YoungHeart lack pace in 1-0 loss

WARWICK SMITH/ Manawatu Standard

COLLISION CROSSROADS: YoungHeart Manawatu's Seule Soromon on the receiving end of a wayward strike from Waitakere United's Jason Rowley at Memorial Park.

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Youngheart Manawatu will need to find some pace if they intend challenging the big teams in the New Zealand Football Championship.

At Memorial Park yesterday, the YoungHeart defence was carved up by the lightning-quick Waitakere United strikers, Benjamin Totori and Roy Krishna.

But because of dreadful finishing and great saves from goalie Ross Nicholson, Manawatu lost only 1-0 yesterday.

Manawatu's loss put to bed all the excitement of thumping Team Wellington 4-0 a fortnight ago, before a week's break.

YoungHeart coach Bob Sova was not blaming the week off despite preferring to play the week after beating Wellington. But at the same time, Waitakere had played an O League game last weekend.

"We struggled with their pace but any defence in the country would," Sova said. "If we played them tomorrow, I'd be confident we would beat them.

"The wind was howling in the first half and we struggled to play into it and retain possession, something I keep on pushing for us to do better."

Fortunately for YoungHeart, there are few players in the championship with the pace of Krishna and Totori.

Waitakere coach Neil Emblen admitted he was nervous at halftime.

"My assistant, Darren Bazeley, said we had 16 clear scoring chances in the first spell and couldn't put one away," Emblen said. "The goal took some of the pressure off but there's always a likelihood Manawatu could put one away and we nearly did that with an own goal."

Emblen said it had been frustrating that Totori continued to create chances but did not put them away.

"We all know how good Benjamin [Totori] is and that he scored 25 goals with Manawatu. We're just trying to get him more clinical in his finishing."

Before YoungHeart meet Waikato FC at Ngaruawahia next Sunday, Sova is sure to concentrate his training on retaining possession and quick delivery. Even in the second spell, YoungHeart failed to get the ball forward to their quick striker, Seule Soromon, who made good runs but with players holding on to the ball, the passing option was closed down.

"It's exactly what I keep drumming in at practice that we need to keep the ball then deliver it quickly and finish," Sova said. "It's what we did in the first game but didn't do today."

YoungHeart captain Adam Cowan said the wind had proved a big problem in the first half. "I lost the toss and we played into the wind and it always dies away in the second half for some reason," Cowan said. "But we didn't play well and we've all got a lot of work to do – we've got to beat Waikato next week."

YoungHeart Manawatu 0

Waitakere United 1 (Roy Krishna 51)

HT: 0-all. Shots on target: M3 W17 HT:0-13. Shots off target: M5 W15 HT:2-10. Crosses: M10 W21 HT:3-11. Corners: M6 W11 HT:3-9. Freekicks: M9 W15 HT:2-7.

- © Fairfax NZ News