Football: Wanganui City FC go down against Napier Marist in close contest

Anthony Bell was able to get on the score sheet, but Versatile Wanganui City FC missed out on the points when losing 3-2 to Napier Marist on Sunday. Photo / Bevan Conley

It was 1-1 at halftime, but when the fulltime whistle blew in Napier on Sunday, Napier Marist celebrated a victory over Versatile Wanganui City FC in the Federation League.

Marist scored two second half goals to City's one, claiming all three competition points in a narrow 3-2 win, leaving them in sixth position in the standings.

The loss means City are yet to taste success two weeks into the season, having played out a 0-0 draw against GJ Gardner Homes Wanganui Athletic in week one.

City player/coach Anthony Bell said it is always a tough ask to make the three-plus hour drive to Napier and come away with a win.

"In saying that, we started the game like we were still in the mini van, but you try and find a way back into and I thought we did that well," Bell said.

"There was quite a strong breeze favouring them in the first half, so we did very well to only concede one goal from that and then snatch one back before halftime."

The home team were on the scoreboard first, but one minute into injury time of the first half, City responded when the ball was played down the left side of the pitch to Bell.

Bell passed the ball into Jordan Joblin-Hall who combined well with Kyle Graham-Luke to get the ball back and score one-on-one against the keeper.

City scored again 10 minutes into the second half when Bell shot over an advancing keeper following a chip over the defensive line from Joblin-Hall, but it wasn't enough.

Marist were able to net two more goals, but that was through no fault of goalkeeper Merrick Slade who was named man of the match for making some very good saves.

Bell said his squad needs to work on their confidence.

"It is there, we had a half a dozen good chances despite the amount of possession they had, but we were just lacking on that final ball," he said.

"Moving forward at training this week, we just need to keep confident and trust that our style of football is going to do the job this weekend."

Versatile Wanganui City FC play bottom-placed Hokowhitu FC at Wembley Park this Saturday at 2.45pm.