Football: Ghanaian import striker Samuel Adjei finds mojo to lead Hawke's Bay United to win

Ghanaian/American import Samuel Adjei scored two goals after grappling with his injury demons after arriving in Napier to play for Hawke's Bay United late in November. Photo/file

Samuel Adjei arrived in late November under an injury cloud but 10 rounds later, the Ghanaian/American import striker showed his worth in spearheading Hawke's Bay United to victory in Auckland yesterday.

Adjei struck in the 28th and 42nd minutes before substitute Charlie Thomas added some respectability to the scoreline with a goal in the 83rd minute in the round 17 ISPS Handa Premiership soccer match against Waitakere United at Fred Taylor Park.

"To be fair, the game overall was perhaps a little bit rusty but Sammy's got himself in the right positions to complete the task," said Thirsty Whale-sponsored Bay United coach Brett Angell.

"The frustrating thing is that we've never had him properly fit and number-wise we're probably a little thin in certain instances to completely support that as well," said Angell. "But it was great to win a match to finish the season in a right manner rather than with a limp."

The Englishman said Bay United were intending to finish as high on the table as they could with another win over Southern United at Bluewater Stadium, Napier, in a 2pm kickoff this Saturday.

Bay United have yet to win a game at Park Island this summer.

Angell said they were mindful going into yesterday's game that Waitakere and Southern were teams they should have beaten in the earlier rounds but had faltered.

"And also we haven't won at home so we'd like to break that hoodoo as well."

Bay United lost 2-1 to the Southerners in Dunedin on November 19 and succumbed 3-1 to Waitakere at Park Island on December 3.

Asked what was different yesterday against Waitakere, Angell said here his troops were 2-0 down within 10 minutes and chasing the game.

"[Yesterday] we focused a little bit more. Yes, at times, we gave the ball away cheaply but, overall, we worked well defensively to prevent them from breaking through us," he said, revealing the hosts were forced to shoot long-range speculators to score.

He singled out goalkeeper Mackenzie Waite for his input.