Western
Suburbs 2nds 6 Waterside-Karori 1
Capital
Premier
Endeavour
Park
Sunday
31st July 2016
Attendance
about 120
Western
Suburbs and Waterside-Karori are two of Wellington's oldest clubs.
Western Suburbs being formed in 1906 as Mental Hospital, changing their name
to Western Suburbs in 1956, then Porirua United in 1973, a merger
with Viard Old Boys in 1984 saw them become Porirua Viard United and
then a further merger with Mana United in 1992 saw them revert to the
Western Suburbs name.
Whilst
being called one of Wellington's oldest clubs, Waterside-Karori were
actually formed in 1987 by a merger of Waterside (known as Columbus
Waterside) and Karori Swifts.
Karori
Swifts being formed in 1894 as Swifts and adding the Karori name in
1968 when the settled on Karori as their home base. Waterside had
been formed in 1921 as a club for dock workers and had established
themselves as one of the top clubs in NZ winning the Chatham Cup 3
times in a row between 1938-40, a feat that has only been matched by
Christchurch United in the 70's and Waitakere City in the 90's.
Today's
league match was a potential title decider with Waterside-Karori, 7
points ahead of Western Suburbs and needing just a draw to win the
Venus Shield, a trophy well known to both clubs having won it 26
times between them and their various incarnations).
 |
| The Venus Shield, first presented in 1895 |
This
season Waterside-Karori had 13 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss (early season
to Tawa), scored 51 and conceded only 11 goals. So even though
Western Suburbs were 2nd in the table they were still 7
points behind and it was a reasonable assumption to make that
Waterside-Karori would get at least a draw today and maybe I could
get some great photos of the team celebrating with Wellington's
oldest trophy.
Waterside-Karori
started brightly enough almost having 2 goals in the first 5 minutes
with just some wayward shooting letting them down, but then Western
Suburbs American import, Matt Walker, made what was to become a trade
mark break down the right flank and got the ball over to Sasha Snyed
who easily made it 1-0.
 |
| Matt Walker about to score |
From
then on it was all Western Suburbs, in the 25th minute,
Matt Walker made another of his trade mark breaks down the right
flank and this time scored himself. A minute later the ball was in
the Wharfies net again but this time it was ruled offside, but they
didn't have to wait long before an almost identical run and cross
from Michael Walker this time found Michael Fraser who made it 3-0
after 30 minutes. They almost made it 4 by half time when they had a
free kick that hit the crossbar.
At half
time some optimistic Wharfies fans opinionated that they only needed 3
goals as a draw was enough to win the title and this team should have
no problem getting that.
However
it was Western Suburbs that picked up where they left off with Ahmad
Monammedi scoring after just 5 minutes. A minute later
Waterside-Karori got some hope when Babero pulled a goal back to make
it 4-1. Although this didn't last long when 5 minutes later Western
Suburbs were awarded a penalty and Moammedi sent Waterside-Karori's
Jack Kemp the wrong way. 20 minutes later Moammedi completed his
hat-trick with a volleyed shot from just outside the penalty area
which found the roof of the net.
 |
| Ahmad Monammedi send Jack Kemp the wrong way from the penalty spot |
Western
Suburbs even spent the last 10 minutes with only 10 men on the pitch
after Mikey Faber, took down Waterside-Karori's Leo Villa and received a 2nd yellow card. The resulting free kick was on
target until it took a deflection of Western Suburbs Sasha Sneyd and
spun up over the bar, which sort of summed up Waterside-Karori's in
that they were just not good enough on the day and they spent the
last 10 minutes looking for the ref to blow for full time and put
them out of their misery.
I turned
up with a not unreasonable expectation of possibly seeing
Waterside-Kaori lift the Venus Shield. Waterside-Karori didn't turn up, but
Western Suburbs did and they punished a hapless Wharfies side and now
what looked like being a formality now looks quite interesting.
Waterside-Karori
need 3 points from their last 2 games against 3rd place
Island Bay United & relegation battling Victoria University.
Western Suburbs have a local derby against Tawa and then meet Island
Bay United. Its an outside chance but if they play the way they did
today and Waterside-Karori falter they could sneak the title. If they
did manage it, like today's game it will be well deserved.
CLICK THIS LINK TO CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS FROM THE GAME
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| A Wests player Jumps ove Watersides Ethan Cain |
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| Leo Villa taking a free kick |
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