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PONIES NOT AT THE RACES FOR MAJORITY OF THE WEEKEND

A set of defeats for our Men’s and Women’s Premier teams at the hands of Tauranga City and Auckland United contributed to what was a tough weekend, our Women’s Reserves also took a loss while the Men’s Reserves provided the outlier as they took a very well earned point off a high flying Tauranga reserves team. In truth in the Men’s game the Ponies were outplayed by a quality team that seemed to suit the turf surface and pinged the ball all around the place, I think perhaps the best team we have played with the ball this season and early goals put the Ponies on the back foot, and try as we might we couldn’t get a foothold in the game. In the Women’s game both Auckland United and Ellerslie were missing a bunch of starting players, but United adapted better and dominated the contest, with a penalty opening the scoring in the first half –but the highlight was undoubtably the rocket for the third goal which arrowed into the top left corner of the goal from some distance.

Saturday in Detail

Women’s Head Coach Ryan Shiffman was called up to help out our Men’s Reserves as they’re still without a full time coach. A big game for the gaffer as the Men lined up to take on Tauranga, who despite losing the previous weekend, had logged huge wins in other games. The Reserves were bolstered by First Team players Alex Clark and Ryan Morrow looking to get some minutes under there belt. After two early goals by the away side, things weren’t looking great but a combination of hard work and a little bit of individual brilliance, the men were able to bring the scoreline back to 2-2. A very wellplaced free kick by Morrow and a long-distance rocket from Adam Foley put the Ponies back in a good position. With the help of some tactical changes by Shiffman at halftime, Ellerslie were able to keep Tauranga neutralized and claim another vital point. With the Tauranga Reserves being a strong side, Ellerslie knew their First Team would be too. Rowan Corbett earned his spot in the lineup after goals the previous week, while Denny Twigg returned to his leftback spot after being out through injury. The horror tackle on Josh Lai the previous week meant he dropped out due to injury, making way for Shaq Rezaie to take back his spot in the starting eleven.

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n’t without their own chances, but it was the away side who drew first blood, with a goal in the 24th minute. An excellently played falt ball across the edge of the 6 yard box left our goal keeper Keegan Hansen in no man’s land, and despite Jack Rathbone making a last ditch effort to clear it, the ball found the back of the net through Davidson. Unfortunately this was backed up only four minutes later after another attacked was launched down the right flank, this time McLeod the goalscorer to punish the Ponies. Ellerslie made it to the break without conceding anymore, and came out in the second half hoping to get themselves back into the game. It wasn’t meant to be though at Molloy scored the third and final goal of the game in the 53rd minute. Ben Fletcher rolled on the subs to try and inject some energy into the side, but Tauranga were able to control and manage the lead they had taken. A few unconverted chances by Ellerslie meant the score line stayed at 3-0, the away side enjoying the full points on offer. So back to the drawing board for our Ponies as they look to face Fencibles away at Riverhills Park this Saturday. The #BattleOfTheBridge is back for another season as the red and blue outfit see themselves back in Division One after a successful 2021. It should be an exciting match so make sure you come on down to support! Media Picks Man of the Match: Our Man of the Match goes to Adam Foley this week, who had an outstanding game with the Reserves. Picking up a goal, he was dangerous as he attacked down the right and solid on defense. When moved to centreback for the end of the game, he was reliable and calm, enabling the Reserves to keep the score deadlocked and see out the game.

Sunday in Detail

Sunday started off with the Women’s Reserves taking on Auckland United, a battle between two teams that dominated the Reserves league last season – however this game was dominated by Auckland United as they took a 2 goal lead just after halftime, Ellerslie responded with a goal to Andrea Hawke (her first for the club) but United restored the two goal lead in the 68th min and

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took home all three points and leapfrogged the Ponies into 2nd spot. Ellerslie have a big game next weekend against league leaders Western Springs and will hope to have some players back for that game after missing quite a number of players over the last couple of weeks. For the First Team there was quite a bit of change to the lineup as a Anita, Kim, Jemma and Cat Pretty were added to the unavailables, which already had Ella James, Nadia Olla, Leigh Aitken, Mia Grgicevich on the list. This meant a callup for crowd favourite Kez Kelly to start and bench spots for 100 Club legend Anna Howden, debutant Maddy Woolford, Holly Marx and Sarah Jessup. We were able to bring Marie Green back into the lineup, having sat out last week due to U17’s NZ Camp, Hollie Leona joined her in starting this week, after impressing off the bench last week with her set piece plays in particular.

Unfortunately for the two named above the first action of any note involved the two Ellerslie players and an Auckland United player in the box and after a clash of legs and bodies the referee pointed to the spot, I personally couldn’t tell what had happened but the Ponies players offered no complaints so the Referee must have got the call right. Alosi Bloomfield stepped up and smashed the ball into the back of the net to open the scoring. A further goal just 7 mins before halftime from Maya Vince after a slick passing move in some tight spaces from the United front line opened up the chance for the United player and she took it well. Ellerslie used the halftime break to change a few things and to be fair we competed a bit more in the second half, without ever being super threatening to the visitors backline. The contest was all over in the 64th min as Isabella Richards absolutely smashed a shot from the right hand side of the pitch into the top left corner of the goal, giving Petra no chance – I don’t think two GK’s would have stopped that rocket.

To their credit the Ponies pushed on looking for a consolation goal and for a while it looked like we might be able to create something, a very brave effort in goal by Nadine Robberts as she threw herself at the feet of a few ponies as United hustled to defend a scramble in their 6 yard box. A classic football punishment was dished out next as Ellerslie had for the first time in the game

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pushed United deep into their third to defend some sustained pressure when a ball came back out to halfway and an Ellerslie defender wasn’t able to deal with it and United had left a couple of players up and with one of them being Penny Brill who speed away to convert a 1 v 1 chance with Petra to make it 4-0. As the game wore on Ellerslie did grab their consolation goal, an important goal to grab to avoid having gone scoreless in four back to back games, having said that I don’t know if I can explain the goal. It started when Kat Gow had her back to goal on the sidline and the ball was bouncing up on her, so she smashed it high and over her head, which sent a rugby league type bomb into the 6 yard area, Nadine jumped up to try and collect the ball but the presence of Britney CunninghamLee put her off and she missed the ball, it then bounced and looked like it had with the angle gone under the keeper and from there a bit of a mad panic as the ball looked to bounce off a few body parts before sneaking into the back of the net. Now again the Referee was well placed and in his notebook he has given the goal to Britney, which gets her off the mark for the season, probably not the most memorable goal of the season but perhaps something the Ponies can hold onto when taking on Western Springs this coming weekend. MEDIA’S WOMAN OF THE MATCH We have not always agreed with the coaching staff this season on these picks but for today it was clear to us and the coaching staff that Kez Kelly (who played three or four positions in the game and was composed and worked so hard in and out of possession) was the obvious choice – she celebrated post game with a traditional Blueberry crusier!