Team
Wellington 3 Hawke's Bay United 3
Sunday
22nd January 2017
Dave
Farrington Park, Wellington
Att
: about 100 hardy souls braved the wind and the rain
 |
| Team Wellington's 2nd goal The JourneyFan |
We've obviously confused the weather gods by playing football in summer, so
much so that they layed on the best of winter conditions (or as the mainstream media now calls it a Weather Bomb) for the
clash between Team Wellington and Hawke's Bay United.
In Hawke's Bay
United's last 3 games there have been 20 goals, while Team
Wellington's last 3 games have produced 14 goals, so the game
promised much and it delivered.
Hawke's
Bay United opened the scoring in the 4th minute when Saul
Halpin scored from the penalty spot. 8 minutes later it was all
level, Hawke's Bay United keeper, Josh Hill, made a great save from
an Andy Bevin shot but couldn't hold it and Ben Harris pounced on
the rebound to equalise. 12 minutes later Saul Halpin had the ball in
the back of the net to restore Hawke's Bay United's lead.
Despite
a very strong wind, both teams were playing pretty good football,
although neither were dominating and when Tom Jackson scored with
almost the last kick of the half to make it 2-2, it felt as if this
was a fair reflection of the game.
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| Fin Milne (HBU) runs into Team Wellington's Andy Bevin and concedes a penalty The JourneyFan |
5
minutes into the 2nd half Hawke's Bay United's Fin Milne
ran into Team Wellington's Andy Bevin in the penalty area and Tom
Jackson got his 10th of the season from the resulting
penalty. This was when Hawke's Bay United coach, Brett Angell, came into focus. Angell, who played a season for Everton in the
English Premier League, is what you can describe as a very vocal
coach. In the first half he had questioned a few of the refs
decisions, although they were the sort of questions that were
befitting of a one eyed Bay supporter. He also had some entertaining
banter with the Team Wellington bench, although the 4th
official stepped in when it seemed to be getting a bit personal.
 |
| 4th Official tells Brett Angell to calm down The JourneyFan |
He
wasn't impressed with the decision to award Team Wellington a penalty
and after remonstrating about it to the 4th official and
using some choice language he was given a final warning. Then in the
66th minute Cory Chettleburgh made a hard tackle in front
of the dugout, from my viewpoint next to the dugout, I thought it
was a fair tackle and Chettleburg got the ball, however Team
Wellington players claimed it was two footed and he went over the
ball and the ref agreed with them gave them a free kick and booked
Chettleburgh. As things were getting heated, Angell let the ref know what he thought of the decision. So
after the ref dealt with Chettleburgh he sent Angell to the stands.
Angell's definition of “the stands” was, like his interpretation of the rules, slightly different to the ref's and he chose to stand in
front of the changing rooms, from here he could still talk to the
bench and his subs who were warming up. After a bit the ref noticed
this and told him to go upstairs (to which some wag upstairs
commented “we don't want him up here”). He disappeared for a bit
but was soon back and still sending instructions to his bench, summed
up best when the 4th official held up the board for number
2 to be subbed and he shouted out sorry he'd got it wrong it was
supposed to be number 3, Kohei Matsumoto being subbed! The ref didn't
seem to notice this.
Anyway
back to the football, which was actually a pretty good game in
difficult conditions. Team Wellington had a few chances but were
unable to get past Hawke's Bay United's keeper, Josh Hill, who was
having an outstanding game and made several vital saves, then with 10
minutes to go one of the subs made by Angell (after he had been sent
off), Facundo Babero, popped up and made it 3-3. Shortly after this
when Team Wellington were attacking the ref noticed Angell, and had
more words with him, effectively telling him that if he didn't do as
he was told Hawke's Bay United would be losing the game, whether or
not the ref could do this didn't matter as Angell retreated into the
changing room for the rest of the game, which ended 3-3.
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| Josh Hill makes a save at the feet of Team Wellington's Tom Jackson The JourneyFan |
So
it was an entertaining day and surprisingly, given the wind and the
rain, some good football was played it's just a shame that the antics
of Brett Angell overshadowed the game. This is the second time
this season he has been sent off and local Hawke's Bay United fans
seem to wait each game for the moment when Angell will kick off. He's undoubtedly a good coach, in his 2 seasons at Hawke's Bay United he
has taken them to a Grand Final (where they lost 2-1 to Auckland
City) and finished 2nd in the league (they lost the
semi-final to Team Wellington) and he's done this with a team of
decent but not spectacular players.
But he does need to sort out his
sideline manner, being passionate is fine but when you are expressing
that passion and almost every 2nd word is the f-word it's
not a good look, especially now the league is getting decent TV
exposure.
He
said after the game that next week he will be a spectator in the
stand and his assistant (who wasn't at this game) Jamie Dunning will
take charge of the team. I get the feeling it will be a few more
weeks before he is allowed back in the dugout.
Nice! Good read.
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