3 AUG 1998 , Edition 2, Page 17.
Morale-booster for Ngaruawahia
IAN ANDERSON
Ngaruawahia United raised their spirits while Melville United and Te Awamutu raised their games.
Most Waikato sides recorded respectable results in the various divisions of the Northern League soccer competition on Saturday with Chatham Cup semifinalists Ngaruawahia gaining a morale-boosting 1-0 away win over Waitakere City in division one.
Glenn Brown scored the only goal in the first half as Ngaruawahia again dominated, according to coach Jeff Coulshed, but failed to net many of the chances they created.
Most pleasing was key defender Aaron Kingi being able to play 45 minutes in a test of his injured knee although Nikolai Helwig, Robert Edwards and Kerry Hawkes all missed the match through injury.
In the same division, Melville United gained an excellent upset point in a 1-all draw with Tauranga City. Melville may be second from bottom in the league but held their own against second-placed Tauranga who look assured of promotion.
A powerful header and a charge down of a goalkeeper’s clearance gave Cliff Collins both of Claudelands Rovers goals in their 2-all draw with Te Atatu but Rovers switched off badly for an hour in the home encounter and had to come home strongly after an encouraging start. Cambridge battled hard to a nil-all away draw with Bay Olympic but desperately needed all three points to aid their battle to climb out of the relegation mire.
In division three, fifth-placed Te Awamutu performed wonders before falling 4-2 to unbeaten Taupo, who have won 16 and drawn their other two league matches this season.
Matamata Swifts had Andre Bos’ third hat trick of the season to thank for a flattering 4-0 win over winless Glen Eden. It gave him a new club record of 19 goals for the season and kept Swifts challenging for promotion in third spot.