Wanganui City's Dan Aplin kept North End's defenders busy in Saturday's win over North End.
Wanganui City's Dan Aplin kept North End's defenders busy in Saturday's win over North End.
Versatile Wanganui City have consolidated their place in the top five of the Lotto Federation League, tipping up North End 1-0.
It was the perfect start to City's run of homes games as they scored shortly before the break and then held out their more fancied opposition in what istheir performance of the season.
That there was only one goal scored, in a match littered with so many shots on target from both sides, tells the story of how good the defending was at Wembley Park on Saturday.
North End arrived at the park in fourth on the table, eight points ahead of City who had only claimed two wins from their six matches.
Meanwhile, the visitors had won five games, including a 2-1 victory on the same ground when they met GJ Gardner Homes Wanganui Athletic in May.
But it was Kyle Graham-Luke's 38th minute goal, which he curled home from the corner of the box following a City sweep down the right flank, which gave the home side what many will call an upset.
"The performance of the boys today was top effort - best of the season - even on a defensive note," said player-coach Anthony Bell.
"[North End] do like this ground and they've taken points off not only us but Athletic in the previous season.
In an open match which produced a procession of chances at both ends, North End's Nathan Cooksley looked to have scored from a header in the 11th minute, only for the ball to sail into the cross bar.
But from then, City looked the more likely to get in front, in a game where they had a slightly higher press and were able to edge possession.
In the first spell, Dan Aplin produced a stunning save from the visitor's keeper Matt Borren, then later couldn't connect with a header at close range.
North End's best chance came when Cooksley looked to have beaten the City lines and was chasing the ball as it trickled towards the goal, until City's Eli Fleming stormed across to shut down the visiting striker's final touch.
Minutes later, it was North End's turn for some defensive magic with both Aplin and Graham-Luke's point blank shots being shut down by an athletic Borran.
Despite Graham-Luke's goal shortly before the break, North End would have felt well in the match with the chances they were creating.
Cam Dearlove came closest when he launched a rocket from about the same spot as Graham-Luke scored for City, but his shot only rattled the upright.
City too created several chances, but North End keeper Borren produced a series of one-handed diving saves.
"Their keeper has played at a very high level, credit to him, he kept them in the match," Bell said afterwards.
"The woodwork saved us at least twice, but credit to the boys, eh? We obviously had a plan coming into the match.
"We felt if we could start on the right foot and finish the game strong, we had a massive chance of getting three points out of it.
"We watched them play Athletic - them scoring in the last minute - so we know they're a team that never says die."
Bell said his side had enough chances to put the game out of reach earlier "but that's football, it swings both ways".
"Obviously, our goal this year was the higher end of the table and obviously finishing above our rivals [Athletic] is a big one," Bell said.
"With seven home games in the next nine we really do want to push and make a run of it.
"We see this as our home; we don't want any team coming here and taking point off us.
"I said to the boys 'this is where our run starts, this is where we need to set the standard for the rest of the season'.
"It was a massive team effort."
City's Alex Judd-Nuttall gets aerial.
City host New Plymouth Rangers next weekend, who are sitting second to bottom.
In the other League matches, Havelock North Wanderers hammered Palmerston North Boys High School 12-2, Palmerston North Marist beat Red Sox Manawatu 4-2 and GJ Gardner Homes Wanganui Athletic got revenge on Hokowhitu FC 3-0.
New Plymouth Rangers were due to host Massey University on Sunday while Napier Marist had a bye.
