Spectators relish goal fest at Rec Park

Golden Bay’s three senior sides were all at home on Saturday and, for the spectators, it proved to be something of a goal fest.

Sure-footed Goats thrash Nelson

In the Men’s Division 2 fixture, Golden Bay’s Mountain Goats dished out a 12-1 thrashing to Nelson FC 2nd XI. As well as collecting three points, the decisive win did wonders for the Goats’ goal-difference and must serve as a confidence booster for a side which is evolving into a highly effective unit.

Whether the visitors were having an off-day is debatable, but the Goats were definitely having an “on” day, with the whole team, from front to back, purring like a well-oiled machine.

The rout began when Jaden Thompson netted after four minutes; a few minutes later he doubled his tally. He was to double it again before the end of the match.

With less than 15 minutes gone, Lee McKenna, turned from provider to scorer making it 3-0 to the hosts. His joy soon turned to frustration, however, when the referee issued him a highly-questionable yellow card and sent him to the sin-bin for 10 minutes.

Nelson capitalised on McKenna’s absence to register their only goal of the match, but normal service was resumed shortly afterwards when Thompson completed his hat-trick, closely followed by Sammy van der Meer’s strike to take the half-time score to 5-1.

The Goats took a while to settle in the second half but the arrival of Goats’ player-coach Alex Luckert on 55 minutes injected fresh legs and added impetus to the attack. Regalvanised, the home side laid siege to the Nelson goal creating chance after chance. A combination of some last-ditch defending and the woodwork denied the Goats on several occasions, but the flood gates opened when Luckert slid in to slot home a half-volley. An ensuing frantic 15-minute spell saw a tap in from Thompson, a screamer from Elliott Gibbs and a further three goals from Luckert. And they weren’t done yet; with the clock ticking towards full time, hard-working Tim van der Meer put the cap on it when he soared high above the Nelson defenders and headed the ball into the back of the net.

Speaking immediately after the match, Goats’ skipper Danyon Fleming tried to make sense of it all. “We were calm and composed; they did not put much pressure on the ball, so we had time, and we were always moving.”

Stingrays snatch win

In the Masters competition, Golden Bay Stingrays faced Marble Mountain rivals Wakefield FC.

In an evenly matched first half, neither side could break the deadlock but, after the break, the visitors took the lead following a nasty collision involving Stingrays’ keeper Phil Smith. The Golden Bay goalie soldiered on and soon saw parity restored thanks to a strike from his skipper Rob Anderson. Smith wasn’t the only Stingray to suffer a blow; Paul Rooney had his nose broken, adding insult to injury, but player-coach Pete van der Meer managed the substitutions intelligently, bringing on Luke Concannon, who promptly scored an outrageous volley goal from just inside the box. Final score: 2-1, and another win for the masters of Golden Bay.

Roli Muntwyler man of the match: Pew Singh.

Maidens mauled by Cougars

In the Women’s Premiership, Golden Bay’s Shield Maidens met Māpua Cougars. Although the home side rediscovered their shooting boots to some extent, netting twice, they were left to rue several missed opportunities as the visitors outscored them by two. Final score: 2-4, a result which leaves the Maidens mid-table.

Speaking after the match, coach Richard Price said he couldn’t fault his players for lack of effort, but they needed to be more clinical in front of goal “They worked extremely hard; we had four or five good chances in the first half.”