U.S 1 V 0 University Nairnville pk 25th april 09 3pm

They say a week is a long time in football and that proved the case for the stallions pouncing on an early keeper error too claim a hard fought 1-0 win over a very good University side in great conditions at Nairnville park

A slightly later start of 3pm gave U.S the chance to arrive early and prepare for the game with a good warm up on the new artificial field. with the events of last weeks game firmly behind us, the stallions found themselves in a buoyant mood and went about warming up with a variety of passing drills and keeper throw downs, no penalty shoot out competition this week.

The University side kicked the game off wearing an all black strip,the Stallions set about trying to stop any attack dead before it got into the 18 yard box and ourselves attack with purpose out wide and through the middle,a big game was going to be needed by all of U.S but more so in the midfield and the defense and both stepped up creating chances for our attackers and stopping the young university from getting any real shots on goal throughout most of the game.

It was from our first real attack where we scored the only goal of the game, a corner taken by Patrick out on the right was fumbled by the keeper on the goal line and with two University players scrambling to clear the ball I was able to get a foot to the ball and stab it in the net recoiling with joy as the Stallions took an early lead 5 minutes into the game.

With the early goal giving U.S a lift we continued to put pressure on the opposition,but most of the chances came to nothing, the keeper was having a torrid time with it early on dealing with our corners but he eventually seemed to get more and more confident as the game went on.

Brooks on the other hand was probably catching a sneaky look at the rugby going on behind us because he didn't really have much to do.

A great Chance for U.S in the first half was where Rauru had put a beautiful ball across the face of goal only for no one to be there to tap it in,another had Rauru in an almost one on one with the keeper only for the bounce of the ball going against him,our attackers really getting the better of their defenders at times linking well getting in behind the defenders just unlucky not to put U.S further in the lead, even When Aaron and Panda found themselves as makeshift strikers they tried to cause trouble.

As the first half came to an end it seemed as if the Stallions were the slightly better of the two sides and going into he second half we knew we'd need to put in a solid shift all over the park if we were going to win the game.

We took it to them from the off trying hard to find a winner pushing forward Aaron was unlucky not to put us 2-0 up early into the 2nd half a shot on an almost open goal was sent horribly wide, the pressure continued through out the game Rauru again putting a ball across the face of goal but neither myself or Nick White were able to get on the end of it.

They attacked U.S as well but we held tight, the defence were at their best today the few times the university side got into the box they were hassled off the ball or pushed wide leaving their shots to go a rye or out for goal kicks the stallions only giving up two corners in the 2nd half.

The midfield ran themselves into the ground too they were all over the park defending and attacking it was a great all round performance today

As the game went on the space opened up and our wide midfielders found themselves with a bit more space to run although that also gave the opposition the chance to counter attack and with the young University side throwing everything at U.S it would be a frantic last 20 minutes as the Stallions would hold out and take all three points and keeping our first clean sheet of the season.

Team: Brooks,Jason,Tangi,Mike,Corey,Aaron,Nick W,Patrick,Joe,Rauru,Logan
Subs: Spencer,Panda

Goals Corey 5mins

Next week Karori Aces @ Karori Park #2 2.30pm