The Unicol 3rds went into this match up against Waihi as slight favorites having beaten them home and away last year but the Unicol 3rds had only stumbled their way to one significant league win in the season so far, so were desperate to get their season back on track.
Unicol started the match positively dominating possession and territory and after a few early chances it looked like a goal was sure to come soon. Our best chance, narrowly missed by Charles Daily who wellied one from just inside the 18 looked like he was trying to emulate a Dan Carter goal kick as it sailed beautifully over the cross bar had us thinking that the breakthrough was but a mere nut hair away.
But alas the Waihi defense toiled hard with much credit going to their experienced and imposing goalkeeper. The Unicol back line was resilient against all Waihi attacks right up until the dying minutes of the first half when one of their mid fielders put a fantastic through ball through the Unicol centre backs splitting them surgically and all they could do was watch in horror as the Waihi Centre back who found himself in an unfamiliar part of the field, only had to knock it past Nez in the sticks Nez was on the back foot knowing only a ball straight to him could be saved. To Unicols relief the Centre Back had a huge rush of blood to the head and he knocked it well wide of the goal just before the half time hooter.
The second half saw Waihi storm back into the game providing a much greater threat than had been seen in the first half. Still the Unicol midfield scrambled beautifully ensuring there was balance between our defense and our pressing counter attacks but the Unicol attack just couldn't quite put one into the right part of the net.
The Unicol defense was yet again resolute ensuring Waihi did not get a single legitimate shot on goal in the entire second half. The only scare being one occasion where a high through ball needed to be caught by the Unicol keeper right on the edge of the 18 where he slid only millimeters short of chalk. Fortunately, Centre Back BJ did not need to announce to everyone in the game that the Goalie had stepped outside the 18 yard box as he unfortunately had against Morrinsville earlier in the season.
Nez was justifiably awarded man of the match with his clean sheet, five non set piece glorious touches and single occasion where he was forced to attempt to save a goal, a tidy tumble weed effort in an otherwise uneventful match, our first nil all draw in the teams memory.
