Ellerslie v. Mangere United, 22/8/04

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Ellerslie Snatch Point With Dramatic Fightback

by Jeremy Ruane

Ellerslie’s hopes of securing their Northern Premier League status for another summer continue to hang in the balance, after they snatched a point from a dramatic 3-3 draw with Mangere United at Michaels Avenue on August 22, having trailed 3-1 with eighteen minutes to play.

The home team were still mentally in the dressing rooms when Mangere kicked off, and with the wind at their backs, the visitors wasted little time in putting the pressure on, knowing that a point from this match would be enough to secure their Premier League status for another season.

Sean Dowling needed two bites at the cherry to thwart Aaron Yakub’s second minute volley, following a Miro Major corner, but three minutes later, the ‘keeper was afforded nary a prayer, as United opened the scoring.

Daniel Koprivcic got the better of Mike Horgan on the left and got to the byline before pulling the ball back into Willie Osborne’s path. Mangere’s captain sent an unerring finish hurtling past Dowling, and in via the post.

After Paul Hooper had blocked a Major shot to safety following an Osborne raid down the right, Ellerslie launched their first raid of the afternoon, Tim Hayhow’s twelfth minute jaunt foundering on the defending of Samuela Vula.

Mangere countered with a lovely move, featuring the one-touch passing of Osborne, Arafat Bhamji, Leaveil Titus and Koprivcic, whose cross from the byline was laid back to Major by Osborne. Unfortunately for the visitors, Dowling was right behind the midfielder’s stinging drive.

The ‘keeper sent the ball downfield, and a left-wing raid culminated in Gary de Klerk being felled in the penalty area by Vivian Wickham. Referee Jan-Hendrik Hintz, in his first game in the middle following a six-week lay-off, had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, and Joel Facon took the responsibility to level the scores. That he didn’t was due to a quite superb save from Simione Tamanisau, who superbly swatted away the rising shot as he dived to his left.

Stung by their miss, Ellerslie, with 41-year-old Terry Torrens directing operations in midfield, quickly put aside their ill fortune, and maintained their pursuit of an equaliser. De Klerk sent the ball forward for Facon, greatly aided by a fine dummy from Nick Russo, who was playing as a striker in this match. Facon then returned the compliment, but Russo’s shot was evidence enough to suggest that he is better suited to defending - Michael Sutherland easily mopped up.

The defender sparked a counter-attack which culminated in Yakub’s attempted lob of the stranded Dowling, but the ‘keeper proved up to the task, and promptly sparked an Ellerslie raid which culminated in Facon being unable to capitalise on a Tamanisau fumble - the ‘keeper’s handling in this match wasn’t what it could have been.

Ellerslie were getting on top by the half-hour mark, with Torrens having gone close with a volleyed effort. But from the resulting goal-kick - Tamanisau’s clearances were raking, de Klerk’s attempt to head clear succeeded only in steering the ball into Yakub’s path. Spotting Dowling off his line, the midfielder let fly on the volley, but the back-pedalling goalkeeper produced a superb fingertip save to keep Mangere’s advantage to just the one goal.

Referee Hintz had had his moments up to this point, allowing a fair bit to let go which, on another day, would have been punished. But in the 33rd minute, he let go one thing too many, and from that moment on, he’d lost the respect of the players.

Not to punish Titus for clattering into Russo in an aerial duel in which playing the ball was far from being the Mangere player’s objective was bad enough, but to fail to punish the Ellerslie man for his retaliatory efforts was every bit as poor. All that was awarded was a defensive free-kick, and from that second, the players knew that it was a case of anything goes, and took full advantage.

The referee issued a couple of cards after this for negligible offences by comparison with what had gone before, which further irked the players, particularly Russo, who led the pouring of scorn on the referee every time be blew his whistle in Mangere’s favour.

Incredibly, referee Hintz displayed no reaction at any time, preferring to back away and provide no reaction other than award the free-kick. It was bizarre to say the least, and added to a host of errors he made throughout the game, meant that he was as much a talking-point at the end of the match as the outcome - always a sign that a referee’s performance has been, at best, sub-standard.

Indeed, it’s fair to say the game went on despite his presence, although how there weren’t one or two serious injuries as a result of some of the tackles which went in defies belief - there were certainly a number of occasions when playing the ball wasn’t the prime objective of the individual challenging for possession, that’s for sure.

