Hello Taranaki Senior Football,

It was actioned packed over the weekend just gone with teams in many different competitions. We start with the Chatham Cup as Taranaki finally saw a home match in this competition after a few years without. New Plymouth Rangers Federation League team hosted another Fed League team in Napier Marist at Yarrow Stadium on Sunday. After a great start for NP Rangers which saw Scottish import Kieran Sturrock score after three minutes, Napier came back extremely hard putting away five first half goals. Mustafa Can a former Rangers player got two of the goals which put Rangers on the back foot and they couldn’t recover. A couple of changes in and around half time for Rangers got them playing much better with them being able to stop any more goals from Marist in the second half plus adding another one of their own in the 87 minute by Sean Mosquera. Final score 5-2 to Napier Marist who move onto Round 2.

We had six teams involved in the Lotto Men’s Federation Cup Preliminary Round over the weekend with two matches being local derbies. There was a hard fought match down in Kaponga between Charrua Kaponga and Kaitake FC with the teams lined up in the photo above. Kaitake got off to a perfect start scoring five first half goals, Ciaran Forsythe bagging a brace but Kaponga played some great football in the second half getting back to 5-2 before letting in a late one to lose 6-2. Flooring Design Moturoa hosted Peringa United and won 3-0 with Zayed Rabbaney netting a brace. The two other matches saw both Stratford and Eltham travel to Skoglund Park in Palmerston North to play east coast teams at a neutral venue. Unfortunately both teams lost 4-1, McDonalds Stratford going down to Club Hastings Western Rangers and the defending Champions Smith & Sons Eltham losing to Heavy Equipment Gisborne United. Hawera Kitchen’s Hawera FC had the Bye so we have three teams in draw for Round 1 which will be live on Facebook this Wednesday at 11:00am. 

Withers Coachlines Moturoa had a great victory in the GR Engineering Women’s Federation Cup over Eskview Blues 3-0 at the neutral venue Skoglund Park over in Palmerston North on Sunday. The goals were shared around three players Fernanda Toscani, Danielle Lucinsky and Nadia Hill.

We had two Challenge Trophy matches over the weekend as well with NPBHS 2^nd XI comfortably keeping the trophy with a 7-0 win over Inglewood in the Taranaki Men’s Championship competition. Oskar Wano scoring a first half Hat-Trick and Olie Scott a first half brace. In the Taranaki Men’s Division 2 match Taranaki Tyre Torque Woodleigh hosted Taranaki Thru Tubing NP Rangers in a top of the table clash. NP Rangers winning the match and trophy 4-1 with the goals being shared around. Above is a photo of Ken Swan from Rangers celebrating with the freshly won trophy.

Only two Taranaki Men’s Premiership matches were played over the weekend because of Fed Cup postponements. Competition leaders Rampage Fitness FC Western made it six from six wins with a 4-0 win over Proglaze Waitara Prems , Ben Furze scoring his second Hat-Trick of the year to be leading the Golden Boot on 10 strikes. Kitchen Draw Inglewood won 1-0 over NPBHS 1^st XI at Webster Field with a goal to Taylor Bignell in the 19^th minute.

Tungsten Legal Women’s Premiership only saw three matches played as well because of postponements. Tungsten Legal Stratford made it two wins in a row with a 9-0 win over Woodleigh, Naki Electrical Waitara hung on to a 4-3 win over Inglewood and NPGHS 1^st XI had a 6-1 win over Susanne Hipp Accounting Hawera. Waitara now sit on top of the table by themselves but with matches to be caught up by other teams.

Taranaki Men’s Championship remaining matches saw Treehouse NP Rangers win the top of the table clash over Jones Quarry Moturoa 2-0, Milwards Roofing FC Western continued their good form with a 5-0 over Wonder Minerals Kaponga and Woodleigh winning a nail bitter over Bounceback Physio Peringa 3-2 with a last minute goal to Woodleigh’s David Barnard.

In the Taranaki Men’s Division 1 we also only had two matches played due to Fed Cup postponements. FDMC New Style Homes 2^nd XI lost 1-6 to Hutchins Dick Peringa Pirates and Withers Coachlines Moturoa lost 0-7 to HEL Rimu NP Rangers Oddbodz with Matt Ander getting a Hat-Trick for Oddbodz. 

Finally the last three matches in the Taranaki Men’s Division 2 went as follows. FC Western won 2-1 over Town & Country Foods Waitara, P Hamlin Builders Eltham drew 1-1 over 4U Computer Solutions Hawera and Inglewood won 3-2 over Stratford in a Sunday fixture.

If you have special photos from your match please send them in as this article goes on Facebook and I like having photos to share.

Article added: Tuesday 14 May 2019