OPOTIKI 1 - 2 PAPAMOA FC

This week saw Papamoa FC travel to Opotiki and do something they had never done before , return with a hard earned , well deserved 3 points !!
The travelling support was treated to fast free following football for the first 40 minutes , before the game degenerated into a kick and rush fest for the remaining 50.
It took Papamoa all of three minutes to carve open the Opotiki defence and create the first chance of the match, Josh  gathering the ball at right back before storming forward and linking up with Reuben , looking up quickly Reuben picked out Joey 6 yards out from goal , unfortunately Joey couldn't keep his powerful volley down , blazing the ball inches over the bar .
The breakthrough wasn't long in coming , after another sustained 5 minutes of pressure on the Opotiki goal , the ball found its way out to Tristan on the left wing who sent in a teasing cross that eluded the Opotiki defence but not the in rushing Reuben who dispatched an inch perfect shot into the roof of the Opotiki net 1 nil Papamoa .
From the Opotiki kick-off Papamoa pressed the home team back into their own half forcing them to concede corner after corner ( stopped counting after about 7 ) , but couldn't find a second goal all their pressure and good play deserved , on the 30 minute mark Daniel came on to replace Joey , his first involvement in the game was to rob the Opotiki left back before taking a touch and shooting , unfortunately his shot was saved well by the Opotiki keeper ( who may i add was easily their man of the match , 3rd goal keeper in 4 games who has won man of the match against us ).
After 35 / 40  minutes Opotiki managed to get out of their own half , lumping a long ball hopefully up field , unbelievably the ball found its way to the centre forward ( who had only 2 minutes earlier wanted to fight anybody and everybody , especially Shane , not a good idea .. but saying that he wasn't the brightest lad lets be honest ! ) who chaced the ball though before throwing himself studs up throw Craig and slotting home 1 - 1 , as the Papamoa team looked at each other in utter disbelief the ref blew for half-time .
The second half kick-off with the Opotiki team just glad still to be in the contest , but surely Papamoa couldn't waste as many chances in the second half as they did in the first ... don't bet on it !!
Again chances came and went , Daniel working hard and charging down an attempted clearance which shaved the Opotiki right hand post , Stewart beating two defenders before firing a good effort from 5 yards to close to the keeper , Tristan hitting the bar with a thunderous left foot shot from 10 yards , Daniel again storming though on goal before taking a touch to many and the keeper making another good save , Stewarts diving header from 6 yards that was cleared off the line , Simons 20yarder that the keeper just got a hand to and touched over the bar chance after chance well created , but just missing that final finishing touch .
With time running out Papamoa pushed an xtra man upfront going all out for the 3 points their performance deserved , with only 5 minutes left on the clock Reuben made another good run up the right wing before looking up and cleverly squaring the ball to Curtis , who had made a lung-bursting 50 yard run up the centre of the field , Curtis shrugged off the attentions of two Opotiki defenders before calmly slotting home from 8 yards ... YOU DANCER !!
With only a few minutes remaining Papamoa kept possession well and played out the clock for the three points .
 
Good performance in the first half , good result , but best of all was the team spirit , with  time running out and the game almost slipping away from us everybody dug deep and worked their arses off to make sure we came away with a win .
 
Goals - 1 Reuben 1 Curtis
Booked -
POD - Curtis