Wednesday, May 5th 1976
$60 ball donated
Having being offered $60 for one of their new match balls by a sports store owner, Ngaruawahia United were looking forward to using the German product in their 1st Division match against Tokoroa on Saturday. Mr Hans Czichy donated two of these balls to the club after returning from a holiday in Germany.
United Draw 1-1 With Teachers/Varsity
Waikato 3rd Division
The ground was in reasonable condition despite the rain and previous matches played on it by other United teams in the morning and early afternoon. The curtain-raiser was between United and Teachers-Varsity of the 3rd Division. In this match neither side looked dangerous. The match came alive when Teachers worked a ground ball across the goal and caught the keeper going the wrong way, to give Teachers a 1-0 advantage. Tony Armstrong of United equalised shortly afterwards and then United applied the pressure, but could not score any more than one match point.
United Draw 3-3 with Tokoroa
Waikato 1st Division
In the 1st Division game Tokoroa was looking for its first match points for the season, and got away to an early 2-0 lead with two opportunist goals. United keeper Murray Liddle dropped the ball while attempting a thrown clearance and it was stabbed in by an alert Tokoroa half-back. Shortly after a right-wing cross from Tokoroa bounced off the top of the crossbar and was well headed in.
It looked at this stage as if Tokoroa were going to walk away with the game, however United’s outside left, Jeff McLaughlin, raced onto a lobbed through ball and scored in a move identical to the goal scored by Stoke in Southhampton’s F.A. Cup win.
United came equal in the first half when Les Geraghty chipped a free kick over a wall for Chalie Gorman to send the keeper the wrong way and score the equalizer.
Tokoroa drew away in the second half when they netted from a free kick, and it looked as though time was running out for United. Pressure from the home team was taking its toll on Tokoroa, and United were creating more chances than they deserved to miss before substitute Tony Armstrong screwed a left-foot shot over the defence into the top left corner to finish the scoring at 3-3. Tokoroa were unlucky not to net a 10-metre screamer that keeper Liddle did well to hold, late in the game.