Putting the ball in the net remained an objective of both teams, however, and both succeeded in doing so before the half-time whistle. Mangere doubled their

advantage in the 38th minute, Major’s corner being cleared to Yakub, whose shot deflected back to the corner-taker. Major this time cut inside and whipped in a cross to the near post, where Sutherland was lurking with intent - 2-0.

Within ninety seconds, Ellerslie had pulled a goal back. Torrens sprayed the ball out to Hayhow, who dashed down the left before whipping in a low cross. Tamanisau spilled it, not something recommended in any goalkeeping manual when Nathan Palmer’s around - 2-1.

Ellerslie nearly managed a carbon-copy of their goal two minutes later. This time, de Klerk and Facon succeeded in putting Hayhow in on the left, and his low cross had Palmer as its target. This time, Tamanisau pawed the ball out, a split-second before striker and goalkeeper collided.

Right on half-time, Mangere piled on the pressure as they sought a third goal before the break, so much so that Dowling was forced to hack clear as Mathew Kelly’s attempted clearance, made as the ball ricocheted around the penalty area at breakneck speed, had the back of the net as its unintended target until the goalkeeper’s intervention.

Coach George Ritchie clearly put the wind in Ellerslie’s sails during the half-time interval, for they came out breathing fire in the second spell. Substitute Daniel Jones’ first touch let him down badly when in a perfect position to strike just seconds after the resumption, while the 47th minute saw a long-range rocket from Hooper career narrowly past Tamanisau’s right-hand post, the goalkeeper not knowing a great deal at all about it.

Both Vula and Mike Horgan were responsible for some memorable defensive work in this match - one block tackle in particular, by the latter on Osborne, was right off the top shelf. There were also some bizarre moments, such as the priceless sight of Sutherland, who had completely lost the ball in the sun, taking up a partial foetal position while standing, until he heard the ball hit the turf five yards behind him!!

After another Hooper long-range effort had screamed over the bar, Mangere restored their two-goal advantage in the 62nd minute in rather bizarre circumstances. After Yakub had been treated for injury, the ball was thrown up the line and hit Osborne on the back of the head, United’s captain having been in the process of retreating to a covering position.

He reacted far quicker than Ellerslie to the situation which this presented, and raced forward onto the loose ball before anyone in a red shirt had realised what was up. What was up was Koprivcic, who was immediately alert to the possibilities opening up before him. Osborne laid the ball into the path of the striker, who unerringly drilled home his eleventh league goal of the season into the bottom left-hand corner of Dowling’s net.

Trailing 3-1, Ellerslie prospects of saving the match from this point looked forlorn. But they gradually recovered their poise, and the pressure they were able to exert on Mangere in the absence of any form of iron-fisted officiating allowed them to muscle their way back into contention.

The visitors had begun to employ time-wasting tactics after their third goal, and were deservedly punished for entertaining such futile ploys seventeen minutes from time. Torrens, inevitably, was involved, sparking the move with a pass to Palmer, who linked with Russo. The burly makeshift striker rumbled forward and evaded a challenge before directing a low cross to the near post, where de Klerk arrived bang on cue - 3-2, and game on once more.

Back came Mangere, with Major and Osborne both going close in the next ten minutes as a grandstand finish became a distinct possibility. And with five minutes remaining, Ellerslie grabbed the equaliser, following a foul throw-in by Mangere. The retaken version was hurled to Russo, who flicked the ball on into Hayhow’s path, the striker steering his shot across Tamanisau and into the far corner to level the scores - 3-3.

The ensuing minutes saw yet more weird and wonderful decisions from referee Hintz, coupled with waves of Ellerslie attacks as they went for the winner. But they had to settle for a point, which still leaves them in the relegation play-off placings.

The coming week is crucial to their season, with Waitakere City and Glenfield Rovers their final scheduled opposition in the campaign. Mangere, meanwhile, are safe, their first season in the top flight of Northern League football something of a success for them, given survival was always their first objective. Whether this fixture will be repeated in 2005 is up to Ellerslie - their fate is still in their hands.

Ellerslie: Dowling; Hooper, Horgan, Algie, Kelly; Palmer (Ritchie, 74), de Klerk (booked, 32), Torrens (Whitcher, 80), Hayhow; Russo (booked, 45), Facon (Jones, 46)

Mangere: Tamanisau; Wickham (Sahib, 83), Sutherland, Vula, Collings; Titus, Bhamji, Major, Yakub (Singh, 80); Koprivcic, Osborne

Referee: Jan-Hendrik Hintz

Northern League