Matamata Swifts' football season creaked back to life with a rusty effort against a youthful, but willing, Unicol side.

The Swifts hadn't taken the field for nearly a month and it showed as the side put in a disjointed, but ultimately satisfying, performance.

Two second half goals did the trick for Matamata. An angled drive from Neil Slater on the 70 minute mark set the team on its way, while a Scott Parsonage tap in right on time gave the score line some semblance of respectability.

In truth, the Swifts should have won by a far greater margin. They missed a host of first half opportunities, being repeatedly frustrated by poor option taking in the box, a sure sign of their lack of recent match play. Thankfully things began to look sharper as the match went on and, based on the second half performance, there was only going to be one winner.

At the other end the make-shift Swifts defence were tested but did well enough to snuff out everything Unicol had to offer. Jason Collins, in goal for the first time this season, made one good first half save but generally didn't have too much to do. His handling was good and his distribution effective.

In front of him the back three of Dai Lowry, Juan Carlos Rodriguez and man of the match Pete Challis were occasionally stretched but did the job they were in the side to do. Challis, in his first start for the Swifts in over two seasons, was positively monolithic.

With several players missing, including regular goalie, Gary Darkes, along with defenders Ged Parkinson and Colin Taylor, the depth of the Swifts squad was tested. Reassuringly, the players who were brought in, including Challis, Collins and Dwayne Barlow, in his first start since late-April, allayed any real fears. The Swifts were also able to hand a second half debut to Luis Maldonado.

The Swifts will come out of this match a better side. Having already won the Waikato Premier League (WPL) they are now working towards the Caper Cup, a tournament in which the top two WPL teams play-off against the top two Bay of Plenty division 1 teams. These games will take place during September and the side will use their three remaining league games as a kind of pre-season build up to these important fixtures.