Football: Ngongotahā AFC lose to Metro in seven-goal thriller

Ngongotahā AFC are still clinging on to eighth place in the NRFL Division 2, despite losing 4-3 to fifth-placed Metro yesterday.Finishing in the top eight in the 12-team competition is crucial as the bottom four are relegated at the end of the season. Ngongotahā are on 21 points with Franklin United and Cambridge, above them on goal difference, and Onehunga Mangere United who sit in ninth on goal difference.

Ngongotahā coach Andrew Gibbs said the loss to metro was frustrating.

"Silly mistakes and a couple of iffy refereeing calls, it's all a bit frustrating. I really like the referee we had, I think he's a very good referee, but there was a pretty big call in the second half. It was called a penalty and to everyone's admission, including their team and coach, it probably wasn't a penalty.

"But, the fact is we conceded three soft goals early on, you can't say that one call cost us the game. We could've made it easier for ourselves by not conceding those soft goals. People are too quick to say 'oh that decision cost us the game'. In a game where you lose 4-3, it obviously wasn't the one thing that cost us the game."

Gibbs said his side appeared to be lacking confidence on Saturday.

"Last week [in a 2-0 loss to Onehunga Mangere United] we sort of walked out of the changing rooms, got hit with two early goals then battered them off the park for the rest of the game but couldn't find the net. I think that might've affected their confidence this week.

"It was clear that we were the stronger side yesterday, but we just didn't seem to capitalise. If anything the players seemed to lose a little bit of belief and started sitting deep, before any goals were even scored."

Metro opened the scoring through Yusuke Takai before Ngongotahā hit back with goals to Sean Kim and Mitch Miller.

"I thought to myself 'here we go, now we're in it, we might pull away here'. There were chances, we missed a penalty and a few other chances, we certainly had more than enough opportunities to win the game."

David Rayner and Leo Shin scored for Metro to make it 3-2 at halftime. Rayner converted the penalty in the second half before Luke Barker hit back for Ngongotahā.

"It's probably just an awareness thing, we've got a good football team but when we were clearly on top if anything our body language said we felt we were under pressure," Gibbs said.

With three games left to play he was confident his side could do enough to survive.

"The effort is there and on our day we know we can cause problems for any team in the competition. We're targeting another two wins and a draw, even though we're up against tough teams, we've shown more than enough during the last few weeks."

NRFL Division Two Results

Papakura City FC 2 (Cory Mackay 35', George Winship 57')
Northland FC 0
HT: 1-0

Claudelands Rovers 10 (Jake Bayliss 7' 19', Owen Comber 31' 37', Jono Viviani 49' 67' 90+2', Lewis Donald 57' 64' 70')
Onehunga Mangere United 2 (Stefan Van der Heijden 74', Alex Witteveen 80')
HT: 4-0

Cambridge FC 3 (Patrick Woodlock 35', Jamie Woodlock 46' 76' [PEN])
Franklin United FC 1 (Charlie Heather 33')
HT: 1-1

Takapuna AFC 3 (Tommy Miller 7' 51', Matthew Chant 70')
Albany United 2 (Marc Porter 21' 32' [PEN])
HT: 1-2

Te Atatu 1 (Zen Baatjes 30')
Bucklands Beach 2 (Ben Culpan 31' 80')
HT: 1-1

Ngongotahā AFC 3 (Sean Kim 31', Mitch Miller 33', Luke Barker 58')
Metro FC 4 (Yusuke Takai 25', David Rayner 37' 53' [PEN], Leo Shin 39')
HT: 2-3