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Matamata Swifts 1 v Melville 2
Saturday August 3, 2002
Waikato 1st Division

Matamata Swifts final home game of the season ended in disappointment as the team slumped to a disappointing loss against third placed Melville. The Swifts put in a disjointed and, at times, inebriated performance against a side that meant business right from the kick-off.

The result could have been far different if Matamata had capitalised on their superb start. With barely two minutes gone Adam Graham opened the scoring for the Swifts by hammering home an unstoppable shot through a crowded Melville penalty area.

It was the perfect start for Matamata but they failed to capitalise on the early advantage. For some reason the team then decided to let their opponents into the match, gifting Melville far too much possession and two goals.

Matamata had only managed to hold their advantage for twenty minutes before Melville got themselves back on level terms. The equaliser had a hint of controversy about it with a couple of Melville players being in off-side positions just prior to the final shot, but the Swifts still should have dealt with the threat before it materialised.

If that wasn't bad enough, the Swifts defence then let Melville in for their second goal. It was a text book example of how not to defend by Matamata, with players going to ground in the box instead of staying on their feet. The ball ended up at the feet of a Melville striker who made no mistake from two yards.

And that was pretty much it as far as anything of note was concerned for this match. The second half was a complete muddle, although there was a little bit of good, old fashioned, agro from both teams. None of it developed into anything really nasty as it was born out of sheer frustration as just about everything both teams tried came to nothing.

There was a typical late match flourish from both sides. The Swifts threw numbers forward in search of an equaliser that just wouldn't come while Melville looked to kill the game off on the counter attack. Melville came the closest to adding to their goal tally but found Swifts' goalie, Ian Moody, in fine form. Moody pulled off a couple of superb reflex saves to keep Matamata in the match but, in the end, the Swifts didn't quite have enough in the bag to get anything out of the match.

The Matamata Hotel player of the day for the Swifts was centre-back, David Mann.

Other Results:
Cambridge 0 v Wanderers 0, Claudelands 4 v Unicol 3,
Ngaruawahia 2 v Te Awamutu 0, Tokoroa 1 v West Hamilton 1.

Matamata Swifts Season Stats

Full Table (as at August 3):