Central United v. Mangere United, 15/5/05

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Champs Hand Title Pretenders A Six-Goal Hiding

by Jeremy Ruane

Reigning Northern Premier League champions Central United chose a top-of-the-table clash against incumbent front-runners Mangere United to underline their title-winning pedigree on May 15, as they humbled the league leaders 6-0 at Kiwitea Street to usurp them in top spot on the league table.

It was a powerful performance from an impressive Central side, the vast majority of whom will likely be playing for Auckland City in the upcoming Oceania Club World Championship qualifying tournament in Tahiti.

They were excellent value for their victory, one which could have been far greater over a Mangere side which dropped their heads in the second spell in particular, having matched their opponents stride for stride in the first half-hour of what shaped as being an even encounter early on.

Both goalkeepers, Mangere's Richard Gillespie and Central's Ross Nicholson, were called on to produce saves in the ninth minute, as Paul Seaman and Aleksander Andrevski went close to breaking the deadlock early on. But generally, the first twenty minutes, while rife with robust, well-spirited challenges, were largely bereft of goalscoring opportunities.

Gradually, however, the home team began to see more of the Mt. Albert Road end of the ground than Mangere did of the clubrooms end. Chris McIvor and Paul Vodanovich both directed headed efforts over the bar before the half-hour mark, while Nicholson was right behind a Daniel Aliaga shot in between these efforts.

The home team broke the deadlock in the 29th minute. Chad Coombes broke from half-way and bulldozed his way to the by-line, from where he laid the ball back to Paul Urlovic. He steered a low cross into the feet of Grant Young, whose smart turn and rifled right-foot shot arrowed across the diving Gillespie and thumped unerringly into the bottom far corner of the net.

Mangere were reeling from this setback, and Central wasted little time in looking to double their advantage. Only the covering challenge of Abdul Imran Ali denied Neil Sykes three minutes later, after a flowing move featuring Coombes, Young and McIvor.

Then it was Gillespie's turn to foil Sykes, while the stanchion denied Young seven minutes before the interval, after some fine work on the right by McIvor, whose cross was flicked on to the player responsible for the game's only goal to this point by Urlovic.

The black-clad visitors were struggling to hold out the yellow-and-blue tide which continued to surge towards their goal, but they managed to keep their goal intact in the remaining minutes of the half, largely thanks to the covering efforts of Zynal Sahib, who foiled both Urlovic and Young in the dying minutes of the half.

Mangere needed to score first in the second spell if they were to get themselves back into the contest. Indeed, Andrevski could have equalized with virtually the last kick of the first spell, but thundered the ball wide of the target.

But, despite a few close calls prior to the hour mark, when the bounce of the ball all too often failed to favour them, the visitors weren't to go close to scoring till much later in the match. Instead, it was Central who had the pleasure of doubling their advantage, doing so after Gillespie had gobbled up a curling twenty-yarder from Coombes, and Urlovic had had a goal disallowed for offside.

The goal came in the 58th minute, after Mangere had failed to clear an Urlovic corner. Sykes picked up the pieces, and picked out a measured cross for Vodanovich to launch himself at and head home from close range.

Ninety seconds later, the visitors' fading hopes of victory were summarily dismissed by a quite superbly crafted goal. Latching onto the ball in midfield, Sykes delivered a quite sublimely weighted pass with the outside of his left foot perfectly into the stride of the full-of-running Urlovic.

He held off a couple of challenges before unselfishly squaring the sphere into the path of Young, who clinically thrashed home Central's third goal of the game from twelve yards out.

The game was well and truly up for Mangere now, and

a few heads went down as a result, along with the work-rate of a few players whose will to win was found wanting when the going got tough for the visitors.

Central, meanwhile, stuck to their task - the dethroned league leaders were receiving a first-hand lesson in this process from a team whose members, over the years, can point to a few winners' medals earned through a willingness to both work for the cause, and eke out favourable results on bad days as well as good.

Sykes and Urlovic were thwarted by Gillespie, while in between times, Young drilled a twenty-yard shot a foot wide of the far post. Coombes cheekily looked to chip Gillespie from half-way in the 66th minute, and almost succeeded - the goalkeeper's frantic back-pedalling allowed him to tip the ball over the bar just as it shaped to drop under it.

Ten minutes later, Young sent Urlovic scampering through Mangere's offside trap with a beautifully judged pass. The striker rounded the `keeper before supplying a cool finish, and the visitors were well aware of what the score was without Greg Uhlmann's childish gestures towards Mangere players indicating how many goals had been scored - little wonder he was swiftly substituted, as such disrespectful actions do little for the image of the game.

Before Central had a chance to replace the central defender, his fellow stopper, Vodanovich, stepped in to block a Daniel Koprivcic shot, Mangere's first noteworthy effort of the half coming in the 77th minute.

Four minutes later, they came desperately close to reducing the deficit. Miro Major's flighted free-kick was met by Koprivcic, whose glancing header, on another day, would have brought a goal.

But on this day, Nicholson - for some, a surprise exclusion from the thirty-strong All Whites squad named prior to the final selection to play Australia - was not to be beaten, and the reflex save he made to keep this effort out was quite superb.

Central's response was swift and decisive - 5-0. Mangere substitute Shane Herman was still adjusting to the pace of the game when he realised he was hanging back in defence seven minutes from time, and he scampered forward to try and make amends. Too late! Coombes slipped Urlovic through, and the striker finished confidently.

Another substitute for the visitors, Jonathon Munoz Navareete skied Mangere's last chance of the game five minutes from time, while seconds later, Sykes sliced a glorious rebound opportunity well wide of the mark with his wrong foot, after Coombes and Young had played a one-two which saw “Chadwick”'s shot parried by Gillespie.

Sykes made amends within seconds, however, racing down the left once more before cutting in and delivering a low cross at pace. Urlovic was hurtling towards the near post at a great rate of knots, but was sent crashing to earth by the ball's ankle-high trajectory. As he bit the dust, the ball hit the net, having ricocheted straight past a stunned Gillespie three minutes from time.

Before the finish, Coombes was denied a goal by the offside flag, while a neat move featuring John Ely, Sykes and Scott Greenhalgh saw a Vodanovich header end up in Gillespie's grateful hands rather than in the back of the net into which so much that was good about Central's display in this game had been deposited.

Mangere will learn from this, quickly too, and be all the stronger for the process, because they are not that bad a side. On this occasion, though, they simply weren't allowed to play their usual game, subsequently panicked, and were mercilessly punished by opponents who learnt this very same lesson on this very ground back in 1994 - the day when Central made their National Superclub debut, only for Napier City Rovers to spoil the party, 8-1.

Central: Nicholson; Mortensen, Vodanovich, Uhlmann (Ely, 78), Mathews; Coombes, Seaman (booked, 43) (Greenhalgh, 74), McIvor (Del Monte, 65), Sykes; Young, Urlovic (booked, 42)

Mangere: Gillespie; Ali, Sahib (Herman, 79), Boseilala, Imraaz; Titus, Aliaga, Major, Andrevski (Khan, 46); Koprivcic, Spirovski (Navareete, 74)

Referee: Michael Brock

Northern League