Dannevirke men’s football ‘foot it’ with the top teams

Vikings midfielder Jonathan Ryklief feeds his wing on attack.

Two Dannevirke football teams were in for some tough competition in recent games.

Dannevirke Rangers encountered top-of-the-table Feilding in the Manawatū Second Division at Dannevirke in fine conditions earlier this month.

Dannevirke Ranger’s Bryce Spain lands a penalty giving the keeper no chance.

Feilding were looking for revenge having won all their games except for a loss to Dannevirke 5-3 earlier in the season. Dannevirke haves not fared so well suffering too many injuries to field a consistently strong side and are sitting mid-table.

Justin Howell shows the defence which kept Feilding scoreless in the second half.

Their game on July 6 should give them hope for the remining five games because although they lost 3-1 Dannevirke showed their potential, winning the second half 1-0.

Matthew Cordell weaves his way through the Feilding midfield.

Even the first half showed Feilding it was going to be a tough match and it was quite a spectacle of vigorous football. Playing with a moderate breeze Feilding pressured the Rangers goal and Dannevirke conceded two goals, one an own-goal.

The Dannevirke Rangers after their game against Feilding United.

With the breeze in the second half a top-class battle took place the only goal scored by Dannevirke from the penalty spot.

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One division down but in the top section Dannevirke Vikings played unbeaten Takaro which showed the class that put them there, and despite playing into the breeze scoring some classic goals to take a 4-0 lead into half-time.

The Dannevirke Vikings at half-time against Takaro.

It was a totally different story in the second half with the young forward Vikings front line stringing some great passes to pressure their opposition in a manner one Takaro player said they were unused to.

Vikings' Logan Boustead beats the Takaro keeper to score his goal.

This eventually yielded a goal when Logan Boustead placed the ball into the Takaro net. Good Dannevirke defence kept the score 4-1 until late in the game Takaro scored to remind their opponents defence is an 80-minute task.

Viking twins Taj and Eden Chapman-Peters launch an attack from the midfield.

With a 1-1 result in the second half this is just the tonic to encourage the Vikings for the next game against Levin AFC who sit one position below them in the top six, again at Dannevirke on July 13 at 2.45pm.