Home win for the fans

By Casey Angland

The rain held off in Palmerston North yesterday and YoungHeart Manawatu Captain, Adam Cowan, celebrated his 100th game, but the strong winds weren’t so welcoming, making playing conditions tough for both sides. 

Hawke’s Bay fired on attack from the first whistle stealing a lot of YoungHeart ball and really putting the pressure on their defense. YoungHeart kept a strong 4-3-3 formation and tried to keep their cool and play the ball low. The wind was working with Hawke’s Bay push any high clearance kicks back to the Bay’s goal.

Young Heart made a number of promising breakaways and shots on goal, but all were spoilt by Hawke’s Bay’s defense, who continued to put the pressure on YoungHeart. This caused sloppy passes and lost ball throughout the midfield. Both sides had strong defensive games resulting in tempers flaring as goals on both sides were diverted and the teams become more frantic to get the lead. The half ended nil all with the first of five yellow cards issued to Hawke’s Bay in the final minutes.

YoungHeart came out firing in the second half and progressively moved much of action toward their goal. The pressure took its toll on Hawke’s Bay who were issued the second yellow card just five minutes in. YoungHeart came painstakingly close to scoring many times in the first 20 minutes causing the team to get aggressive on their attack and resulting in the third yellow card taken away by YoungHeart’s Raff de Gregorio.

The team was finally rewarded after 20 minutes when the Bay’s defense slipped enough to allow midfielder, Cory Chettleburgh, to score the first and only goal of the game. Quickly following that Hawke’s Bay achieved another yellow card in their attempt to battle through Young Hearts defense and even the match.

YoungHeart had a number of lucky breaks to remain in front, such as when a Hawke’s Bay shot on goal hit the post. The tense attacking game from the Bay put pressure on YoungHeart’s defensive game as Cory Chettleburgh was issued the fifth and final yellow card of the game.

Both teams attacked hard for the win and defended to prevent it in the windy conditions but in the end YoungHeart proved their superiority on the tables and on the field by gaining and maintain the win for their home fans. Ross Nicholson and Cory Chettleburgh had notable performances, Ross saving goals and Cory scoring them.  The fans will be expecting more of this at their next home game in the new year, January 9th.