SOCCER: Ref sees red in final

HAMISH BIDWELL
Where do you start?
The score is as good a place as any, but Napier Marist 2 Maycenvale United 1 hardly does justice to Saturday's action-packed Rod Pelosi Challenge Trophy final at Marewa Park.
Two red cards, two others that should've been given and a last-minute winner from the spot meant people had plenty to talk about in the car on the way home.
Let's begin with the reds. Cru Bar Maycenvale captain Nick Lucas was the first to get an early shower, for at least the third time this season, after giving Bluewater Marist's Jimmy Cudd and referee Anthony Riley a gobful. Frankly Lucas had every right to be cranky, after being denied a pretty decent shout for a penalty seconds earlier. Teammate Ben Murphy was the next to go, following a second yellow card. Having been booked after half an hour for a clumsy challenge, the big defender was sent off with about 10 minutes remaining when he kicked a ball after Riley had blown the whistle for a foul. There are times players kick the ball away in disgust, but this wasn't one of them and the decision has to be described as pathetic.
In between the reds, Maycenvale's Anthony Floyd really should've gone for a horrendous tackle on Cudd. Having lost the ball, everyone in the ground, including Cudd, knew Floyd was about to clatter the Marist playmaker. Cannily, Cudd knocked the ball ahead of himself, so that when Floyd's challenge came from behind there could be no argument that he was going for the ball.
Cudd was creamed, Floyd was only shown yellow and when the Marist man was well enough to be carried back to the bench he left everyone in the ground in no doubt about what he thought of Floyd being able to play on.
Maycenvale goalkeeper Mitch O'Brien was also lucky to stay on the pitch when he flattened Marist's Richard Gearey in the last minute but, again, a yellow card was all Riley thought it merited. In any event, Marist player-coach Darren Mason converted from the spot and the spoils were his a few seconds later.
"I'm thrilled for the guys. We really wanted to win this," Mason said. "These are the games, with all due respect to Eskview and Western Rangers and the like, that you want to be involved in. You can talk about competing and all the rest of it, but winning is what it's all about and getting to and winning a final makes all those cold wet nights worth it."
Ealier, Marist had taken a deserved lead after 37 minutes, when a curling Cudd freekick went in untouched. But with the slope and the wind in their favour, Maycenvale dominated the second half and equalised when Dion Adams scored from another freekick. Despite their numerical disadvantage, it was all Maycenvale and it seemed only a matter of time before they took the lead.
In the end, it was their endeavour that cost them when 15-year old Ryan Martin expertly picked out Gearey on the counter-attack before O'Brien conceded the penalty.
"Everyone else was ducking for cover and going 'Mase, Mase' and unfortunately, because I've made a few this season, I had to take it," Mason said. Cooly too, slotting it right down the middle.
"You look at it and think 'good goalkeepers dive, so if I stick it up the middle I should be pretty safe'. That's my theory, anyway."
Despite the cruel way the match panned out, Maycenvale coach Grant Hastings was gracious in defeat.
"It was a wow of a game and credit to Marist, they're a good side. But how could I not be proud of what we did? "We only had nine players, but we took the game to them. I'm not unhappy at all. I would've been unhappy if we'd kept 11 players and not had a go, but the nine we had gave it a real crack and it's taken a pen to decide the game," Hastings said.
With neither team wanting to chase Central League promotion Red Sox Manawatu, who beat Palmerston North End in the third and fourth playoff, advance to play home and away matches against Capital Soccer champions Petone. The winner of that then plays Team Taranaki in the Central League promotion-relegation matches.