Lynn-Avon United v. Onehunga-Mangere United, 31/7/04

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Basement Soccer At Its Best!

by Jeremy Ruane

While title tussles and promotion clashes are going on with great regularity, for some teams, mere survival is their season-long quest, the threat of relegation ever-present over their shoulders.

That’s been the way of it for Lynn-Avon United and Onehunga-Mangere United in the Northern League First Division this season, so their clash at Ken Maunder Park was always going to have the tag "six-pointer" applied to it.

Usually, one goal proves crucial in such matches, and this July 31 duel was no exception, with OMU doing the celebrating as Lynn-Avon put through their own net. But while the visitors won 1-0, the home team have only themselves to blame, as they had enough chances in this match to win three fixtures!!

At the same time, OMU were always a threat on the counter-attack, and themselves weren’t shy of a chance or three in a game which, while not one for the purist to savour, nonetheless captured all the highs and lows of two teams’ respective campaigns in one ninety-minute roller-coaster ride - this was a real rough-and-tumble relegation battle, basement soccer at its best!

Lynn-Avon started strongly, dominating the opening ten minutes. But they only had one chance to show for it in that time, a thirty-five yard "Garry Owen" from Graham West which Scott Siebert turned over the crossbar.

OMU came back well, with Michael Loftus threading a delightful pass through to send Ross Berry racing clear with just Russell Hodgson to beat. But the striker made a complete dog’s breakfast of a golden opportunity to open the scoring, firing well wide of the mark in the eleventh minute.

Back came Lynn-Avon, Greg Clark’s headed effort from a Dave Smalley lob being thwarted by the offside flag. Moments later, Steve Cumber pounced on some ponderous play by the visitors to charge through before firing wide of the far post.

The game hadn’t really settled by this stage, but the turning point came in the 25th minute, when an OMU counter-attack saw Dean Delaney reward the off-the-ball running of Loftus with a measured pass. The visitors’ captain whipped in a lovely cross to the far post, but nobody was on hand to turn the ball home.

Instead, West was there for Lynn-Avon to head clear. Cameron Illing helped the ball on, and Sebastian Perez was on his way, charging at the heart of the back-pedalling OMU defence at a great rate of knots. His lay-off to James Hodgson was intercepted, and played back to Siebert, whose clearance landed at Perez’s feet.

This time, his shot was blocked, as was Clark’s effort seconds later. And Hodgson’s resulting corner was pawed out by Siebert, as Lynn-Avon’s inability to score goals - their average league return is just over a goal per game - came to the fore once more.

Not to be outdone by Siebert, Russell Hodgson, Lynn-Avon’s ‘keeper, stepped up to the mark when required in fine fashion. After smothering a Jeevan Moras free-kick on the half-hour, the exceedingly tall ‘keeper got down well to turn another Berry effort to safety at his near post, after Delaney had released the striker with a lovely pass, Berry then outpacing Brian Pepper on his charge into the penalty area.

Cue another Lynn-Avon surge, with Clark calling for a cross to arrive on the penalty spot as he moved forward. Perez duly obliged, the ball landing perfectly on the head of the home team’s captain, who let himself down by directing a tame header at Siebert.

The burly ‘keeper was beaten all ends up two minutes later by David Smalley. Sadly for the home team, the midfielder’s lobbed effort cleared the crossbar, following the combination play of the brothers Hodgson.

Bruce Loftus responded with a ripper of a volley for OMU, a corner from brother Michael having been cleared to him. But Russell Hodgson was equal to the task, turning the ball to safety six minutes from the end of a first half which was improving by the minute.

Lynn-Avon produced a superb move two minutes later, easily the best of the half thus far. Clark, Brett Ellis and West combined to provide Perez with the ball on the left, the midfielder going on to evade a challenge before clipping a delightfully weighted cross onto the head of Cumber, whose header flashed over the crossbar.

Back came OMU, Russell Hodgson riding his luck when fumbling a Delaney cross, finally snaffling it at the third attempt as Adrian King struggled to control the bouncing source of much frustration.

