Suburbs take step away from wooden spoon

BY JOSH REICH

It took 135 minutes, two days, two pitches, two referees, a controversial goal, a red card and a missed penalty, but Nelson Suburbs have finally secured the win that might ensure they avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.

There is still one round to play, but judging by the commitment shown by the side in a bizarre weekend at Saxton Field, it would be a brave person who bets on them slipping back to eighth in the Mainland Premier Football League after this Saturday's matches.

However, nobody could have predicted the drama that put them in this position.

On Saturday, they had completely outplayed newly crowned league champions Woolston Technical and were leading 1-0 at the break when referee Bryce Goodall deemed the pitch condition too dangerous to resume play.

Yes, Saxton Field resembled a pond after hours of persistent rain, but it was hardly any worse than when the match started.

Suburbs, who led through an own goal after a header from Joel Wiechern bounced back off the post, were understandably keen to continue, and to Woolston's credit, so were they.

However the referee would not be moved, and after some frantic discussions with Mainland, it was decided to replay the fixture yesterday.

The match was switched to another pitch, and a new referee had to be flown in from Christchurch for the match which Suburbs had to win to give them a fighting chance of avoiding last place and a promotion relegation match with Christchurch side Coastal Spirit.

Just under 24 hours after they first kicked off, the two sides once again took the field for their penultimate games of the season.

Luckily for Suburbs, they picked up where they left off on Saturday, at least for the first half anyway.

Sam Ayers should have given them the lead within five minutes after being put in the clear on goal by Billy Scott, but fired a tame shot straight at Woolston keeper Tom Batty.

Soon afterwards Ayers turned provider for Jordan Maxwell, but his shot was well saved by Batty from close range.

Woolston were showing more attacking intent than they did the day before, with Matt Thomas in particular feeding his strikers some quality ball from the left.

His first meaningful cross fell to an unmarked Lucho Maggio, but the danger was cleared by Paul Dirou, and Russel Kamo hit the post later in the half from another delightfully placed ball.

Maxwell, who had a lively match, had a second good chance but was denied by a great tackle by centreback Adam Cowen.

However, with Suburbs showing attacking intent sorely lacking all season, it was little surprise when they took the lead after 15 minutes.

Ayers was given room to nip in behind the Woolston defence and pulled back a low cross in front of goal that Wiechern smashed into the net.

Woolston were unhappy with the goal as they felt they should have been awarded a throw in preceeding Ayers' run, and were still remonstrating with the referee when the goal was scored.

Immediately after they had revenge of sorts when Hadisi Aengari was somewhat harshly adjudged to have brought down Adam Pitman in the box, but Chris Beckwith's penalty hit the post.

Chances were flowing at both ends, but it was Suburbs who were able to make their most of theirs, doubling their lead after 30 minutes when Maxwell put away a cross from Simon Gatward-Smith.

In between the goals Gibson Daudau, who impressed in both matches, was awarded a yellow card for an innocuous challenge which will see him suspended for Suburbs' final match against Nomads.

The second half was all Woolston, but despite having the overwhelming majority of possession and territory, they never really looked like breaking down the Suburbs defence.

Newman had to be alert to punch away a number of crosses, but his side's defence did well in repelling numerous advances.

The match ended on a sour note for Suburbs, with Gatward-Smith, who had put in typically combative performance, being given a second yellow card for kicking the ball away.

Given the level of abuse the referee had been subjected to by Woolston during the match, the decision seemed a little harsh, but it was a stupid thing to do and means he is also suspended for next week's match.

Dirou, who will miss the rest of season with army commitments, said it was a strange weekend but was delighted with the way the side backed up two days in a row.

"It's always tough to beat a team twice, it was impressive. And not just any team, but the top team.

"We played really good in the first half, Gibson was great in the middle.

"It wasn't the greatest second half but we did what we needed to do."

Co-coach Brendan Crichton said he felt the luck that had deserted the side for most of the season was starting to return.

"We could have had four goals by half time, but they could have had three.

"They couldn't break us down, fortunately."

He praised the effort of Daudau, as well as centrebacks Aengari and Todd Marwick.

Crichton said he was also pleased to deny Woolston the chance of going through the season unbeaten, something Suburbs did for the first time last year.

- The Marlborough Express