Te Puke’s famine turns into a feast
AFOOTBALL
fter struggling to find goals in previous weeks, Te Puke Utd scored four and conceded one to beat Hamilton Wanderers last Saturday.
After deputising in goal, Viktor Nielsen went back to the outfield with Ethan Ramsay putting on the ‘keeper’s gloves.
Te Puke took control from the kick-off and it was Nielsen who scored the first goal after just three minutes, heading in from a free kick.
Te Puke dominated for most of the first half, managing to thwart any Wanderers’ chances with strong defence.
Franco Paternoster made it 2-0 with a nice finish in the bottom corner after good interplay between Andrew Skerten and Emiliano Piedrabuena — that was how the first half finished.
Te Puke knew the game wasn’t won and came out firing, Jed Melton making it 3-0 with a clean finish early in the half. More good football and another tidy finish, this time by Piedrabuena, wrapped up Te Puke’s scoring in the 55th minute. Wanderers managed to score in the dying minutes from a penalty.
The player of the day award went to Melton for his performance on the wing and game on game improvement.
Te Puke travel to Tokoroa on Saturday for a game kicking off at 2.45pm.
Te Puke’s women’s side made it five wins in a row with a strong game at Litt Park on Sunday.
After a strong start Te Puke beat Blue Rovers 2-1.
The home team started strongly and after a good passing move, Chynna Davie’s shot into the far top corner from out wide put her side 1-0 up without the opposition having touched the ball.
An entertaining first half saw the home side not giving Blue Rovers any time on the ball, keeping their structure and playing attractive football that was entertaining to watch. Ellie Hansen and Ashley Weld dominated the midfield.
As halftime approached a ball from Weld saw in-form striker Sammi Parish just get to the ball ahead of the Blue Rovers’ ‘keeper to chip it into the goal for a 2-0 lead.
The second half saw the defence, marshalled by Talia Hope, make things tough for the visitors, but they did manage to pull one back with five minutes to go.
Weld was given the Annan Player of the Day award.
The women’s side are at home again on Sunday in a top of the table clash with Taupo¯ , kick off 12.30pm.