Page 181 - NUAFC EBook

THE CHILLEANS
James McCaig and Tracey Kerr-Bell.
Brian and Helena Harding.
The first game on the park took place in late
January with a Chilean team arriving from Auckland for a
friendly against a mix-and-match group from
Ngaruawahia and Hamilton. The match was won 12-1 by
the Narra locals.
CLAUDLANDS ROVERS
The second run was mid-February at a Thursday
evening practice session where Claudelands Rovers
brought an A and a B squad to run with the greens. Our
A's won 3-0 and our B's won 1-0. A feature of the A game
was the official referee packing it in ten minutes before
time and going off home!
KAWERAU TOURNAMENT
On the last Weekend in February (27th) the team
travelled to Kawerau to play in what turned out to be a
Round-Robin competition against Melville, Wanderers
and Kawerau. The Club found it a long way to travel for
just such a small tournament, as they were lead to
understand that Claudelands Rovers would also be
competing.
Immediately upon arriving at the ground they
were informed that the game against Wanderers would be
starting immediately and that it would be followed straight
after by the Melville game!
Narra drew with Wanderers 0-0, Melville 1-1 and
Kawerau 2-2_ With all other games being drawn as well
the winner was found in the final round-robin match when
Melville beat Wanderers 3-2 to win the tournament. Narra
were second, Kawerau third and Wanderers 4th.
CAMBRIDGE TOURNAMENT
As has been the custom in the past the club
entered two sides in the annual Tournament. The year the
total entries had dropped to 23 with two further late
withdrawals, which left a few gaps in the games schedule.
The "A" team played Melville B and struggled to
find form on a small pitch but winning uncomfortably 3-0.
The next match was against Matamata (a 4-0 win) in
which a Matamata player was sent off in the 5th minute
and the Matamata Coach earned the displeasure of the
referee.
The final pool match was a dour struggle with a
very lively Ngongotaha (won 1-0) to leave Narra on top
and a place in the quarter-finals the following weekend.
The "B" team, under the stewardship of George
Sunnex, had a harder row to hoe, especially with the
withdrawal of East Coast Bays and only two matches were
played. Each remaining team in the pool were given a 1-0
win over ECB.
Forest Hill/Milford came up first and the lads
were within 4 minutes of a 1-0 win but had to settle for a 1
-1 draw when a late angled shot took a late bounce to find
the net over the diving body of Carl Allen. The last game
was against Melville A for a 0-1 loss but a dynamic
performance anyway.
Melville coach Steve Williams watched with some
consternation as his young son Matthew put pressure on
his team's goalmouth in the last game. It would have been
considered an extreme embarrassment for Mat to find the
net against Dad's team!
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