Greens make point with Anzac spirit
By Gifford Lee, Waikato Times
If Waikato had to form an army tomorrow, a few of Ngaruawahia’s soccer troops in the trenches wouldn’t go amiss.
They produced a spirited Anzac Day battle with Papatoetoe in soccer’s northern league first division.
With field marshall Richard Harris leading his men out of defence and the trusty support from lieutenants Troy Lochead and Gordon Glen-Watson, Ngaruawahia weathered plenty of Papatoetoe onslaughts but got back up each time, fought hard, and secured a 1-1 draw out of a very feisty encounter.
After going down to a soft goal just after the break, a real turf-war ensued with numerous off-ball incidents bringing vitriol from the sidelines. But Glen-Watson, in his first game of the season, silenced the opposition after turning a headed goal into the top right corner from a Lochead long throw with barely a minute of normal time left on the clock.
Glen-Watson, who has been kept out of the side due to work, said the stalemate was a fair result for two teams who had been neck-and-neck last season and then both promoted to the first division in 2007.
“Papatoetoe have adjusted to life at this level better than us but we battled hard . . . we’ve got to be happy,” he said.
“It was a game we needed to get a point from. We talked before the game about playing ugly if we had to but more about getting back to the basics.”
Lochead filled in for the injured Nils Reardon admirably while the return of Glen-Watson alongside fellow old head Harris will mean this side’s defence will be hard to break.
However, while the side seem to have remedied their previously very leaky back third, other areas of the field remain a concern.
Glen-Watson admitted after the game his side barely looked like scoring and felt if they were to go level it would come from a set play. And that’s exactly how it transpired with Lochead’s long throw into the area.