A week can be a long time in football - it's the oldest cliche in the book and at the present point in time that could most certainly be said for the experiences of the Matamata Swifts first team.

One week ago the team supped champagne from the winners circle, having secured victory in the Caper Cup. Then, a mere seven days later, they were left to console themselves with nothing more than a warm beer after being humbled at Otorohanga. It can be a crazy game at times...

This was hardly the way for Matamata to begin their defence of their Waikato Premier League title. Expectations leading into this match were high but the Swifts put in easily their worst performance of the last eighteen months. The side was unregonisable from the confident team of recent weeks as a malaise creeped in to their play not long after kick-off and just wouldn't go away.

For all that, the Swifts should have had this match wrapped up by the break. They hit the woodwork and spurned chance after chance during the first half. They lacked a true, pragmatic, cutting edge in front of goal, however, which was something that eventually came back to bite them in a big way.

Matamata did, at least, have the comfort of a one goal half time lead. Centre back, Ged Parkinson, poked the ball home from a corner half an hour in. The goal should have settled the side down, and it did for a while, but it didn't really increase the efficiency of their performance.

The Swifts survived a scare just before the break and had goalie, Gary Darkes, to thank for preserving their lead. Darkes got down well to make an important save at the feet of an onrushing Otorohanga striker. It was his only save of the match to that point and it should have been a warning to his side. Unfortunately that warning went unheeded.

Early in the second spell Otorohanga went close again, but their striker scooped the ball over when put under a small amount of pressure. Another warning.

Soon after, it was all for real as the hosts claimed an equaliser. The fact that John Massey was bundled into the ball and then into the back of the net was really beside the point as the danger should have been cleared much earlier. Things went from bad to bizarre within minutes as the experienced Matamata defence was caught out by a simple counter attack to go behind.

The rest of the match was an exercise in frustration as the Swifts, with all their experience, failed to find a way to break down their rudimentary opponents. Otorohanga scrapped and fought for everything and placed a barrier in front of their goal that Matamata couldn't bust through.

Most of the match was played in the Otorohanga half of the field, and the Swifts had more than twice as much possession as their hosts, but they failed to get the job done because goals win matches, not pretty triangles.