Central United v. Miramar Rangers, 3/3/96

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"Cen-sational!!"

by Jeremy Ruane

"Cen-sational!!" That's the only word to describe the Smokefree National Soccer League clash between Central United and Miramar Rangers at Kiwitea Street on March 3.

It had a little bit of everything. Goals galore - Central won, somewhat flatteringly, 5-2, a missed penalty, a thrilling second half fightback from Miramar, and, most crucially, a sending-off late on which had a telling influence on the final outcome.

Central started strongly, none more so than Fred de Jong. He appeared determined to get on the scoresheet, and only a fine tip-over-the-top save by James Bannatyne in the ninth minute denied him early on.

Big Fred had but two minutes to be patient, however. A Sean Fallon clearance was well gathered by Stephen Lane, who laid the ball neatly into de Jong's path. Nothing but net - a swerving shot which flashed through the arms of the startled Bannatyne. Cen-sational!!

Play ebbed and flowed with half chances at either end in the next fifteen minutes, before the game was graced by an absolute screamer of a goal in the 27th minute.

Hoani Edwards crossed to the far post for Mark Atkinson, whose shot was blocked. The rebound fell to Lane, who saw Fallon's run and teed the ball up for him. I haven't seen him hit the ball more sweetly - left foot, on the run. Cen-sational!! 2-0, Bannatyne beaten, bemused, bewildered, befuddled.

It was no more than Central deserved. Their play oozed confidence, and Miramar were chasing shadows on occasions. Had soccer's answer to "The Red Checkers" gone in at half-time three goals to the good, it wouldn't have been undeserved.

As it was, they had the ideal chance to do so, from the penalty spot two minutes before the break. Tom Dodd had brought down Lane, and up stepped Billy Harris. Bannatyne proved equal to the spot-kick, 2-0 the score remained.

Whatever Miramar had in their half-time tea should be bottled and sold separately!! They began to gain the ascendancy in the second spell, but not before Lane missed a great chance to kill the game off with just Bannatyne between him and a third, surely match-clinching, goal.

Gary Minshull fired the first shot in Miramar's arsenal, only for de Jong to head the ball off the line. That effort, on the hour mark, was followed, four minutes later, by the substitution which turned the game Miramar's way.

Rangers had brought Tinoi Christie on for the injured Kevin Thompson in the fortieth minute, but it was the entrance of Malcolm Dunford which provided Miramar with the on-field guidance their play required.

Within three minutes, the visitors were on the board. Nasser Mohammed threw off the shackles prescribed by his defensive duties, and led the charge forward. After evading challenges like there was no tomorrow, he crossed the ball. Atkinson, playing his last game for Central before heading for Singapore, cleared the danger, but only as far as Michael McGarry. He squared for Christie, who tapped home from close range.

Four minutes later, Christie had struck again. In contrast to his first strike, this was far more memorable. Brilliantly controlling a lofted Chris Jackson pass, he juggled his way past Atkinson before volleying emphatically into the roof of Brett McMurdoch's net.

From being dead and buried, the blue-and-black-striped Miramar line-up now looked the more likely winners. Robert Taylor and Minshull both went close, while Christie, on receipt of a cross from the impressive Simon Elliott, hit the crossbar with a bicycle kick deserving of better fate.

Lane, meanwhile, had headed wide when scoring seemed easier, as Central launched a rare second half raid through the wily Noel Barkley.

All the inroads Miramar had made in the second spell were nullified in the 82nd minute by a moment of madness from Jackson, New Zealand's Player of the Year in 1995.

While Miramar coach John Cameron can swear till he's blue (and black) in the face that Jackson played the ball, referee Derek Rugg, who was very much under the spotlight in this match - a number of FIFA's refereeing gurus, including General Bouzo of Syria, and about fifty referees from the Oceania area were in attendance - had no hesitation in brandishing first the yellow card, then the red at the previously booked Jackson, while Matthew Vuksich writhed on the ground.

At this Cameron went ballistic in the dugout, a loss of composure which was reflected on the pitch, his Rangers team capitulating just at a time when the match was poised for a pulsating climax.

Harris, on his own in the 84th minute, Barkley, on receipt of a superb Fallon through ball, and Lane, who took an Edwards shot/pass in his stride before firing home emphatically, wrapped up proceedings in the last six minutes. Cen-sational!!

National League