Canterbury stay in hunt
It was easy to spot which team at Newtown Park was in with a chance of making the Stirling Sports Premiership playoffs.
That team was Canterbury United, who showed all the requisite desire and effort needed to be a topfour team in the 4-1 win over the Wellington Phoenix reserves on Sunday.
The Wee Nix came into the match one point behind Canterbury, but with the knowledge that New Zealand Football rules do not allow them to participate in the playoffs - and it appeared to show in a lacklustre display throughout.
Two well-taken first-half goals to Stephen Hoyle had Canterbury well on the way to a win, and really they could have been up by two or three more before halftime.
An unfortunate own goal from the Phoenix’s Jake Williams early in the second half killed off the contest, before Andre de Jong capitalised on a misfired clearance from Phoenix goalkeeper Oliver Sail to push the lead to four.
The Phoenix’s goal 10 minutes from time was the best of the game as Ruairi Cahill-Fleury played a neat one-two with the impressive Sapreet Singh on the edge of the box before placing a cool finish to the bottom corner.
As good as that goal was, Phoenix coach Andy Hedge said it didn’t make up for the earlier lack of effort from his side.
‘‘They want to get the ball and want to show off how good they can be, I think the goal showed that, but they’ve got to understand that if they don’t put in the hard work and do the nasty part of the game, well nobody is going to let you play.
‘‘That was probably the most disappointing thing in terms of workrate and effort in certain areas.’’
When asked if the inability to make the playoffs hurt his side at this point in the season, Hedge said it shouldn’t be the case.
‘‘Whether that is a factor I don’t know, you’d have to ask them, it’s certainly not for us [coaches] because we want to win every game and I’m sure the players do too.
‘‘Sure, if they could get into a playoff then there is more on it, or if there is relegation then there is more on it, so potentially yes.’’
Canterbury coach Willy Gerdsen praised his side’s desire and the way players stepped up in the absence of Aaron Clapham and Gary Ogilvie.
‘‘We were missing two key players, so we had two 17-year-olds were on the bench and Aaron Spain at right fullback was an absolute standout for me.
‘‘It was a great team performance and full of great individual performances. We have another away game then we have two home games. We are in the race and that’s all we wanted.’’
Meanwhile, Team Wellington produced an incredible fightback against Hamilton Wanderers in Hamilton on Sunday, coming from 2-1 down with 15 minutes to go to win 4-2.
Andy Bevin scored the winner, sneaking in with a header at the back post, and then put the icing on the cake in stoppage time.