Hello Taranaki Football,

We had a successful Youth Finals Day out at Karo Park on Saturday and again thanks to Inglewood AFC for their support. The two 12^thGrade games went down to the wire with Peringa Bobcats edging past Coastal Opunake Seawolves in the Plate final and Bell Building NP Rangers defeating FC Western Rovers in a penalty shootout for the Cup. U13s saw Oakura Sharks winning the Plate after getting past Inglewood U13s and Highlands Comets lifted the Cup after getting the win over Hawera U13 Maroon. U15s had two NPBHS teams winning against FDMC opponents with the Trojans winning the Plate against The Baptists and NPBHS Black defeating the FDMC A’s for the Cup. In the last match Stratford got a great win over NPBHS Big Dogs to win the Cup.

The Taranaki Men’s Premiership has finally been decided and Flooring Design Moturoa have won the title for the third straight year after beating Rough Habits Hawera 6-0 to also retain the Challenge Trophy for a another season. Zayed Rabbaney got a brace for Moturoa who ended the season equal with Rampage Fitness FC Western on 48 points but a superior goal difference saw the Championship stay with Moturoa (Picture of the team above). The Taranaki Championship was also finished up on Saturday with Jones Quarry Moturoa winning 9-0 over Oliver Flooring Eltham with Dylan Coutts rocketing home a five goal haul to also win the Golden Boot for the Championship for the season.

Two extremely close Duff Rosebowl Semi-Final matches were played on Saturday with Peringa United going into the Final after a dramatic penalty shootout was needed to get past Rampage Fitness FC Western. Ryan Hall took the lead for Peringa after 18 minutes and they hung onto that lead all the way to the 90^th minute when Brook Melody equalised for Western. Then Connor Oliver-Rose put Western ahead in the first period of extra time as it looked like they were going to steal the match but Peringa never gave up after the two setbacks and managed to get on level terms in the second period of extra time through Jonny Breedon. So at 2-2 it went to penalties which Peringa held their nerve to win 4-2 after keeper Andrew Southgate made a great save and then stepped up to hit home the winning kick. In the second Semi-Final a Luke Snellgrove 92^nd minute winner was the difference between the two sides as Smith & Sons Eltham snuck past Spectrum Decorating Woodleigh 3-2. Woodleigh got off to the perfect start as Joseph Crowe scored in the second minute and although Eltham equalised in the 19^th minute through Toby Stratton, Woodleigh went to the break with the 2-1 lead after Robert Shintaro fired home shortly after in the 26^th minute. William Hart got the scores back on level terms 2-2 before as previously mentioned Snellgrove became the hero in amazing circumstances.

The Nimmos Cup also through up two close and exciting matches as Kaitake FC needed penalties kicks to get past the Division 2 side Taranaki Thru Tubing NP Rangers. A late goal each by both teams saw the scores end up 2-2 at full time and with a goal a piece in extra time the match needed to be decided with spot kicks where Kaitake got the victory 6-5. In the other Semi-Final with the help of a Daniel White double McDonalds Stratford were able to hold a first half 3-2 lead all the way up until the 81^st minute when Chad Jones equalised before Jones went on to get the winner in the 89^th minute plus completing his hat-trick. On Sunday the Tungsten Legal Duchess Cup also found their finalists with Moturoa Red defeating Moturoa White 3-0 and Susanne Hipp Accounting also got the 3-0 over Eltham Ladies with Janelle Wright getting a brace for Hawera.

Article added: Tuesday 03 September 2019