| BNU 2 v. Lower Hutt 4, Saturday 5th May 2007 |
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| Written by Matt Dillon | |
| Saturday, 05 May 2007 | |
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May already? Where is the year going? For the BNU Premier League side it’s heading towards the toilet. If they can’t see it yet, they surely can smell it.
And so it continued against Lower Hutt’s reserve team at Bell Park. The game kicked off in brilliant sunshine on a pitch in very good condition. BNU started the game in positive fashion forcing a couple of half chances and generally having the majority of the play. Hopes were raised that the positive feelings taken from last week’s performance were starting to show on the field. Unfortunately reality struck home after about 15 minutes in the form of a break from Lower Hutt down BNU’s right flank, culminating in a peach of a far post cross that was finished well just inside Brooklyn’s left-hand upright. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, having seen most of BNU’s games this year, but somehow it still did. Hence this week’s movie is anything staring Hugh Grant. You go along thinking he has to play a different character this time but are not really surprised when he churns out Charlie from Four Weddings and a Funeral once again. But BNU, as they had done against Tawa 3 weeks earlier, answered straight back. Within a couple of minutes Brooklyn had equalised through debutant midfielder Sam Buckle who finished well at the second attempt. Unfortunately that was not the only similarity to the Tawa game as the home side started to then take control of the match, creating a couple of half chances. When Lower Hutt did score though, it was more through the defensive frailties of the visiting side than any offensive ability, as BNU missed vital tackles and failed to clear their lines despite several opportunities to do so. Although, judging by the celebratory dance come jig come pre-fight warm-up performed by Lower Hutt’s successful striker you could have been mistaken for thinking he’d scored the winner from 25 yards in the 94th minute. The sides turned around at 2-1. Lower Hutt came out the stronger side in the second half and started to make BNU’s defensive third their own. In the process of setting up camp in the Brooklyn goal box they won a disputed penalty. Disputed not the least because of the tenderness of the challenge, but also its location. As the home side placed the ball outside the penalty area, and BNU began to assemble a defensive wall the referee pointed to the spot. Those in yellow and green were as surprised as anyone. This misfortune was then multiplied as Barry, the sole remaining centre-half remaining on the pitch for BNU after Chris Sperring had been called to Christchurch at half time due to a free beer surplus in the Garden City, was then given his marching orders for voicing his opinion on the referee’s grasp of local geography and also offering a short critique on the main official’s performance during the game thus far. The penalty was duly dispatched. Lower Hutt then made it 4-1 shortly afterward and BNU were staring down the barrel. Again. BNU’s Dave Herman kept the score down with a couple of sharp saves as the game ground on. This seemed to inspire Brooklyn a little as they rallied late in the game and scored via a little pinball wizardry to at least bring a little respectability to the score. Unfortunately next week’s match sees no let up as BNU travel to play 5th place Wairarapa United. |
