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Peter Vossen Builders Matamata Swifts have secured the biggest result in the club’s history with a smash and grab raid against Auckland giants, Eastern Suburbs. A Mike Beard goal two minutes from the end of time proved to be the difference between the two sides in a match played on a pitch that had been all but destroyed by a midweek weed spraying escapade by the home side’s local council.
Given the state of the surface, this was a reasonably entertaining match. Both teams were as constructive as they could be, attempting to play football when it might have been tempting to be a  lot more direct. Unfortunately the pitch meant real goal scoring opportunities were at a premium as most of the players needed an extra touch or two to be sure of what they were doing.
The best chance of the first half fell to the visitors after they countered from deep. Fortunately the Swifts goalie, Tom Pamment, got out far enough and spread himself well, forcing the shot to be placed wide of the goal. The Swifts had sporadic forays forward, which came to nothing, but they were eating up their opponents in midfield. Jon Allen and Andy Birchenough were immense.
After the break the home side were a little better than they had been, probing forward more and stretching the Swifts defence. Mostly they were let down by poor delivery, however, although Pamment was called on twice to be sharp in preserving his clean sheet. Matamata looked good out wide, with Pete Shannon and Mike Spencer providing the width.
The solitary goal came after a sustained spell of pressure by the home side. To the neutral it may have looked a little like rough justice but to Matamata it was priceless. Beard beat a man in the box and after the ball fell to his left foot there was only one place it was going to end up.
In the minutes (that seemed like hours) remaining, Matamata was able to hand a first team debut youngster Ollie Wright. He came on for Spencer, who was excellent in his first start for Matamata following a long spell out with injury. Stu Watene also put in another stand-out performance, this time at left back.
This result illustrates how far Matamata Swifts have come in a short space of time. At the end of 2009 Eastern Suburbs made the NRFL Premier League final while Matamata was still in the Waikato Bay of Plenty Federation League. The Swifts have next Saturday off before ending their league campaign with the rescheduled game at Hamilton Wanderers.
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