Time was almost up on the watch of referee Sam Narayan, who had a peculiar game, to put it mildly. He

was guilty of missing the signals of assistants on a few occasions, and a few challenges besides. his Thankfully, he didn’t resort to pedantry in an effort to rectify matters - the players’ first request of a referee is consistency, and Narayan generally satisfied that requirement.

But there was still time in the first half for what proved to be the game’s only goal to be scored. In the 44th minute, Bruce Loftus found himself on the right flank, with Berry in the middle anticipating a cross. One was delivered, but tamely. However, it had the desired effect, for James Townsley, having no idea what the situation was behind him, stuck out a leg to clear the sphere, and promptly diverted it past a stranded Hodgson into the net.

The visitors were delighted, Lynn-Avon distraught. But within seconds, the boot was on the other foot, as James Hodgson volleyed home in style, only to have his "equaliser" ruled out for a foul on Peter Lloyd.

Cue a second half chock-full of missed Lynn-Avon opportunities, frantic OMU defending and clever counter-attacking, culminating in one of those "you had to see it to believe it" misses six minutes from time, and a last-gasp save to make sure of the points for the visitors.

The home team started strongly once more - whatever Glenn Sheppard says to his charges just before they head out the dressing room door certainly gets them going! But Cumber headed an Illing cross at Siebert, while the goalkeeper blocked with his legs from James Hodgson in the 53rd minute, after the striker had been slipped through by Cumber.

Hodgson lifted one over the crossbar moments later, prompting a spectator to ask linesman Perry Tompsett, "Can’t you flag a goal or something? We can’t buy one at present!!"

OMU produced their tidiest move of the match on the hour mark, with Ian Campbell, Bruce Loftus and Steve May all involved. The last-mentioned’s cross was headed clear to Berry, whose acrobatic volley fell perfectly for Delaney, only for the former Central United man to lift the ball over the top.

Clark headed over the bar after Hodgson and Perez had combined soon after, but try as they might, Lynn-Avon just couldn’t score. For that, credit should go to OMU’s defence, in which Lloyd and Darrell Wildbore, in particular, were the personification of defiance in the face of adversity.

Clean sheets are about as rare as hen’s teeth for the team with the worst defensive record in the division, but they were determined not to let this one out of their clutches.

After Siebert had thwarted Cumber once more, Berry had a goal disallowed for offside ten minutes from time, as Lynn-Avon’s constant pressing for an equaliser left them vulnerable to the counter-attacking of their opponents.

Russell Hodgson was right in behind a well-struck Michael Loftus drive seconds later, but the ‘keeper was beaten all ends up six minutes from time by a superbly struck volley from Berry, the striker having picked out by a splendid pass from Loftus, OMU’s captain. Unbelievably, the thirty-yard shot arced over the ‘keeper, bounced, and cleared the crossbar - truly one for the "What happened next?" files!!

What happened next in this match was a final five minutes of frantic forward forays from Lynn-Avon, as they pressed desperately for the equaliser which would prevent them from dropping six points behind OMU, and well and truly in the clutches of relegation danger.

In stoppage time, the home team thought they had finally done enough, as James Hodgson supplied Smalley with a pass down the left. His cross was blocked, but the ball fell perfectly for Clark, who let fly from close-range. On any other day, it would have been a goal, but Siebert flung himself low to his left to produce a stunning one-handed save to defy the home team at the death, and clinch the points for "The Mountain Men".

The sound of the final whistle brought understandably great joy from the OMU camp, whose destiny is still theirs to write. But the sight of some of the Lynn-Avon players slumping to the pitch in sheer despair said everything about the home team’s lot - with six games remaining, they are six points away from potential safety, and barring a minor miracle, a return from whence they came last season is looming large.

Lynn-Avon: R. Hodgson; Illing, Townsley (booked, 17) (Pearce, 73), Clark, West; Smalley, Ellis, Pepper (McGinley, 79), Perez; J. Hodgson (booked, 86), Cumber

OMU: Siebert; Wildbore, Lloyd, Moras, Campbell; May, King (K. Loftus, 63 (booked, 76)), B. Loftus, Delaney; M. Loftus, Berry

Referee: Sam Narayan

Northern League