Auckland v. JEF United, 15/2/97

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Auckland Stretch JEF In Final Tour Match

by Jeremy Ruane

JEF United completed their four-match tour of New Zealand at Allen Hill Stadium on February 15, coming from behind to defeat a gallant Auckland Selection 5-3 in breathtakingly hot conditions which demanded plenty of energy from the players on the park.

The Keith Garland-coached Auckland combination rocked their highly skilled Japanese counterparts with two goals in the first ten minutes of an enthralling encounter. Willie Thompson's fifth minute corner was flicked on by Richard Cannon to Kara Waetford, who rose on the far post to head home.

Nick Hyde's tenth minute header, from a Thompson cross after Danny McHenery had held the ball up well, extended Auckland's lead, but the Japanese were quick to respond to these setbacks.

Only a fine save from Nigel Kelly denied Rade Bogdanovic a goal within sixty seconds, but the lanky striker had only a further five minutes to wait before celebrating the first of his brace.

Inevitably, Nenad Maslovar was involved. The playmaker's performance was a nonchalant one, full of all the flicks and tricks which one associates with the highly talented. His left foot, I'm sure, could open cans! It's certainly capable of picking out a team-mate with pinpoint accuracy, as Bogdanovic can well testify.

He sent the ball looping over the head of Kelly from Maslovar's free-kick in the sixteenth minute, and the ball, which was in the process of crossing the line, received some hearty assistance from Yoshika Matsubara, who raced in to make sure of JEF's getting back into the game.

The livewire number nine had but eight minutes to wait for a goal of his own. Bogdanovic, meantime, had twice gone close to scoring, firing his second attempt wide after Kelly had turned his first one to safety.

And he it was who provided the ball on a plate for Matsubara in the 24th minute, after a timely interception by Peter Bosz. Kelly was beaten all ends up.

Bogdanovic hit the post soon after, while Kelly parried a Maslovar drive to safety in the 36th minute, before the goal-net once again bulged, this time at the other end of the ground.

Auckland edged ahead again in the 39th minute. JEF's goalkeeper, Atsushi Shirai, brought Heath McCormack down in the penalty area while attempting to deny the striker. The ball spun into the path of McHenery, only for the well-performed Shinichi Muto to clear the danger, but only as far as Richard Harris.

He played the ball wide to Hyde, whom JEF expected to knock the ball out of play, given the still prone state of his Auckland team-mate. But Hyde delivered a cross to the far post, where Thompson lurked. He, in turn, squared the ball to Cannon, who thundered home the fifth goal of the afternoon.

Before the interval, Maslovar missed a golden opportunity to level the scores once again. Having rounded Kelly, he homed in on goal, with Waetford, who had retreated to the goal-line, denying him a clear view of the target. Maslovar pulled the trigger, only to see the ball ricochet off the post and away to safety.

Concerted JEF pressure in the second spell eventually paid off in the 54th minute. Maslovar's corner was weighted perfectly for Eisuke Nakanishi, who rose on the far post to power a header into the top of the net.

3-3, and all to play for. Kelly saved brilliantly from Matsubara in the 67th minute, after Nakanishi and Bogdanovic had combined to good effect. Then it was Kelly's turn to stem the yellow-and-green tide, Maslovar his unwilling victim this time, following the promptings of Muto and Bogdanovic.

It seemed JEF were destined not to score in the 77th minute, as Cannon and Waetford both produced goal-line clearances to deny Maslovar - direct from a corner - and Matsubara respectively. But any hopes Auckland held of holding out for a memorable draw were dashed by one of the best free-kicks you're ever likely to see.

Maslovar directed operations in the 78th minute, as JEF gained a free-kick on the left-hand edge of Auckland's penalty area, about twenty yards out on the angle. Kelly arranged a suitably sized wall, while the remaining defenders marked up accordingly. What followed was, quite simply, impossible to stop - an absolute peach of a free-kick which curled inch-perfect into the top far corner of the net, a strike which no goalkeeper could have foreseen, never mind prevented. A glorious goal.

Followed, within seconds, by a fifth for JEF. A case of a return to basics, if you will. If Maslovar's goal was a celebration of art in footballing form, the final goal of the day owed its generation to the game's "Route One" philosophy!! Shirai sent forth a lengthy clearance, Maslovar flicked the ball onwards, and Bogdanovic strode onto the sphere to roll the ball beyond Kelly, who had slipped as he began his attempt to reduce the angle.

The goalkeeper produced a top-class save to foil Matsubara two minutes later, while at the other end, Thompson, in the game's dying minutes, whipped a free-kick round the wall but just past Shirai's left-hand upright.

5-3 it finished, JEF worthy winners, and wonderful ambassadors for their country and the game itself. Full credit to the Auckland lads, too, a collection of winter league players who were enjoying their first run in 1997. Against the best football team to visit these shores in years, they were far from disgraced.

Auckland: Kelly; Winton, Waetford, Brown (Ramsey); Hyde, Bunbury (Allanson), Harris (Mulrooney), Cannon, Thompson; McCormack, McHenery (Roberts)

JEF: Shirai; Chano, Uki, Nonomura, Muto; Nakanishi, Bosz, Ejiri; Bogdanovic, Maslovar; Matsubara

Referee: Brian Precious

Representative