Senior A1 League vs Rutherford College
On Friday night, King’s travelled away to McLeod Park in Sth Te Atatu, where we played Rutherford College. In an otherwise unremarkable, eventless first-half, Rutherford College took the lead after a mishit cross was lost in the glaring floodlights before falling into the top corner and catching goalkeeper Joe Wallis by surprise.
Our team responded positively after a half time regrouping, and went on to dominate the entire second half, creating a flurry of chances that unfortunately went unfinished. Later in the half, Ben Heron (Year 13, Greenbank) created a clear goal-scoring opportunity after he dribbled into the penalty area but was brought down, with Captain Harrison Weymouth (Year 13, Greenbank) stepping up to convert the penalty kick.
With the score tied 1-1, King’s strove forwards looking for a winner. Jonty Cook (Year 13, Marsden) came off the subs bench to make his first appearance after a prolonged injury, and Jack Crook (Year 13, School) also joined the attack, making his 1st XI Boys debut. Despite a dominant second half, and a number of close chances, the scores remained 1-1 and the points were shared. Thank you to Mr. Paterson who came along to support our team from the sideline.
Senior Boys Knockout Cup vs Macleans College
On Tuesday afternoon, the team travelled away again, this time in the Knockout Cup, to play Macleans College who play in the Boys Premier Division. Despite some pre-match concerns around the number of fit and available players for this match, it was King’s College who made the best start in what turned out to be a fast flowing but evenly contested first-half, with a number of chances created. However it was Macleans who struck first, making the most of a counter-attacking opportunity to expose some gaps in the King's College defence before putting the shot to the left of Joe Wallis. Morgan Wright (Year 11, Greenbank) was crucial in reestablishing the stability of the King's College defence, while Jack Priddy (Year 13, Marsden) was kept busy defending the wide spaces.
For the second time in as many matches, King’s went into the 2nd half trailing by a goal. The deficit looked to be short-lived however as Harrison Mancer (Year 12, Major) and Ben Heron combined early after the restart to create one of the best opportunities of the match only for the shot to be under hit and easily collected by the Macleans goalkeeper. Moments later, these two combined again to create another golden opportunity and yet somehow the equalising goal still eluded King’s College.
With the windy conditions starting to take a toll, and a slight tactical adjustment made, Nat Moore (Year 13, Major) and Liam Moehlenbrock (Year 12, Parnell) both came off the bench to make their first appearances after returning from COVID isolation. They replaced Max Jacobson (Year 12, School) and Jack Crook (Year 13, School), who had both made their 1st XI starting debuts. Following this, Goya Pan (MAJ) also made his first appearance in the 2022 season, replacing goalkeeper Joe Wallis (Year 12, Peart) who is unavailable for our next game.
King’s continued to push forward looking for an equalising goal, but with the wind behind them, it was Macleans who had the final say, with a late moment of individual brilliance opening up an opportunity for their best player, who shot and scored with some style.
With all things considered, a very respectable final score of 2-0 ends Kings College's Knockout Cup run for this season. Our focus shifts back to the Senior A1 League, with the next match on this Saturday 4th June, 12noon kickoff at King’s College against the current joint league leaders, Rosmini College. All supporters are of course welcome.
Ben Hill
Coach
