NUAFC 1968-2018

1974
wer e l yi n g si xth on th e t a bl e.
Al l g oa l s s c or ed were in the first
half. Ngaruawahia scored... twice
from Phillip Bullivant and Geoffrey
Brunning before P u t a r u r u
p i c k e d u p a badly directed
ball from the Ngaruawahia
defence and netted.
Geoff Brunning's goal was a
solo effort when he w a l t z e d
t h r o u g h t h e f i e l d from
halfway to drive in a 20-me t r e
s h ot . P hi l l i p Bullivant
brought his in from the rightwing
corn er. Hi s drive wa s
fumbl ed by t h e keeper wh o
was under pressure from Neil
Gorman, and Phillip followed
through to push the loose ball
home.
Charles and Neil Gorman
had the goal twang­ing when
their shots rebounded from the
crossbar and uprights but they
could n ot get th em in. Sandy
MacDonald made his third offthe-line
save of the season
wh e n P u t a r ur u drove the ball
around the beaten form of Rex
Nightingale in goal, only to see
it volleyed away just short of the
line.
Credit for the low scoring must go
to both keepe rs , w h o ha d a fi n e
da y of it. N garuawahia s till
maintains its lead on the points
table on goal avera g e f r o m T e
K u i t i a n d Hamilton. However,
Ngaruawahia still have one game
in hand.
N garua w ahia meet Te
Awamutu at Ngaruawahia, 1.00
p.m., this Saturday, and are
taking the match a s one of th ei r
hardes t, despite Ngaruawahia's 8-
2 win in pre-season competition.
Te Awamutu have had s ome
unlucky loss es to date and will be
hoping t o c l i m b u p t h e p o i n t s
table from their position at 8th by
deposing reigning champions
Ngaruawahia.
26
Still Top of the Soccer
Table
May 11th 1974
Ngaruawahia United AFC
maintains their position at the top
of the Waikato second division
soccer table. With one game up
their sleeve they share the top spot
with Hamilton on ten points, but
have a superior goal average.
Perhaps with its best
defence ever, Ngaruawahia has
managed to hold out the
challenges of teams with superior
attacking ability as the rate of
three through in five matches
testifies.
Ngaruawahia were
extremely lucky, however, on
Saturday to come away with two
points from a 1-0 win over Te
Awamutu. The penalty notched by
Sandy MacDonald was all there
was in it.
Both teams saved off their
line frequently when the keepers
had been beaten with good
crosses.
By playing an early match
at 1pm, Te Awamutu was able to
field their full-strength team. A
reshuffle of the Ngaruawahia
positions for Saturday’s away
match against Te Kuiti should
provide a surprise against the Te
Kuiti side.
Friendly Game
After the match against Te
Awamutu on Saturday,
Ngaruawahia met AFFCo-Rangers
at Horotiu on Sunday in a
“friendly”.
With the pressure off, United
played a relaxed and easy game.
The team knitted together well
with Neil Gorman showing his
skill in the new position of centreback.
Joe Murphy and Charles
Gorman scored goals for
Ngaruawahia, while AFFCo failed
to net.
The fourth division under 16
squad outplayed Wanderers to the
tune of three goals to nil. These
came off the boots of Jeffrey
McLaughlin and Michael
Meijborg.
3-0 over Te Kuiti
May 13th 1974
With a misunderstanding as to
ground location between Fraser
and Putaruru only two matches
were played in the Marshall Cup
competition.
Hamilton took Cameron 4-2,
while Te Kuiti went down 0-3 to
Ngaruawahia.
This was the first time that Te
Kuiti had failed to net this season.
Ngaruawahia put on early pressure
with coach Dave Hall having sidelined
two of his top players (Alan
Rose & George Sunnex) to keep
them in reserve for later in the
match.
Ian Todd, suffering from three
cracked ribs sustained in the
previous match against Cameron,
was replaced by George Sunnex
after 30 minutes. Rose came on
for Bullivant with 30 minutes to
go.
Brunning put in the first goal
when he picked up a punched
clearance from the Te Kuiti keeper
and drove it into the roof of the
net from 18 yards out. Charles
Gorman made it 2-0 shortly after
when he slotted a 30-yard drive
into the top left corner. Bullivant
gained the third goal by beating
the keeper to a back-pass.
Ngaruawahia tired in the last 20
minutes on the soft field but held
the advantage. Te Kuiti had
attacking chances but folded up
against the defence of
Ngaruawahia.
2-1 Soccer Win to
Ngaruawahia
May 13th 1974
Tw o-one ma y not be a great
win but it was enough to keep
Ngaruawahia - Unite d t o p o f
t h e t a b l e on Saturday. Meeting
Wanderers at home In the 8th
round of the 2nd division soccer
competition, it took the home team
80 minutes to win the match.
Charlie Gorman netted following
a good build-up early in the match
b u t W a n d e r e r s equalised when
keeper, Rex Nightingale failed to
smothe r a l ow s h o t . T h e b a l l
spun out from under him to b e
p u s h e d h o m e b y a Wanderers
forward following up. Pla y b y
N garua wahia turned scrappy with
the inclement weather not helping
very much.
At half-time, Sandy MacDonald
was substituted on for George
Sunnex and, with some slight
rearrangement of the team, took
the field. This was
Ngaruawahia ’s half. Ball-play
cooled down and some snappy interpassing
by United had Wanderers
goal threatened frequently
United still, how ever, had the
same problem that has been bugging
them for months—no control in
defence of the centre-field.
Halves and forwards were not
linking and many def e n s i v e
s i t u a t i on s h a d United’s selector
biting his nails. The old team had
no trouble in blunting Wanderers
attacks; often luring them in until
they either had to shoot before
they were ready or they crowded
themselves out of room.
N e il G orm a n e n s u r e d
Ngaruawahia of two points instead