Welcome to the twelth edition of Te Atatu AFC‘s newsletter for the season! With Juniors and Seniors both kicking off their seasons, it's great to see the club back in full swing after a tough 2020 and 2021. Here’s hoping for a complete and interrupted 2022 season!! NEWSLETTER WELCOME, WEEK IN REVIEW Match day reviews Sponsor Profiles F E A T U R E S AUG04|ISSUE12
TE ATATU 2:0 LYNN AVON JUN 24 2022| ISSUE 24 AUG 12 2022| ISSUE 12
Saturday saw us take on Lynn Avon at Ken Maunder park. We traveled there to rectify the loss at the start of the season and maintain the good run we are on. Its getting to crunch time of the season where injuries start to take a toll on teams who dont have depth. Thankfully we have been able to deal with injuries pre kick off.
MEN'S FIRSTS
The game became a battle. We dominated possession, hit the post twice and if not for some unselfish play we could've been 2-3 up within 15 minutes, which seems to be a trend lately. Start with a hiss and a roar. Unfortunately Lynn Avon were able to keep us at arms length for the majority of the half despite being pinned back in their own box. Marc Porter scored a rebound after he played a 1 2 with the goal keeper but the ref decided he wanted to be the centre of attention and rule it out for a handball much to the disbelief of everyone around. A 45th min penalty by Rhys Caples was the difference going into the break. The less said about the second half the better, Lynn Avon grew into the game started dominating possesion without creating too many chances that troubled Liam's potential clean sheet. The game petered out towards the end but Darrell Hannah was rewarded for his hard work with a goal after stealing the ball off the keeper and finishing with a celebration with the ressie guys behind the goal. 2-0 the final score, 3 games in a row without conceding a goal. The only thing that will knock off us our stride is injuries, we're now without Matty Bowman who picked up a groin injury and Marc Porter to his credit played 90+ minutes on one leg. We managed to battle to 3 points, which earlier in the season we most probably would have folded, which is a huge credit to the team and coaching staff to change it around. We host Lynn Avon at home next week hoping to copy the same result.
MEN'S RESERVES
As the game grew Te Atatus through balls were far to direct and the Lynn Avon keeper was clearing comfortably, but most of the Lynn Avons ball game from our mistakes and with the ref eager to blow the whistle our lads conceded a landslide of free kick to keep the game ticking over from end to end. After some good play in the middle from Austin and Kumar, the ball found it's way to Campbell to fire a shot which ricocheted off more than a few feet before finding it's way to Adam Bradley, and with the defence flat footed and rooted to the spot, he finished past the keeper and our boys went into half time 2-0. A couple half time subs saw Ethan and Kane make their introduction, but the game plan was still the same with our boys utilising their high press and winning the ball high and pinning Lynn Avon back. A poor goal kick from the Lynn Avon keeper saw a return header play the perfect through ball to Adam again, and with the defence and keeper too concerned about Campbell's offside position, Adam could trickle the ball ever so slowly into the bottom corner. The celebrations were short lived after a couple pieces of catastrophic defending saw the speedy Lynn Avon striker finish past Scot and make it 3-1. Although it wasn't long again, before Adam capped off his hat trick with a cool finish into the bottom corner and give the boys a confident lead. Desperate to play the game out, our boys started to play conservative and with Lynn Avon building higher up the pitch they had a life line with a snap shot from a corner and with 5 mins to go our tat boys were breathing heavy. Only other notable event of the game was Campbell batt trying to hold the ball in the corner before eventually losing it and clattering a Lynn avon player and showing us why he's a striker. Same opposition this week and hoping for the same result
Looking to strengthen their hold on the top of the table, our ressie boys played Lynn Avon away. Game kicked off and in a flash we were up 1 0. After the ball bounces off heads knees and feet the ball falls kindly to Sean O'Loughlin just inside the box for him to finish into the bottom corner.
. TE ATATU 4-2 LYNN AVON JUN 24 AUG 12 2022| ISSUE 12
This weekend our ladies travelled south to Franklin United’s home turf for the last game of the round. On kick off the ladies were up for it and started strong with good pressure on the Franklin side who seemed to struggle to get into their rhythm.
In the 12th minute Ang Byrne made a great run through the defence and was taken down in the box by a late slide tackle. Penalty awarded and Rebecca Parkinson slotted it into the bottom corner to give Te Atatu the lead. The rest of the first half was fairly even, with chances going both ways and our ladies went into the break 1 0 up. The ladies went into the second half full of confidence & did well to shut down Franklin’s high and wide press. They rallied well but Franklin launched their comeback in the final 10 minutes, levelling the scored on the 83rd minute. Heartbreak came in the final minute when Franklin lashed a shot into the roof of the net to take the win. Despite the result it was a performance to be proud of, with everyone playing so well that Karl couldn’t give POD to just one person, instead giving to the whole team. For the next round our league splits into 2 (top half and bottom half), with points carrying through. This round we are focusing on a strong finish to the season and hopefully securing the top spot in our split.
