Home side hard to beat

TENACITY: Callum Elliot on the attack for Heartland Wairarapa.

THE significant improvement Heartland Wairarapa have made through their 2015 national youth league football campaign was abundantly clear in their 1-all draw with Auckland City at Memorial Park, Masterton, on Saturday.

It was the second successive weekend Wairarapa had upset the applecart for teams from the City of Sails, their 2-0 defeat of Auckland United seven days prior having broken their "duck" on the points table.

But while that victory was full of merit it probably plays second fiddle to the draw with Auckland City simply because of the greater strength of the opposition and the fact City had enough territory and possession - particularly in the opening 45 minutes - to set up what should have been a comfortable win.

Through most of the first half it was City calling the tune with the speed and accuracy of their passing and their use of the full width of the field producing dangerous attacking raids which, in normal circumstances, would almost certainly have led to the scoreline ticking over in their favour on a regular basis.

The fact that never eventuated provided a classic example of Heartland Wairarapa's newfound tenacity on defence.

They went into their tackles with purpose and if they didn't rob City of the ball they invariably created enough pressure for shots to be rushed, and consequently go wide.

It was City, however, who scored first when Regont Murati netted in the 19th minute after some snappy passing caught the Wairarapa defence off-guard for one of the few times in the match.

Earlier in the season that setback might have played on the minds of the Wairarapa side enough for them to concede at least another couple of goals before half-time, but not on this occasion. Rather it had the effect of them lifting their effort a notch or two and they were rewarded when Josh McMenamin was left in the clear in the 39th minute and calmly slotted the goal. So it was 1-all at the break.

The second half started much as the first with City making good ground down both flanks and Wairarapa combating them with assertive defence. As that spell progressed, however, it was actually the home team who showed the greater sting in their attacks. As it happened though neither did could add to their score although Wairarapa came mighty close in the last minute when a Liam Hare shot rebounded back into play off the upright.

It would have been appropriate had Hare scored the winning goal as he produced an outstanding individual performance for Wairarapa, making several telling tackles on defence and distributing the ball cleverly on attack. There was a lot to admire too in the forthright approach of striker Michael McCutcheon and the all-round skills of Alex Cox, Taylor Hall-Jones, Tim Fenton and Callan Elliot.

In other national youth league matches played on Saturday, winless Hawke's Bay stayed at the bottom of the table after a 3-2 loss to Waitakere and competition leaders Wellington beat Manawatu 4-0.