Rough start behind Marist

Palmerston North Marist coach Shane Rufer was excited as his team secured their first Central League point in their 1-all draw with Wellington Olympic in Wellington, but he’s not getting carried away.

After a disastrous opening to the Central League season with four losses and defensive frailties under pressure, a draw with the Central League champions on their home patch showed Marist are heading in the right direction.

‘‘We definitely needed to show a response to our poor start to the season,’’ Rufer said. ‘‘And we definitely did; it was our best performance of the season.’’

Rufer was most pleased with the way his side responded even when they fell a goal behind after just five minutes.

‘‘We could have been two goals down after 10 minutes, but we could also have won the game as we finished very well.

‘‘It showed on our day when we’re focused and concentrating for the full game we can compete with anyone.’’

Rufer is well aware the point must only be the start, with his side still at the foot of the table.

‘‘We’re got great spirit and morale, but we do need to work on our basics still and we’re not going to be happy until we’re off the bottom of the league.’’

Rufer was also pleased that despite five players being out, everyone played well, doing their roles.

Standouts though were Cameron Elms who did a manmarking job in the midfield, then scored the equaliser when he nudged the ball across the line after 30 minutes.

The referee signalled a goal, but then the linesman’s flag went up for a supposed indiscretion.

After what seemed like an eternity the referee allowed the goal.

‘‘When you’re at the bottom of the league all the decisions seem to go against you, so to get one go our way certainly lifted the team,’’ Rufer said.

Central striker Taylor Monk made his debut with Rufer saying he made a strong and promising entrance to the Central League.

Rufer will have a few decisions to make, with up to five players returning for a key home game next weekend against Miramar Rangers, who thumped league leaders Stop Out 4-0 on Saturday.

An 85th-minute headed goal from Josh Samson gave a 1-0 win over

in a Federation

Reserves Marist Red Soxmanawatu

League game that could have gone either way at Ashhurst Domain. was beaten in

Massey University Wanganui Athletic

4-0 by Wanganui.

Havelock North Wanderers Gisborne Thistle

beat North.

The women’s team had a surprisingly tough 3-1 win over Stop Out in a Wellington W League game at Memorial Park on Saturday.

After Stop Out had been walloped in their two previous games, many were expecting them to be cannon fodder for leaguechasing Marist, but coach Simon Lees ended up being disappointed.

‘‘We just seemed to be off our game in the final third for some reason,’’ Lees said. ‘‘Whether we were complacent or not respecting Stop Out I don’t quite know.’’

Lees did say Stop Out loaded up their defence and didn’t attack a lot, but it was has side’s issue to try and break them down.

‘‘We had 70 per cent possession and weren’t under much pressure defensively during the game, but when we attacked too many of our passes meant to go behind their defenders ended up going straight to them.’’

Torijan Lyne-lewis, Nicole Robertson and Mikaela Boxall scored goals for Marist.

Marist

7-1 in Havelock