WOMENS CHAMPIONSHIP
TE ATATU 1:2 FRANKLIN AUG 12 2022| ISSUE 12
WOMENS DIVISON 3
The division three ladies squared off against our big rivals, Waitemata, on Sunday. With a new coach and a new formation, but the same old issues of limited numbers due to injury and illness, we were in for another tough battle. Unfortunately, Waitemata's pace up front meant we conceded fairly quickly and were on the back foot for a lot of the game. On a positive note, our passing and team play was vastly improved compared with the first time we played Waitemata during pre season. It was really encouraging to see the progress we've made as a team. As the end of the season approaches, we're locked in a tight battle near the top of the table, and need to win our final game of the regular season to finish in the top three. Player of the day was Telana Flanagan, who generously played in goal for the full game. A huge thank you to Travis who's stepping in to coach the ladies for the remainder of the season we really appreciate it.
. TE ATATU 0:8 WAITEMATA AUG 12 2022| ISSUE 12
WILD STALLIONS
This weekend the Stallions played at our “home” ground of Michaels Ave once again as we took on the aptly named Ellerslie Wounders (this time they were a good bunch of lads though). A well organised team talk fell on deaf ears as the one important thing of note (big mans Delap like throw ins) was executed to perfection 30 seconds into the game and we basically started 1 0 down. Everything collapsed, much like the box of Lion Reds when Corey dropped them pre game. A sign of things to come… The first half saw us concede two more goals through very clever play from the aforementioned big man who set his team mates up perfectly. At half time, we genuinely stood with hands on heads because we were the better side and couldn’t quite figure out how we found ourselves 3-0 down. The second half plan was to get the ball into Adam up top who’s hold up play on the day saw him take the MOTM award home. Despite dominating possession, our opposition snuck in a 4th against the run of play. Jared doing his best Ted Lasso impersonation on the sideline told the boys to “believe” and throw bodies forward to push for a goal we so badly deserved. This backfired as Sammy (playing right back) was practically playing as a second striker which left Horsley stranded between the sticks for their 5th goal which wrapped the game up. DOTD went to Corey for fumbling the precious beers. The beers were still delicious and were served with a delightful entrée of oranges from Lukas. Health is wealth.
STALLIONS 0-5 ELLERSLIE DIVISION 9AUG 12 2022| ISSUE 12
WESTERLIES
WESTERLIES 3-3 METRO O35'SAUG 12 2022| ISSUE 12
After an awesome and hugely satisfying win last week, the lads were pumped and ready to get into this week’s game and continue our great run. Unfortunately, 2 things conspired against us First was midfielder, and scorer of last week’s winner, Sammy being ruled out with injury. Secondly, we were on the number one where we had our only 2 losses of the season. Not being superstitious types (until after the game at least) we were looking to vanquish the demons in what’s going to be our last chance to play on the number one for the season.
The game started off a lot faster than usual and Metro were probably one of the most organised teams we’ve played all season. In an action packed first half, Metro went ahead with a great diagonal through ball that split our defence, followed by a disallowed goal to Pikey for offside. This spurred the lads on and after some great defensive blocks by our lads, we sprung forward and scored 2 legit goals to Pikey and Paulie to take the lead. Tragedy struck just before halftime when Pikey and their defender clashed, and he went off injured. It’s always going to be hard with the main goal scorer off, but the lads kept a positive mindset into the break.
The second half started well with Paulie getting his 2nd of the match and taking us out to a 3-1 lead. To their credit Metro kept pushing and scored a second after another defence splitting pass. Following this was an…unfortunate(?) handball penalty awarded to Metro which caused great debate during and after the game, especially since we had a pretty decent shout for one denied earlier. Eddie guessed the right way but unfortunately could only get a hand on it and guide it into the net This caused a crossroads where the lads could a) either drop their heads and let Metro steal a winner, or b) they could get on with business and play with attacking intent. Full credit to the lads because they chose option b) and were only denied a winner thanks to a great save by their substitute keeper On another day either team could’ve won, but Metro put in a great shift and bought some of the best out of our lads. Much like the Liverpool vs Fulham match, it was a draw that felt like a loss (we definitely can’t blame the ground for being too dry though), but getting the point keeps us on top of the table Man of the Match was Paulie U for an awesome double, but also taking on a lot of responsibility and injecting himself into the game all over the pitch. Well done to Mike O for continuing his recovery after hip surgery and getting more minutes under his belt (am I allowed to say that? Does the wife know…?) and thanks to Rob for running the line after his team the Kowboys beat 2nd place Eastern Suburbs on Thursday night Onto next week vs Mt Albert who are a bunch of great lads, evidenced by the time they spent at the clubrooms after the last game, but also a fellow title contender so we expect our 4th close game in as many weeks
