Finally, a win for Ngongotahā AFC

Ngongotaha AFC have claimed their first win of the season. Photo / File

It has taken nine attempts but Ngongotahā have their first NRFL Division 2 win of the season and are off the bottom of the table.

Yesterday,they hosted Albany United and, despite trailing 1-0 early on, came away with a 3-2 victory.

There have not been many games this season in which Ngongotahā were completely over run and there was always a sense that when they pulled everything together a win would come. That is what happened on Saturday.

Albany's Andrew Mobberley gave his side the lead in the 22nd minute, but Ngongotahā hit back almost immediately through Harlem Simiona and it was 1-all at halftime.

In the second half, goals from Jason Walker and Jordyn Kenyon-Mckay saw Ngongotahā race out to a 3-1 lead. Mobberley scored his second for Albany, in the 75th minute, but Ngongotahā held on for the win.

Ngongotahā coach Ron Cane said having the previous weekend off due to the Chatham Cup being played did his team a world of good.

"It allowed some of the boys who had knocks and strains to get over those and we had a bit of soul searching during that break period.

"On Saturday the message was quite simple, it was just to focus on the objective, which was the three points, and just give it a good go. They responded terrifically," Cane said.

He said some "outstanding" defending set the platform for the attack to shine.

"The strikers did their job up front with three well taken goals. It could've been more, we hit the post, missed a sitter and had one cleared off the line.

"It wasn't so much about holding on to the lead, we were playing well and we kept attacking, I was really pleased for the players because we've been under the hammer for most of the season so far and it's very difficult to keep coming in, week after week, and going down by the odd goal.

"Their heads never dropped, though, and they thoroughly deserved the victory, there was no luck about it. When we went a goal down I thought 'here we go again', but rather than their heads dropping they just seemed to keep going, they just got better and more determined."

Cane hoped the win would be a turning point in the season for Ngongotahā.

"Hopefully now we've reached the corner, I don't think we're quite round the corner yet, but I think we've reached the corner. We've got an away game next week against Bucklands Beach, who are second in the league but got beaten 8-1 by Takapuna yesterday. Anything is possible and the true test now is how we play on the back of this first win."

Lotto NRFL Men's Division Two results

Claudelands 4-1 Metro (HT: 2-0)
CLA: Jono Viviani 12' 77', Owen Comber 32', Bailey Webster 79'
MET: Josh Chemis 75'

Ngongotahā 3-2 Albany United (HT:1-1)
NGO: Harlem Simiona 27', Jason Walker 52', Jordyn Kenyon-Mckay 62'
ALB: Andrew Mobberley 22' 75'

Takapuna AFC 8-1 Bucklands Beach (HT: 6-1)
TAK: Tommy Miller 10' 18' 51' 71', Jack Taylor 22', Ahmad Al-Shamsi 26', Matthew Chant 32', Mitch Miller 37'
BUC: Josh Kingston Smith 11'

Cambridge 2-2 Northland FC (HT: 0-1)
CAM: Daniel Clarkin 53', Elliot Cooper 78'
NOR: Max Thomas 9', Kyran Winterburn 63'

Te Atatu 0-2 Franklin United (HT: 0-1)
FRA: Mark Thompson 42', Charlie Heather 48'

Papakura City 1-3 Onehunga Mangere United (HT:0-2)
PAP: Rajnesh Sharma 53'
ONE: Alex Witteveen 1' 14', Stefan Van Der Heijden 79'