Lucas sending off leaves Vale battling tide

History could have had a more memorable ending but a brain explosion got in the way.
In the 32nd minute, to be precise, as veteran left winger Nick Lucas went for an early shower and left his Cru Bar Maycenvale United teammates having to deal with the heat from Miramar Rangers for the remaining 60 minutes of the Central League football match yesterday.
It was a double whammy for the Hastings club - their first home game in winter's premier league and also their first on their new home turf, the Hawke's Bay Regional Sports Park No1 ground with the athletics all-weather track skirting the boundary.
Rangers, of Wellington, were always going to be the favourites but Vale were left pondering on "what ifs" after their 2-1 loss as 10 gallant men pushed themselves to a standstill with some timely respite from a depleted bench.
Lucas, who has a history of losing his cool on the field, couldn't emulate the feat of his son, Dakota Lucas, yesterday who scored twice about the same time to help Waitakere United retain summer's ASB Premiership title against Auckland City in their 3-2 victory.
The senior Lucas was in the 18m box with Rangers on attack. Defender Phil Dol was on the heels of Miramar player Michael White, who lost his balance, dived over the ball and handled it with his hands.
Hawke's Bay referee Gareth Sheehan blew his whistle for a Vale freekick but within a split second Lucas rammed the ball into the sprawled player.
"It cost us, no doubt," Vale player/coach Chris Greatholder lamented. "I'd like to see it again because I thought he kicked the ball at the lad, to be honest, but I spoke to the three officials and they felt he had gone through with it to the man.
"I felt it was harsh at the time but if that's how it was then it's not good enough and he [Lucas] would regret that straight away, I would hope," Greatholder said.
He had mixed emotions about the game because Vale made it hard for themselves with one fewer player against "possibly the best team in the country".
It didn't help their cause that midfielders Marvin Eakin and Lucas Da Silva are away with national coach Matt Chandler at the Oceania futsal championship, regular goalkeeper Kyle Baxter was injured and David Gearey got married on Saturday.
"Everything conspired against us this morning so I'm really proud of the control the boys showed," Greatholder said, questioning whether Miramar were really better than his new kids on the Central League block.
In the 10th minute, Vale were unlucky not to receive a penalty kick after referee Sheehan awarded a freekick on the edge of the left side of the 18m box after Miramar defender Paul Dixon brought down Lucas charging for the goalmouth just inside the box.
In the 20th minute, the visitors drew first blood when striker Domonic Rowe rifled a ball past replacement goalkeeper Brendan Adema after his defenders had repelled two earlier shots at goal from a cornerkick.
Vale striker Joachim Rande made it 1-1 in the 29th minute after rightback Adam Chandler worked the ball up the flank to find striker Leon Birnie, who flicked it on to a gap for the speedy Solomon Islander to push past goalkeeper Cameron Burns.
The visitors flirted with the crossbar a few times before Dixon curled one across the face of the goalmouth for striker John Sutherland to make it 2-1 in the 72nd minute.
It gave Greatholder a lot of hope going into the winter knowing his troops showed a lot more ticker than their 3-2 loss away to Tawa in Wellington in their debut match the previous Saturday.
"We've got to make this our place where it'll be a tough ask for other teams to come to get points here," Greatholder said of the new park as Vale hope to shift their base from Akina Park altogether by next year.
Goalkeeper Adema, a keeper-cum-defender who played to Central League level before yesterday, never looked like he left the goal.
"We looked a lot more sure with the back four trusting him straight away," Greatholder said, lauding the performance of his younger players too. "It'll be tough to drop BA next week as goalkeeper, to be honest," he said, having to sweat on the fitness of young right winger Daniel Ball who hurt his knee in the latter stage yesterday.
Rangers coach Matt Calcott put his team's inability to score more goals down to "one of those games where 10 men can lift the other team, you know".
"It did in the second part of the first half and at halftime I said to keep moving the ball around," Calcott said, adding Vale were certainly competitive but some of their players were no strangers to top-level football.
He saluted the complex as fantastic but felt the ground needed some work, requiring bedding in time for traction.
The Vale host Western Suburbs this weekend, mindful the Wellingtonians beat Bluewater Napier City Rovers 2-0 yesterday at Endeavour Park.
Coach Grant Hastings said the attitude of his players was first-class against the slick Shane Rufer-coached hosts. "We are more competitive than we were last season," Hastings said of the Rovers seeking a win in Wellington in more than two seasons.
Stu Wilson, Matt Hastings and Andy Pickering came close to scoring while Fergus Neil, Bill Robertson, Danny Wilson and captain Regan Cameron marshalled the defence with aplomb.
Goalkeeper Shaun Peta kept the scoreline respectable too after Suburbs scored a goal in each half.