Moturoa decimate Woodleigh
If this year’s Taranaki premier football title is decided by goal difference, Moturoa would have to like their chances early on.
After a 3-1 win over Francis Douglas Memorial College in the opening round, Moturoa let loose against Woodleigh to take a dominant 10-1 win at Onuku Taipari Domain on Saturday.
While the scoreline suggests a big gulf between the sides, Moturoa didn’t have it all their own way.
It took less than three minutes for the first goal to be scored, with Woodleigh’s Shintaro Kirkcaldie exploiting space down the edge to get on the end of a lifted pass and lob the goalkeeper.
Woodleigh held the lead for 10 minutes before Sam Westlake got on the end of Scotty Manson’s free kick and headed his team level.
It was a relatively even playing field through the opening 30 minutes, as Woodleigh continued to exploit the space made by Moturoa left back Zayed Rabbaney playing high up the pitch.
Moturoa did look the better of the two teams, however, and were up 3-1 at half time with two well taken goals from captain Dylan Coutts.
While the first half was even, you couldn’t say the same about the second as Moturoa scored goal after goal with Coutts bagging his hat-trick, Hayden Murray and Morgan Hall both nabbing second half braces, and Tyler Buckland and Joe Conley getting on the sheet as well.
By the midway point of the second half, neither team looked like they wanted to be on the pitch anymore with the result locked in.
Woodleigh took to taking long range shots in the hope of scoring something spectacular which never came.
The result saw Moturoa take top spot on the ladder after the opening two rounds, with Woodleigh slipping from sixth to eighth.
Elsewhere, FC Western took a 3-1 win over Eltham while Peringa were 1-0 winners away to Hawera.
Meanwhile Francis Douglas beat Inglewood 3-1 and New Plymouth Rangers beat New Plymouth Boys’ High School 4-2.