World Cup All White Graces Te Puru

With BMAFC 1^st team pushing for 3^rd place in the AFF Championship and Central United looking to finish the season strong after a wayward patch in the middle of year they played a trump card by fielding world cup hero Ivan Vicelich, It was no surprise for me as he is friends with most of the lads in side and we had heard he had been drafted in twice before when numbers were down.

There was plenty of talk before the game of not to be overwhelmed or star struck with such a quality player grace Te Puru, this however seemed to fall on deaf ears as BM were soon on the back foot, once again they let the ball bounce around in the goal box before Central toe poked home from 6 yards out unchallenged.

BM then started to play the ball around with some confidence but impatience got the better of them as the ball was cheaply given away again with Vicelich picking up the stray pass and playing a 1-2 too then race away with 2 BM players snapping at his heels and calmly slot the ball pass advancing GK Adam Mathews, a horror start to the game, Central were calm and patient with ball at feet, they were picking up on BMAFC mistakes, Vicelich nearly had a second as he got just in front Brian Preston to loop a header onto the cross bar which Vicelich claimed the ball went over the line, his calls went unheard as Adam Mathews scrambled acrobatically to stop the ball from going fully over the line. Centrals' 3^rd came after a bit of luck after their number 6 had been forced sideways Brian Preston lined him up for a crunching tackle only for his opposites quick feet to get a little touch which then set him up to take on last man Shane Dalton, which he did with great skill as he nut-megged him before calmly slotting home, a great finish to some fine skill. Undeterred BM still tried to play football but still their impatience was a telling factor as they looked to get back into the game, the half time rev up from Pete Jones couldn’t come quick enough.

The second half seemed to start better for BM as they worked the ball around, Pete’s talk was about how we were still in the game as we had enough possession, we just need to be patient and not give the ball away cheaply! Sam Scurrah was winning some big tackles in the midfield which saw him pushing higher up the park which put some real pressure on Centrals back 4, this soon told as Sam latched onto a loose ball and as Central appealed for offside, Mustak Ali didn’t interfere with play which allowed Sam Scurrah to push though and play Mustak through by which he was now onside and he calmly chipped the ball in the back of the net, game on! This seemed to spur the lads with some much needed confidence, BM continued to press and when they got the ball wide quickly to Captain Antz Schomaker or Sean Langford they looked threatening. Sam Scurrah reduced the margin to 1 with a contender for Goal of the season as he nut-megged Vicelich and drove inside to unleash a 30 yard thumper which swerved and dipped into to top right hand corner.

Centrals' heads were down and BM were pumping, the game still had plenty more drama for the supporters as the move of the game saw Mustak through again only for the keeper to make a cracking save which had the applause of the home fans, this save seemed to wake Central up as the pushed to kill the game off, they had a few chances but could not find a way through as BM fought valiantly, as the full time whistle sounded the disappointment was evident on the faces of BM as they knew this was a golden opportunity lost to push for 3^rd place especially as Pukekohe lost 2-1 to table toppers Manukau, Central in the end considered themselves lucky after BMAFC battled back well and dominated in the 2^nd half. For the lads a disappointing loss but it was a privilege to play against one of New Zealand’s greats Ivan Vicelich, something which most of the lads will never get to do again.

Next week sees the boys travel to Simpson Park to take on Ellerslie @ 2.45, the 1^st Team last home game is on Saturday the 23^rd against Western Springs, it would be fantastic to see a lot of supporters there to cheer the lads on.

By Brian Preston