Matamata Swifts took a huge step towards securing their first ever Waikato Premier League (WPL) title with an important, and ultimately well deserved, victory over 2004 champions Claudelands.

While not at their fluent best, the Swifts did enough to take all three points against their rugged and skillful opponents. On chances created Matamata should have had this match wrapped up well before the break but, as is their way sometimes, they chose to keep the fair sized crowd on the edge of their seats until the final whistle.

The first twenty minutes, which in recent games has been the Swifts' worst period, was brighter than usual for the home side as they created a sack full of half chances as well as more than as few gilt edged ones.

After hitting the upright, and doing everything else but put the ball in the back of the net, Matamata eventually went ahead. Scott Parsonage, playing on the left hand side of the Swifts front three, found himself on the end of an excellent move involving Dai Lowry, John Massey and Adam Graham. He smacked the ball home from the edge of the box to give his side the breathing space they needed.

Ten minutes before the break the Swifts lost player/coach Duncan Lowry to injury when he fell awkwardly after being hacked down in midfield. The Swifts took a little while to adjust to the resulting changes, but had settled down well enough by the early stages of the second half and extended their lead.

Once again Parsonage got into space on the edge of the box and, once again, the result was the same. He bent the ball inside the right hand upright for his sixth goal in five WPL matches.

With fifteen minutes remaining the match was seemingly put out of the reach of the visitors. Adam Graham finally got himself on the score sheet after rounding the Claudelands keeper and burying the ball into an empty net.

This goal, however, signalled the start of the Claudelands fight back as they scored twice in the final ten minutes to make for an interesting finale. Thankfully Matamata was able to hold things together to wrap up the victory.

While the Swifts always looked the more likely side to score throughout the match, they were still required to be vigilant on defence. Goalie, Gary Darkes, did particularly well on a couple of occasions, while the back three of man of the match Dai Lowry, Ged Parkinson and Colin Taylor were made to work harder than in any other WPL match this season.

In the middle of the park Alberto Romero and Andy Birchenough, the superstar and the skipper, were as delightful to watch as ever. Romero's distribution and roll overs, combined with Birchenough's steel and swivelling hips, meant this important area of the pitch belonged to Matamata for most of the match.