Soccer: Taupo boss lauds plucky students

Taupo coach Paul Drake had praise for the young Tauranga Boys' College side after they put in a good effort before going down 3-0 at Crown Park.

While he acknowledged that it was a substandard performance from his team, the opposition played a part in that.

Needing to win to lift the Challenge Shield, the students tried to take the game to Taupo but were on the back foot early after conceding an own goal. They went further behind when Alan Lamb scored.

It looked as though Tauranga Boys' would be shut out of the game by half time when Taupo were awarded a penalty, but a rare miss from the spot by Lamb left it 2-0 at the break.

Ben Westerman added to the lead with a good goal but that was the only goal of the second half.

"We were a bit off the boil," Drake said.

"But we still managed a win against a good young side, so we'll take the points and look to get our game back on track for next week."

After 90 minutes at Waipuna Park both coaches were disappointed after Old Blues and Rotorua United drew 2-2.

United coach Neil Rush was philosophical.

"I believe we deserved to win and the penalty decision that was given to give Old Blues the draw was questionable to say the least, I can't fault the team's effort today, and they deserved a better reward."

Old Blues coach Andy Legget lamented his teams first-half performance.

"Although Rotorua played well we didn't help our own cause and were lucky to be only 2-1 down at half time. I can't really see how Rotorua United are bottom of the league."

After Andy Cooper opened the scoring for Old Blues with a goal after just five minutes, United dominated the first half, with player of the day Lawrie Scott scoring two very good goals. In the 80th minute the referee reacted to a linesman's flag and awarded a penalty which Cooper converted to tie the game.

AFC Fury and Melville United were evenly matched and battled out a 0-0 draw, while Claudelands Rovers were untroubled to beat Otorohanga 6-1.

Division two:

Tauranga City retain their lead after thumping West Hamilton 7-0, while Cambridge kept in touch with a 3-1 win over Rotorua United.

The other two games were drawn with Clube Alegria and Te Awamutu finishing 2-2 and a 1-1 draw between Tokoroa and Katikati.