughest of the three fixtures so coach Wolfie Waechter was obviously pleased that the Floorpride Mariners put them to bed early in tough conditions and, ultimately, got all three points.
‘‘It was a good win for us in difficult conditions. It was bucketing down in the first half and I was hoping it wouldn’t be called off. The pitch held up quite well, it wasn’t muddy or wet on the surface though so it was okay to play on,’’ he said.
The Mariners were in control early, Martin Delgado opening the scoring with a diving header after just 20 minutes before Alex Connor-McClean beat his man and laid the ball off to Bryce Smith who doubled the lead with a tap in shortly after.
Despite Lukas Simpson miss- ing a penalty after striking the right-hand post with his effort, the visitors eventually extended the lead in the second half with Bjorn Waechter finishing off a neat one-two with Delgado in midfield to make it 3-0 before Connor-McClean slotted the ball between the goalkeeper’s legs to make it 4-0.
Tahuna, who finished fifth in the division one competition, tried to fight their way back into the contest but their attacking mindset left them susceptible to counter-attacks, which played into the hands of the speedy Mariners.
The Mariners will meet Nelson Suburbs 2nd XI, who were well beaten by Motueka, in the next game at A&P Park on Saturday. A draw should be enough to see them through to the knockout phase.
‘‘On paper we should win this comfortably but we’ll never take anything for granted and we’ll put our best team out,’’ Waechter said.