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Peter Vossen Builders Matamata Swifts so nearly got the Taupo monkey off their back on Saturday, but ended up having to settle for a point following a torrid encounter at Crown Park.
In this battle of the top two teams in the Waikato Bay of Plenty Federation league, it was the Swifts who settled the quickest. In fact the first ten minutes was so one sided it came as a shock when the  hosts opened the scoring in the 12th minute. The shock was as much for the free kick that was awarded as for the goal which was nodded home from it.
The home side used the slope and the breeze during the first half of this bitter Taupo afternoon to force a number of corners, which were handled nicely by the Swifts defence, but they offered little else as an attacking force. The Swifts, put off their stride somewhat by the goal, took a while to crank their usual fluid style back into gear.
By half time it was clear which was the best footballing side on Crown Park. Matamata needed a goal, however, and it came on the hour mark. Tim Miller lashed home a cracking volley for the Swifts to set things up for a spine tingly final half hour.
Matamata had set the stage for themselves to canter home but they couldn’t manage to finish off the job. Taupo had clearly settled for the point long before the end, bringing on an extra defender and only attacking in ones and twos. In fact they only had one second half effort on goal, and that was a long range non-event.
The final 45 minutes was played mostly in the Taupo half. If anything, Matamata was guilty of attempting to over play when a few more pokes on goal, and a more direct approach, might have served them better.
The Swifts thought their moment had finally come when Jon Allen played in substitute, Neil Slater, with only minutes remaining. Slater dragged his close range shot agonisingly wide to ensure the scores stayed level.
On their performance, the home side would be mightily relieved to have escaped from this match with a point in the bank. Conversely, the draw probably suited Matamata better, as it maintained the Swifts’ three point lead at the top of the table.
This was the final match in a Swifts shirt for Jack McKenna who is off to the UK on Monday to seek his fortune. Jack is a quality young centre half and looks to have a very bright future in the game. He goes with all our best wishes, even though he'll be greatly missed in Matamata.
So it's as you were at the top, and we all move on to next week wondering what this marvelous, beautiful, frustratingly simple game will impose upon us.
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Above One of Matamata's second half efforts goes scooting over the bar. 
