Matamata came out to play on a beautiful day. Well, it was with the weather but would it be on the field?

From the word go Matamata stepped up and applied pressure and even managed to not let in any goals during the first 10 mins, as tends to be the tradition. It was a very fast paced game and Matamata were doing very well on attack and shutting down any attacking play by Melville. Keeper Jenn Hull made some excellent saves.

Central midfielders, Serena Jenkins and Nat Gaskell, took on a huge work load and supplied the strikers with a lot of ball to work with and in the end this paid off for Sarah Monteith. After taking a strike at goal the ball deflected off the upright and back into the path of Monteith, she followed through and scored the goal.

The rest of the first half carried on in much the same way and at the break Matamata were very happy with a 1- nil shoreline.

Unfortunately something changed in the second half. Melville got their act together and played the style of football they are known for while Matamata just seemed to lose their way. It was frustrating for the Matamata Ladies as they played their hearts out and put in 100% but the tables had turned and nothing was going their way at all.

It was a very disappointing ending to a promising start, with the game finishing 4-1 to Melville. Matamata has two more chances this season to try and match Melville.

The Matamata Car Painters Player of The Day goes to keeper Jenn Hull. Also a thank you goes out to Peter Challis for refereeing on such short notice.

Next week Challenge Matamata Swifts Ladies have their first away game for the season, as they travel to play Hamilton Wanderers at Porritt Stadium.