NUAFC 1968-2018

1977
other Chatham Cup match in the
Waikato tomorrow — between
Wanderers and Huntly Thistle — is
hard to predict.
Ngaruawahia Soccer Results
Huntly Press
Wednesday May 14th 1977
With fourth division and lower
grades not being played in the
holidays, Ngaruawahia-Affco United
had only five matches to become
involved in over the weekend.
The Northern League four t h
divi si on b ea t Claudelands
Rovers on penalties in the Chatham
Cup second preliminary round: 1st
division lost 1-3 to Unicol; 2nd
division lost 1-4 to Otorohanga;
the ladies were beaten 0-4 by
Hamilton.
The 3rd division, nick-named
Dad's Army by the players, had a
champagne day against
Wanderers winning 7-1 through Jeff
McLaughlan, Ben Henkle, Ron
Clark and Glen Gray with Ben
Henkle's goal being the best of the
day. Wanderers were re­warded with
a penalty when Dad's Army forgot
who was goal-keeper and the wrong
defender handled.
Ngaruawahia-Affco
United
Join Thistle in Cup Final
The Huntly Press
Wednesday May 18th, 1977
It took two hours and twenty
minutes of exciting soccer before
United won its way through to the
Waikato finals of the Chatham Cup. Up
against Claudelands Rovers of
Hamilton, a Northern league 3rd
division team, United were prepared to
prove the newspaper critics of last
week wrong, and it took 140 minutes to
do it. Rovers had previously beaten
Matamata 4-1 with United having a
bye.
The game see-sawed from end
to end with opportunities going
begging. Rovers hit the upright with a
penalty and then shortly later missed an
open goal from two meters out. United
nearly had one when a long free kick
bounced over the Rovers keeper’s head
and was hooked clear by a defender,
and another when Mike Liddle spun
onto a back pass and rammed it straight
into the keeper from three metres.
It was a surprise when Rovers
gained a penalty, their second, and they
went one ahead and then two ahead
shortly after from a goal-mouth melee.
At this point the fitness of
United started to tell on Rovers. United
still ran hard and would not give in.
They pulled back the deficit with two
54
well-taken penalties (see clarification
below) by John Brown and still
pushed hard to the whistle at 90
minutes. Needing a result the teams
moved into 30 minutes extra time.
Rovers looked slower in this period and
United ever dangerous but still unable
to finish off promising moves.
No further scoring resulted in
this extra period and the keepers had
the nerve-wracking task of facing five
penalties each – with little chance of
stopping any.
Sowerby of United won the
toss and sent Rovers in for the first kick
– which missed. Brown slotted
United’s first, Rovers put one in,
Sowerby made it two. Rovers had their
third try and had the ball hit the
underside of the bar and in – close.
Keeper Sandy MacDonald netted
United’s third, Liddle the fourth, and
with Rovers having netted four of five
at this stage the weight of the result
rested on the unpredictable boot of
Charlie Gorman.
Exactly two hours and twenty
minutes from the commencement of
the game, Charlie Gorman put United
into the Waikato Chatham Cup final
against Huntly on June 4th.
The penalties mentioned in the
report were both free kicks from
55 metres out on the left wing.
John Brown netted both directly
from the free kick!
Results
With fourth division and
lower grades not being played in the
holidays, Ngaruawahia-Affco had only
five matches to become involved in
over the weekend.
The Northern League fourth
division beat Claudelands Rovers on
penalties in the Chatham Cup second
preliminary round:
1st division lost 1-3 to Unicol;
2nd division lost 1-4 to Otorohanga;
the ladies were beaten 0-4 by
Hamilton.
The 3rd division, nick-named
Dad’s Army by the players, had a
champagne day against Wanderers,
winning 7-1 through Jeff McLaughlin,
Ben Henckel, Ron Clark and Glen
Gray with Ben Henckel’s goal being
the best of the day. Wanderers were
rewarded with a penalty when Dad’s
Army forgot who was goalkeeper and
the wrong defender handled!
Ngaruawahia United
Clings to Bottom of 4th
Div.
The Huntly Press
Wednesday May 25th, 1977
Ngaruawahia-Affco United
Northern League squad tenaciously
held on to the bottom of the 4th
division on Saturday by losing at home
to Teachers United of Auckland.
Again it was the sad story of
having the chances without hitting the
net. Teachers were up 2-0 at the turn
and it was only some crazy bad luck
that kept the local boys from netting.
Malcolm Sowerby hooked a right halfcross
into the net to pull back one but
toward the end of the game a Teachers
striker ran through onto a defensive
mistake to take the game 3-1.
Ngaruawahia-Affco were not
a shadow of the team that knocked
Claudelands Rovers out of the
Chatham Cup, and Huntly Thistle must
start hot favourites on Saturday week to
take the Waikato finals if Ngaruawahia
-Affco cannot pull it together again.
Other results:- 1st Division
lost 2-4 to Tokoroa; 2nd Division beat
Melville 2-1; 3rd Division lost 1-4 to
Cambridge; ladies lost to Te Kuiti 0-3.
Hard Fought Victory
Table-tailers Onehunga-
Mangere were hosts to 4th division
soccer team Ngaruawahia-Affco
United at the Mangere Domain in
Auckland on Saturday. Following five
games played to date, United were
languishing three from the bottom,
above Waikato Unicol and Onehunga-
Mangere. United had won one and had
another given to them through an
opposing team fielding unregistered
players.
Defender Haniff was awarded
the Lillian Rose Player of the Day
award for his solidarity in defence and
it was he who slid the ball from the line
soon after kick-off when a through ball
eluded an advancing keeper and it was
a 30-metre race between Haniff and
two Onehunga strikers. This was the
closest the home team came in that first
half.
It was such a clearance that
was latched onto by the midfield for
Sowerby to curl over the keeper. The
ball struck the under-edge of the bar
and on its way down was pushed home
by Alan Cotter, who ran a close
second for player of the day.
A low cross from Liddle for
United was met on the full by Charles
Gorman to score but another United
forward was in an off-side position and
the goal disallowed, with the game
ending at 1-0 to Ngaruawahia.
Ngaruawahia-Affco United
and Huntly Thistle meet on the Huntly
Domain on Saturday in the Waikato
finals of the Chatham Cup – a clash
much looked forward to by United.
Mixed Day for Soccer Club
A mixed day for the fortunes
of the Ngaruawahia-Affco soccer club
on Saturday – six wins and five losses
on the Saturday and a win in the
Womens competition on the Sunday.
Results:- Northern league won