NUAFC 1968-2018

1977
that attempt ended Teachers last
effective goal attempt of the first half.
Player of the day, Charles
Gorman, started the goal flow when he
received a through ball from the winghalf
and smashed his shot from 20
metres out across the face of the goal
and into the far netting. Cargo, seeing
Haniff steaming through on the left,
curled a pass across the goal to him.
Haniff slipped his defender and from
almost on the line between corner and
goal ferociously slammed a curling shot
around the keeper and in at the far post.
Half-time score was 2-0 to
Ngaruawahia-Affco United.
With the sun now behind
them, and Ngaruawahia defending the
soft end of the pitch, Teachers pulled a
goal back when their striker eluded
Tim Coyne at right back and shot from
four metres out. Keeper Sandy
MacDonald got down to it but
Teachers put away the rebound to make
it 2-1.
This goal fired the home team
and it took several minutes of solid
work from Liddle and Ken Murray to
swing the game back to United. A foul
on Dean Haggie saw Malcolm
Sowerby’s chip into the Teachers area
back-headed by Gorman over the
keeper and into the net. 3-1.
It wasn’t long before youth
had its say. A low cross from Bullivant
on the right scooted along the front of
the goal area to Haniff who dummied a
shot and let it run through to Haggie,
who cracked it low and hard into the far
corner with the keeper going the wrong
way. 4-1.
Not happy with the score, and
wanting to get in on the act, it was
Phillip Bullivant who netted a 30-
metre drive from the wing to finish
Ngaruawahia’s scoring at five goals.
Teachers did not give in and were
rewarded late in the game with two
goals from defensive lapses for a final
tally of 5-3 to Ngaruawahia.
The outstanding feature of the
game was the crisp and accurate
feeding of the ball from the half-backs
to the strikers and wingers. Vuletich,
Haniff and Haggie had good control
down the left of the field as did Coyne,
Cargo and Bullivant on their side.
Although Charles Gorman gained
player of the day it did not detract from
the solid supporting work of Mike
Liddle, whose play is steady and
bustling.
The Northern League win
complimented the club’s 1st division
win over Hamilton Wanderers by 6
goals to 2.
62
Liddle at Last
The Huntly Press
Wednesday August 24th, 1977
Waikato 2nd Division
At last, after eighteen
competition and Chatham Cup games,
Mike Liddle gained his first goal of the
season. He thought he had it when he
was presented with a penalty in his
team’s clash with Matamata at
Ngaruawahia in Waikato 2nd division
soccer competition. The less written
about that attempt the better! Mike
would not like it!
However, soon after, he netted
to compliment Bruce McIntosh’s goal
and give Ngaruawahia a 2-1 win.
Play was generally scrappy,
and if Ngaruawahia had settled down
earlier, or settled down at all for that
matter, they would have dictated play
and definitely won by a bigger margin.
Philip Bullivant showed his
up-and-under skills in front of the
opponent’s goal and Mel Riches had
some decidedly trying times in goal at
his end of the field.
Double Hat Tricks
Waikato 1st Division
The indefatigable John
Brown and Malcolm Sowerby notched
up hat-tricks against Fraser AFC in the
first match of the Waikato 1st Division
subsidiary soccer competition at
Ngaruawahia on Saturday. The club’s
Northern League reserve squad, playing
in the 1st Division, have left it late to
come right, but they have proven in
their last two games that time was the
healer, and now look more assured of
gaining some recognition in their
division.
From mid-week reports of
Ngaruawahia-Affco players who,
alongside Fraser players, it was to be
Fraser who was to repeat their string of
victories by approximately six goals.
On past early-season performances,
Fraser was more than justified in
making this confident prediction.
However, the way things
turned out, Fraser had only one clean
shot at goal, which scraped the upright,
during the whole 90 minutes. This did
not include the twice-taken penalty that
provided the consolation goal for the
visitor late in the second spell.
Ngaruawahia-Affco started off
in fine style with Malcolm Sowerby
displaying the quietly effective striker
he was to build his teams’ victory on.
Ken Murray had a brief flurry of
activity in the backs as Fraser tried to
assert their presence on the field, but
this soon dropped off to spasmodic
periods of mopping up. Sowerby netted
his first when he received a lobbed
through ball over his shoulder and ran it
through to start the flood. He netted
again in the same spell when he miskicked
his first attempt and, in falling,
collected the ball on his “wrong” foot
and sliced it past the keeper to give a 2-
0 advantage at the turn.
The Fraser keeper, nursing an
injury from a previous match, earned
the admiration of United spectators
with his determination to keep out the
flood of shots from wave after wave of
green jerseys. In the second half he was
replaced when his injury was
aggravated when he fell after making a
brilliant save from a John Brown shot.
Now it was only time before
Ngaruawahia-Affco would flood the
goal. Sowerby added his third with
John Brown gaining three from
accurately-placed chips into the top
corners.
Arguably the best two shots
came from Ray Guy and Steve
Williams. Both latched on to crossed
balls about 25 to 30 metres out and hit
identical goals into the top of the
netting making their team’s tally up to
eight.
George Sunnex, playing on
the wing, had a difficult time with his
marker and was replaced by Haniff late
in the game. Haniff soon had the
makings of the defender and after the
first few tackles on Haniff the Fraser
defender became less effective.
John Brown came in for his
fair share of close attention but it was a
foolish player who tried to take him out
of the game, with John meeting
vigorous tackles in like manner. Jason
Cargo, by far the tallest in the squad,
displayed his maturity in top-line
soccer with intelligent dispersal of balls
to wing-halves and forwards. Malcolm
Burt plugged his defensive area well,
setting up good counter-moves along
with Ken Murray.
Stu Bell had little to do in goal
and suffered a little from boredom in
the second spell until rudely awakened
by several quick raids by Fraser, one
resulting in a penalty when Cargo
fouled in an attempt to head clear a
corner. The first attempt at the penalty
was netted but the referee ruled that a
Fraser player had encroached into the
area and it was successfully retaken.
Neil Gorman, after
languishing in “Dad’s Army” of the 3rd
division, was dramatically promoted to
the 1st, and had the best game of the
year. Eddie Carrigan worked hard on
attack and was always willing to scoot
back into the defence.
The 8-1 winning scoreline was
a fair indication of the balance of play
in Ngaruawahia-Affco’s favour.