Match Reports

Wainuiomata v BNU Pretenders - 13th May 2012

The score: Wainuiomata 4 - 6 BNU Pretenders

The day: wet with a strong northerly.

The expectations: high based on Wainui's stats to date.

The team (them): young, green and scratchy.

The team (ours): older, injured and scratched.

The supporters (them): lots and very vocal they were too.

The supporters (ours): traded in beers and chairs for mochachinos and dogs.

The first half: A goalfest, but not in the way we'd anticipated. The 2-goal wind appeared to be a 4-goal wind and it was 4-2 to them by half-time. Their screams of joy indicated goals were not a common occurrence (in fact this was the most goals they'd scored in total in all the games they'd played in the competition so far).

Our goals were courtesy of super-sub Stacey and a great follow-up from Shannon when another shot from Stacey bounced off their goalie.

The half-time speech: Contained the dreaded "d word" (disappointment) and several f words.

The second half: Not sure if it was the benefit of the wind, the half-time speech or Daniel cannily moving Brittany to striker but we were up 3 goals to 5-4 within about 20 minutes of the second half. Two goals courtesy of Brittany (a goal-mouth scramble and a stonking header off Stacey's cross) and one from Aroha (a great shot from the top of the box). Then the wind died and the goals went with them.

Finally, another great goal from Brittany meant a hat-trick for her and sealed the deal for us.

The special mentions: Stacey's stunning goal and assists, Madelene and Rachel for having to put up with some foul play, Wendy for taking one for the team right in the belly and Kathleen's clean sheet for the second half.

The player of the day: Had to be hat-trick Brittany (player of the day for the second week running)!

Naomi Wallwork

BNU Pretenders v Western Suburbs Cartridge World 6th May 2012

BNU 2 - 5 Wests

Match stats*	BNU	Wests
Possesion	33%	67%
Shots	8	16
Shots on target	4	12
Corners	4	12
Fouls	2	2

*Not actual stats, just a guess - but one day we might get a keen supporter to note them down!

It would have been nice to give Daniel something to smile about this weekend after the FA cup final and the BNU Mens Capital 5 derby results. Instead we made it a losing trifecta. Part of the reason may have been that we were playing a bunch of very physical schoolgirls who were sticklers for the rules. We had HAPS on the sideline and they had DADS, who were even more vocal.

It was a glorious sunny day with not a breath of wind. Madelene wisely chose the direction so that their keeper had the sun in her eyes for most of the first half. Unfortunately much like last week we hardly even got into their first half in the first 20 mins of the game. The few times we managed to go on a break we were called offside (by our own coach!). The Wests seemed like they'd been coached by Arsenal's George Graham the way the offside trap had been drilled into them.

We seemed a little stunned initially by their youth and it wasn't long before they were 2-0 up despite some valiant saves by Kathleen. All I remember of those first two goals were that they may have been the blonde pony-tailed one with full-make up, possibly a lob into the corner and another in a goal mouth scramble.

We got into gear eventually and got the ball into their half more. EventuallyAroha scored a beauty - just like the textbook shots she had been practising before the game, high and into the far right corner. No chance! Half-time score was 2-1 and we were back in the game.

They scored early into the second half which was a little gutting. We managed to hold them off for a wee while after that but eventually there was a 4th. We were also lucky that another of their shots just hit the post.

Our heads didn't drop though. Laree got a great individual goal from her right wing position taking it all the way up and getting a beautifully placed shot past the keeper. The score was 4-2 but there were less than 10 minutes left in the game. Then, in the last two minutes one of their midfielders just happened to get some space in front of goal and poked it into the top of the net.

Madelene did an awesome run from the right back to left back position and up the field at one stage. Aroha was all class again with her goal kicks, well-timed tackles and well-placed balls (not to mention her goal). We missed Kirsten yelling at us from centre back but Sharon was solid as usual. Jenny H had to go off early with an injury and Jenny M made a guest appearance having finally found her boots after baby number two. Brittany toiled away up the left wing running on to myriad balls and making it extremely hard for them to get any traction up that wing - she was rewarded for her efforts with player of the day.

Daniel suggested we might need more rigorous warm up drills before the next game so we can start at full tilt. This suggestion was eagerly taken up as a promise rather than a threat!
Next week we've an early game at Wainui who are currently bottom of the table with 3 goals for and 41 goals against. They lost this week to Victoria (8-0) but spare a thought for the other Western Suburbs team (who defaulted against us) - they got a 20-0 drubbing from Naenae yesterday.

