Central United v. East Auckland, 25/5/03

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Easts Prevail In Gripping Clash With Central

by Jeremy Ruane

It was a Southern Trust National League encounter which lived up to the closely-contested nature of past clashes between Central United and the East Auckland franchise’s predecessors in the National League, University-Mt. Wellington.

But on May 25 at Kiwitea Street, it was the visitors who were doing the celebrating on the final whistle, East Auckland’s 2-1 defeat of Central securing second place - and two lives in the play-offs - for the league newcomers, while condemning the long-time league leaders to third place, and a home play-off against Napier City Rovers in six days’ time.

If you arrived late for this one, as many did, little wonder the sight of the scoreboard reading 1-1 at such an early stage prompted many a double-take. But 1-1 it indeed was, with both goals coming inside a frenetic first two-and-a-half minutes which had both sets of supporters in the eventually one thousand-strong crowd roaring their approval and cheering for more.

Straight from the kick-off, Central rampaged downfield, with Daniel Koprivcic and Jeff Campbell leading the charge. The latter was hauled back by Sean Douglas just outside the penalty area, and his heart was in his mouth as referee Derek Rugg rightly pulled him up for a professional foul.

Thanks to the presence of a couple of fellow defenders nearby, "Rowly" escaped with a yellow card, but Central weren’t overly concerned about this. Instead, there was a gleam in Miro Major’s eyes as he organised the resulting free-kick some twenty yards from goal - this was well inside his range and very gettable.

And so it proved. As Major stepped up to strike, Koprivcic, who was standing in the substantially-manned wall, stepped aside, leaving an inviting gap. The set-piece specialist wasted little time in steering the ball through it and into the bottom left-hand corner of Sean Dowling’s goal - the ‘keeper’s first touch involved picking the ball out of his net.

The Central fans were delighted, matching the joy of their charges. But a stunned East Auckland simply said, "Anything you can do, we can do also", and promptly proved the fact!

Soon after the kick-off, Central conceded a foul some fifteen yards inside their half, towards the street-side touchline. After referee Rugg had had a quiet word with both victim and perpetrator, Paul Stephens stepped up and drove the ball towards the far post.

Alarm bells were instantly ringing in a Central defence sans three of its usual first-choice suspects in Michael Ridenton, Dean Tallentire and Greg Uhlmann. Nik Viljoen must have thought all his Christmases had come at once given the absence of this trio, and he it was who rose to head the ball across goal to Joe Waugh, who mistimed his volley in a crowded goalmouth.

But stooping to conquer was Nathan Strom, who reacted like a cobra to his team-mate’s misdirected effort and headed home from close range - now it was Paul Malan’s turn to get a touch of the ball for the first time in the game, via a method he would not have hoped to.

After this barnstorming beginning, the four-figure crowd was treated to a good old-fashioned arm wrestle between the two play-off rivals, each, despite the paucity of goalscoring opportunities created, going for the victory which would bring them the coveted second life in the play-offs and, in Central’s case, a possible home advantage in same.

It turned out to be a match in which both goalkeepers, while their shot-stopping capabilities were not often tested, proved resolute in their duties, both enduring frequent tests of their aerial prowess, with team-mates and opponents alike added obstacles as they sought to catch or punch cleanly. Both Dowling and Malan, unsung heroes both this season, deserved full praise for their efforts in this contest, with the former the busier of the two throughout.

Dowling’s first save came in the seventh minute, tipping another Major free-

kick over the crossbar. The resulting corner from the same player was not cleared, with Neil Sykes close-range drive blocked on the line by Tetsamuru Kimura.

After Koprivcic had sent a dipping twenty-five yard drive just over the crossbar in the 25th minute, Campbell let fly from similar range seven minutes later, having drifted past two opponents when cutting in from the right. Dowling smothered this effort, and found Malan matching his save at the other end of the ground a minute before the break, after Easts’ best raid of the half.

Kimura - what a technically gifted player this lad is! - angled a superb ball through Central’s defence for Paul Bunbury to latch onto, with Easts’ captain’s subsequent low cross being partially cleared by James Paterson. The ball fell to Waugh, who hit the ball with venom aplenty, so much so that Malan required two bites of the cherry to keep it out.

Central began the second spell in lively fashion, Dowling forced to save inside the first nine minutes of the half from both Campbell and Shane Pascoe, after the young defender had burst through a Bunbury tackle to let fly from twenty yards.

But Easts’ ‘keeper was beaten on one occasion, Major rewarding Koprivcic’s smart diagonal run with a pass to suit in the 48th minute. As Dowling advanced towards him, the New Zealand Under-22 international lifted the ball above the custodian, but groaned as it spun wide of the gaping target.

As the game went on, with Easts looking to hit on the counter-attack while employing an offside trap to unhinge Central attacks, a ploy which was aided by the home team’s inability to produce quality final passes to match their often neat approach play, it looked as if it would need something special to break the deadlock.

The contest ultimately hinged on events in the 76th minute. Major slipped Darren Fellowes through Easts’ offside trap, and the striker’s clever lob of the advancing Dowling bounced just the wrong side of the post.

From the resulting goal-kick, the ball arrived at the feet of the talented but temperamental Stuart Hogg, who had found himself on the receiving end of a quiet word or ten from Mr Rugg on more than a few occasions in the match, as the youngster rose to Central’s bait time and time again.

This time round, however, Hogg channelled his aggression in the right manner, and went on a wild celebratory run as his twenty-yard screamer soared into the top left-hand corner of Malan’s net - 2-1 Easts, and second place, and a trip to Miramar on Saturday now theirs for the taking.

Not if Central could help it, however. Back they came, forcing a corner two minutes later, after Douglas and Dowling had got themselves in a right mix-up after anticipating a whistle from the referee which never came! Major’s delivery arced to the far post, where Bruce Hill hammered a drive at the target. But for Graham Pearce’s perfect positioning by the post, it was a goal - but another goal-line clearance was ultimately Central’s last chance.

Kasper Burholt’s well-controlled volley through a crowded penalty area five minutes from time brought a good save out of Malan, but come the final whistle, Easts were cock-a-hoop, the league newcomers having finished level on points with premiership winners Miramar.

Central, meanwhile, were crestfallen, the long-time league leaders having slipped back to third place after recording just one win in their last seven games, with their reward a not-to-be-missed sudden-death semi-final at home to Napier City Rovers on Saturday.

Central: Malan; Paterson, Smith, Vodanovich, Pascoe (Spirovski, 89); Major (Callinan, 83), Aliaga, Hill, Sykes; Koprivcic, Campbell (booked, 36) (Fellowes, 63)

Easts: Dowling; Strom, Waetford, Douglas (booked, 1), Pearce; Stephens (booked, 40), Bunbury (booked, 41), Kimura (Roberts, 75); Waugh (Burholt, 79), Viljoen, Hogg (booked, 45) (Munday, 90)

Referee: Derek Rugg

National League