Wanganui Athletic's Kelvin Hove gets in front of Palmerston North Marist goal scorer Ludwig Zeoula on Saturday. Photo/ Stuart Munro
Wanganui Athletic's Kelvin Hove gets in front of Palmerston North Marist goal scorer Ludwig Zeoula on Saturday. Photo/ Stuart Munro
If you were after a case study on what this current GJ Gardener Homes Wanganui Athletic side are all about, it was on show at Wembley Park on Saturday.
Athletic fought deep into injury time to earn a point in a 3-3 draw after twice falling behind against Federation League leaders Palmerston North Marist.
Marist, who last year played in the Central League, were Athletic's biggest test in the 18 months under coach Jason King, who has helped cultivate the team's fighting spirit.
"It's where we were last year that no matter what the score, we don't give up," King said.
The good news for fans is that this match was only also dress rehearsal for next week's Chatham Cup match between the same sides back at Wembley.
It was interesting to watch Athletic cope with being on the back foot, having to scrap for opportunities and not always in control of the game as they often are.
They dealt with it through attack rather than retreating and trying to simply contain Marist, and to that end they created a handful of chances despite a flat first half.
Athletic were under constant pressure and while their back three were solid aerially, there were some hairy moments on the ground.
James Satherley's back pass came off his boot as a nice strike at his own goal and had keeper Matthew Calvert sprinting back to clear off the line.
Athletic's defence eventually cracked when Ludwig Zeoula headed in the 34th minute opener from a Marist corner to give the visitor's a 1-0 halftime lead.
"We've walked in at halftime being 1-0 up before and I tell the boys it's not enough - it's not anything to live on. So now we go and take it to them, the game's far from over'," King said.
Going a further goal down when Taylor Monk doubled Marist's lead two minutes into the second half was not part of that plan.
But Athletic seem to relish these situations and it proved to be the case again.
Three minutes later the salvage job was under way when Josh Smith was brought down in the box as he was fighting to get a shot away.
"He was working really hard and you could see he was getting in a position that if someone contacted him wrong it was going to be a penalty," King said.
Ryan Holden slotted the penalty and Athletic had the boost they needed as they went on to dominate the next 20 minutes.
Quinn Mailman levelled when the ball spewed out to him on the edge of the box from a corner.
It sat up nicely and he lined it up and hit it past Marist keeper Max Hopf into the top right corner.
Wanganui Athletic's Quinn Mailman looks to evade Marist's Adam Cowan in a 3-all draw at Wembley Park. Photo/ Stuart Munro
Athletic had their chances to take a lead, instead Marist's Lee Rufer headed the visitors back in front two minutes from fulltime.
Those familiar with this current Athletic side wouldn't have been heading for the gates though, and that would have proved wise.
Jordan Gilmore – who hadn't long been on the park – found an opening five minutes into injury time and coolly shot it past Kopf for a deserved draw.
"Obviously we would've loved to win but we'll take salvaging a draw because it's the other things that came from that effort that's going to take us through to Chatham Cup next week," King said.
"You could tell there was a difference in what that result meant to each team. I'm happy."
King felt his side were off their game early on but that was partly down to the level of opposition.
