Melville begin season with deserved win

KELLY HODEL/Waikato Times

TACKLE TIME: Melville United's Tewi Te Pour, left, clashes with Glenfield Rovers' Josh Turnbull during his side's 3-2 win at Gower Park on Saturday.

Relevant offers

A late scare wasn't enough to stop Melville United from being the only Waikato side to register a win on the opening day of the Northern League soccer season.

The hosts saw off Glenfield Rovers 3-2 at Hamilton's Gower Park on Saturday in their Premier League clash and were good value for the victory.

They romped out to a 3-0 lead shortly after halftime and could have been further ahead.

But Waikato FC striker Michael Gwyther made them pay the penalty for giving the ball away in midfield to enable Rovers to narrow the gap and a late strike from Cesar Meylan made for a more nervous last few minutes than necessary.

On a rock-hard, bumpy pitch, Melville played some sharp flowing football in the early stages and netted twice within three minutes.

Their opener was a goal of quality, starting at the back through Tyler Lissette before Charlie Hoyle knocked a fine ball through to David Smith.

The left midfielder rushed forward and his low cross was bundled in from close range by Tewi Te Pou in the seventh minute.

Welsh import Ceri James set up the second with an accurate cross-field ball that Smith nipped in to head past Glenfield keeper Rob Read and push into the empty net.

They had further chances to increase the lead but goalkeeper Scott Robinson was forced into a sharp left-handed save from Gwyther before halftime. Steven Holloway made it three after the break by converting Te Pou's cross.

For the victors, Jason Chewins was sharp at left back and combined well with Smith while Lissette looked accomplished and Te Pou was a threat on the right flank.

"I thought we played well and it was a good start for us – we haven't won our opening match for about four years," said Melville coach Steve Williams.

Hamilton Wanderers had a rare goalkeeping error from Vladi Frank in their 2-0 home loss against Central United.

Frank slipped when dealing with a backpass, allowing Dave Richmond to toe-poke home and Richmond sealed the match with virtually the last kick of the game.

"Some individuals stood out but we didn't play that well as a team – we'll definitely get stronger with players to come back into the team," said Wanderers coach Mark Cossey.

Ngaruawahia United had Alex Barlow sent off in their 2-0 Premier League defeat at Centennial park against Papatoetoe.

Barlow had already been booked when he got a second yellow card for dissent in the first half.

The hosts went behind to a dubious penalty and conceded the second five minutes from fulltime.

Young goalkeeper Alex Carr and centrebacks Jon Stables and Sean Sullivan were standouts for the green-and-whites.

Cambridge led for 60 minutes in their Division One home opener against Fencibles but the sending off of Jono Monteith proved their downfall.

Young skipper Gareth Clark put Cambridge ahead in the 34th minute but when Monteith was sent off after being adjudged as the last defender stopping a clear goal-scoring chance, the hosts conceded three times.

They weren't helped by having two players also spend time on the sidelines getting head clashes bandaged.

"We had spells where we played superbly and only wilted towards the end with a very young side," said coach Josh Easby.

Matamata Swifts also conceded goals from a backpass error and a dubious penalty as they went down 2-1 away to Division One title favourites Mangere United, with Simon Arthur netting for the league newcomers.

"It would have been nice to get a point but I was very encouraged by what I saw from us," said coach Duncan Lowry.

- © Fairfax NZ News