Naomi Wallwork

Stop Out vs BNU Pretenders 29th April 2012

Stop Out 2 - 2 BNU Pretenders

I'll be honest. I did not have high hopes for this game. Stop Out were top of the table, had not lost a game and had scored 15 goals to our 2. My trepidation increased when I arrived at 12.30 to see they were already out on the field doing impressive-looking drills. Some of them looked like they might still be in school, which is never a good sign.

Possibly due to this pessimism and the 2-goal wind at their back, they completely dominated the first 15 minutes - I don't think we even penetrated their half.

Eventually they managed to poke a goal in after a scrappy period in our box. After that we started making a few inroads into their half, and all was looking much better until one of their strikers got a break and scored an impressive individual goal.

To our credit, our heads didn't drop, and we continued to attack. After some good passing work Jenny tapped a beautiful little ball through right in front of the box to Shannon, who duly lobbed it high and into the corner of the net.

At half-time we were 2-1 down but we had the wind in the second half, along with a big injection of confidence. In the second half I ALMOST got worried that Kathleen was getting a bit cold and bored back there as it seemed to be all about us. Rachel and Brittany were doing awesome work up one wing, and Laree and Jenny doing the same on the other side. There were some killer balls from the wing across the face of the goal that we couldn't get a foot to for love nor money.

We also had a sustained period of corners, ably taken by Laree, that never quite made it into the net.

Finally the ball fell to Liz who took a shot and for once their keeper fluffed it and we had our second goal.

From there on in it was anybody's game and there were a few hairy moments up at our end too. It was almost disappointing when the full-time whistle was blown, as it really felt like we could've scored another.

We welcomed Brittany to the team, who said she was out of practice - if that's out of practice then we can't wait for her next game! We also had the valuable services of Laree again, who managed to prevent the ball from getting anywhere near our goal on many occasions.

Our HABS (who prefer the term HAPS - Husbands and Partners - as it implies a greater level of commitment) are getting ever more organised with beers AND chairs. If this is how organised they are at the start of the season, by the end they might have a marquee, sofa and fridge on the sidelines.

At the well-attended post-match drinks, Daniel said we all had great games but player of the day was Wendy who did great work both up front and mid-field. Our corners, goal kicks and passing game were much improved.

The result leaves us at 6th on the table with 5 points and a nil goal difference. Next week we play Western Suburbs Cartridge World who are 4th on the table, with 6 points. Given how well we did against Stop Out - I have much higher hopes for this next game!

Naomi Wallwork

BNU Pretenders vs Naenae 22nd April 2012

BNU Pretenders 0 - 2 Naenae

It was a beautiful Wellington Sunday and also my birthday so by rights we should have won and I should have scored copious goals. But the football gods were not smiling on us, and instead we came away with a loss, bruises and aching muscles.

The first half was reasonably even. We missed a couple of opportunities and they capitalised on a goal mouth scramble. They had a reasonably solid defence with some players with very powerful clearances. Despite them leading 1-0 at half-time, we were definitely still in it.

Daniel's pre-match speech had mentioned that football was played with the top 2 inches of our head. Clearly he was speaking figuratively and referring to playing with our brains. But by half-time, he was far more literal - he just wanted us to head the ball more! As a result there were headers galore in the second half and we were much more attacking.

Early into the second half and against the run of play they bore down on our goal and took a shot which Kathleen valiantly kicked out. Alas it wasn't cleared, and one of their players ran on to it and managed to get a cheeky lob into goal.

Nevertheless, our heads didn't drop. I lose count of how many shots Wendy had on goal in the second half that were saved by their annoyingly efficient keeper. Due to the onslaught of shots and corners, their defence packed the box so tightly towards the end of the game that the goalie compared them to a bunch of grapes. Occasionally they cleared the ball down field and our defenders did a lot of running but they mostly got there and sent it back up again. We played much better in the second half and the scoreline could easily have been a draw.

Richele played her first game and didn't seem half as nervous as she professed to be. Rachel managed to run 7km despite having already done a 12km run that morning. And we farewelled Bex. She won't be forgotten, not least because Meg suggested we remember her at prizegiving with the Bex Leslie memorial bra for most outrageous stunt.

Aroha was player of the day simply for being all class. We are very grateful to have her taking our corners and goal kicks. She also had some great runs including one where she seemed to circumnavigate the entire pitch. This was particularly impressive given (rumour had it) that she got in even later than Bex on the Sunday morning, which is no mean feat.

Special mention should go to our supporters who have grown in number this year - apparently they have dubbed themselves the HABS (Husbands and Boyfriends). We hope the HABS have the same enthusiasm in the middle of winter!

Naomi Wallwork

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