Hello Taranaki Football,

We start over at Park Island in Hawkes Bay as Alexander Electric Napier Marist hosted Peggy Gordons New Plymouth Rangers on Sunday with the hosts winning 5-1. Rangers sent over a young side which bodes well for the future and they made good accounts of themselves at times but were always going to struggle against Napier who are second on the table with several National League players in their squad. Former Taranaki player Mustafa Can opened the scoring for Marist in the fourth minute followed by Ethan Dent netting a brace to have the home team leading 3-0 at half time. Kieran Sturrock continued his great scoring form for Rangers by hitting back straight after the break but a Devan Leggett’s own goal eight minutes later hurt any chances of the visitors getting something out of the game. Harry Mason added salt to the wound with a 81^st minute goal insuring it was a long van ride home for our local side.

Also on Sunday saw the continuation of the Tungsten Legal Taranaki Women’s Premiership with Round 12 action. NPGHS 1^st XI continued their great form by beating Naki Electrical Waitara 4-0 and remaining in second, Eva Hilliam notching up a hat-trick. Moturoa Red remain at the top of the mountain with a solid 11-0 win over Inglewood with five goals scored by each Fernanda Toscani and Danielle Lucinsky. NP Rangers and Moturoa White had another tight battle with Rangers winning 2-1 thanks to a Kerri-Ann Jones brace. In the last match unfortunately Woodleigh went down again 0-20 by Susanne Hipp Accounting Hawera. Eltham had the Bye and Stratford vs Peringa was postponed.

The two league leaders in the Taranaki Men’s Premiership continue to do the damage against their opponents with Rampage Fitness FC Western winning 7-2 over an in form Peringa United at Lynmouth Park. Ben Furze continues to lead the Golden Boot race (17) with another hat-trick for Western and he leads team mate Simon Gibson (14) who picked up a brace on the weekend (photo above of both players). Flooring Design Moturoa the other front runner, lead by a brace from Nathan Morath won 6-3 over Smith & Sons Eltham. Rough Habits Hawera snuck a 1-0 win against JLE NP Rangers thanks to a Ross Hepburn 78^th minute winner and a Joel Stewart triple inspired Kitchen Draw Inglewood to the 3-1 win over Proglaze Waitara. Woodleigh vs NPBHS was postponed.

The bubble has finally burst in the Taranaki Men’s Championship as TreeHouse NP Rangers could only managed a 2-2 draw against Mark Frost Electrical Hawera as Blair Robbins put in a last minute equaliser for the South Taranaki team. That means Millwards Roofing FC Western now have a two point lead at the summit after taking a 3-0 over Bounceback Physio Peringa. Peringa had great chances to tie the match up at one all but Western’s midfielder Simon Perks managed to finish off a great team move to score the most important goal of the match and employ a buffer which saw the home side see out the game. Jones Quarry Moturoa had an impressive win over Oliver Flooring Eltham 11-1 with two hat-tricks being scored by Jonny Kennedy and Taylor Lucinsky. The final match was a bottom of the table clash which Wonder Minerals Kaponga won 4-0 over Inglewood thanks to help from Brandon Holdt’s brace. The Woodleigh vs NPBHS match was postponed.

Taranaki Men’s Division 1 now has a huge top of the table block buster looming this weekend as both Kaitake FC and Charrua Kaponga picked up big wins over top four opponents last weekend. Charrua won 3-0 over 3^rd placed HEL Rimu NP Rangers Oddbodz with Jonathan Gomez again in the goals netting a double and Kaitake FC got maximum points with a 5-0 win over fourth placed Hutchins Dick Peringa Pirates. McDonalds Stratford shared the points with a 1-1 draw against FDMC New Style Homes 2^nd XI and in the last game Chooks Flooring NPBHS 3^rd XI had a sprited win 5-1 over KP Joinery Waitara. Withers Coachlines Moturoa had the Bye.

Finally Taranaki Men’s Division 2 had Taranaki Tyre Torque Woodleigh close the gap on the league leaders Taranaki Thru Tubing NP Rangers after they won 4-0 over Stratford and NP Rangers lost 1-3 to FC Western. The last two matches saw Pipeline Peringa squeak past 4U Computer Solutions Hawera 2-1 and Inglewood doing the same 2-1 over Town & Country Foods Waitara. P Hamlin Builders Eltham had the Bye.

Article added: Tuesday 02 July 2019