Best win of season for Te Awamutu’s players
Te Awamutu completed their WaiBOP Football Premiership campaign with their best win of the season, a 6-0 drubbing of Hamilton Wanderers midweek at Porritt Stadium.
Edmonds Judd Te Awamutu were fast out of the blocks, scoring all six goals in the first half after an early Steffan Foulkes goal had opened the flood gates.
David Hall reports that everything seemed to click and by halftime the result was a foregone conclusion.
Alan Ball and Haydn Roil, in midfield roles, linked well with the attack.
Goals to Foulkes (2), Jack Connor, Jono O’Sullivan, Joel Roil and a first of the season for captain Thomas Watts had the score-card ticking over at a rapid rate.
In the second half Wanderers upped their game but it was too little, too late as Te Awamutu goal keeper Kevin Billot secured another clean sheet.
Coach Joe Gifford demanded a return to basics and a clean sheet from the game and his defenders Thomas Gifford, Hamon McKay, O’Sullivan and Richard Wilkins duly obliged, taking care of the Wanderers’ attack and limiting them to only a few scoring chances.
Second half substitutes Tawhiri Ball, Nathan Scott and John Ward injected themselves into the game nicely as their team tried to find another goal to help their overall season’s goal difference.
The result was enough to lift Te Awamutu into seventh place in the 12-team league with a final record for the season of played 22, won 10, drew two, lost 10, scoring 35 goals and conceding 30. The game was the last for Watts who announced his retirement from first team football. He intends to follow his two sons and their sporting endeavours more intently from now on. The club thanks Thomas for his efforts over many seasons and wishes him all the best for the future.