Brooklyn Northern United AFC
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Miramar v BNU 1sts - 25th August 2013
- Brooklyn Northern United AFC
- 2pm, David Farrington Park We headed to David Farrington Park to play Miramar in the final game of the season. Following Saturday's results, we believed a solitary point would be enough to keep us clear of the relegation places. The game kicked off with the intensity of a cup final. The Brooklyn crowd were vocal in their support, the large travelling contingent of fans certainly made the lads feel 10 feet tall. The game was being played at a cracking pace: a strong Miramar side featuring former All White Campbell Banks and current Solomon Islands International Henry Fa'arodo, was being matched by the heroes in red and black. The first 30 minutes was fairly even. Both sides were spraying the ball around with confidence and great speed, the Miramar coach admitting the game was being played at Capital Premier standard. The deadlock was broken when Miramar smashed a volley from the top of the box after 32 minute s, a quality strike that left Zen no chance. Miramar doubled their lead 10 minutes later from a free kick, the Miramar player's run not being picked up, leaving him unmarked at the far post for an easy finish. 2-nil down and all to play for. BNU were awarded a penalty right on half time for a handball in the box. Paul Sanchez, who has been great from the penalty spot, strode forward with purpose, only to watch his shot go wide of the left hand upright. The score remained 2-nil to Miramar at half time. There was calm in the changing room, as we were creating a number of chances and our covering defence had prevented Miramar from testing Zen with shots on goal. We believed if we kept to our standards we could get back into the game. The next goal would be the most important of the match. The 2nd half started at the same pace as the first. We continued to press high up the pitch to prevent Miramar from getting into any kind of rhythm. Their increased ball speed certainly tested us and the class and experience of their players was stretching us right across the pitch. However, we were not giving up without a fight and were rewarded for our efforts when Paul Clune smashed home after 58 minutes to bring the score back to 2-1. This also bought the crowd back into the game, they had been fantastic throughout. Ben Goodwin, who had been introduced at half time, went close on two occasions shortly after, with almost identical shots from the edge of the area. His pace and direct style were causing problems for the Miramar back four. We were dealt a blow on 70 minutes when Campbell Banks finally got the better of Damian Gurnick, turning on the edge of the area, to beat Zen in the left hand bottom corner. 3-1 down, with 20 minutes to play. It was time to gamble and throw numbers forward. We had nothing to lose and everything to gain. 2 minutes later Banks was at it again, losing his marker and slotting his 2nd to make it 4-1 with 15 minutes to play. You would forgive BNU if heads dropped, but not with this team, the lads weren't prepared to throw in the towel, and in true BNU fashion they fought for every possession and continued to push forward. Tom Bisley and Ben Purser were introduced, giving us 4 strikers on the pitch for the final 15 minutes of the season. Tom Bisley went close, not once but twice, but unfortunately shot wide on both occasions. As we pressed forward, there were inevitably gaps left at the back and Banks completed his hat-trick with 3 minutes to play. Just to rub salt into the wound, Miramar scored a 6th with the last kick of the game. 6-1 the final score which in no way reflects how close the game was. As the lads left the pitch, and rightly applauded the large BNU crowd, our attention now turned to the Island Bay vs Seatoun match being played at Wakefield Park. A Seatoun win would see us clear of the bottom 2. We received update after update from our Chairman Martin Gray, who was finally able to phone through the result we had all been waiting for, 2-1 victory to Seatoun. Back in the Miramar clubrooms, there was a mix of cheer and relief as we believed we could now reflect on a season of highs and lows. Strong performances, in this our last game, from Captain Andy Cochrane, who was all industry and quality in the middle of the park, Damian Gurnick, who put his body on the line time and time again, and Man of the Match Simon Barker, who won everything in the air and reminded everyone of his undoubted talent. A special thanks to the crowd who really helped the lads dig deep right to the end. You guys were fantastic! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Martin Gray, Adam Brownie and the Committee for all of their support over the last 2 seasons. Special thanks needs to go to our physio Dan Sainsbury and my team manager Annie Bannister for all of their hard work and high standards set and maintained throughout the season. Finally, I would like to publicly thank the playing group for their contribution to the 2013 season. It has been a pleasure working with you all this year. You have represented this club in the best possible way, on and off the pitch. You all bought into the plan and genuinely wanted to play football the way it's meant to be played. Andy Cochrane and Simon Barker led the team each week with class and integrity. Without them, the task would have been so much harder. Thank you both. I look forward to seeing you all this weekend at the Prize Giving. Hopefully we can sit down over a beer and celebrate what has been an eventful season. Dene Bannister
- Accepted from BNU match reports
- Tagged as:
- seatoun
- brooklyn
- miramar
- island-bay
Island Bay, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand/Aotearoa (OpenStreetMap)
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Tagging votes
These votes contributed to this item's tagging:
- seatoun - Hand tagged by autotagger
- brooklyn - Hand tagged by autotagger
- miramar - Hand tagged by autotagger
- islandbay - Hand tagged by autotagger
- places - Ancestor of tag seatoun
- places - Ancestor of tag brooklyn
- places - Ancestor of tag miramar
- places - Ancestor of tag islandbay
- brooklyn - Publisher tag
- places - Ancestor of publisher tag brooklyn
- soccer - Publisher tag
- sport - Ancestor of publisher tag soccer
- sport - Ancestor of feed tag match-reports
- match-reports - Feed tag
- Island Bay, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand/Aotearoa - Island Bay tag geocode
- Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand - Miramar tag geocode
- Brooklyn, Wellington, New Zealand - Brooklyn tag geocode
- Seatoun - Seatoun tag geocode
