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Matamata Swifts 0 v Claudelands 6
Saturday May 25, 2002
Waikato 1st Division

So much for proving hard to beat this week.

A severely depleted Matamata Swifts football team suffered a big home defeat at the domain on Saturday, losing 6-0 to a solid and well-organised Claudelands Rovers team. The Swifts went into the match struggling to field a team, but managed to get eleven players on the field and, following some last minute phone calls, even ended up with three players on the bench. Such are the joys of managing a small town football team.

Matamata conceded three goals in each half but, despite being on the back foot from the start, should have done better. Most of the goals the Swifts let in could be put down to the type of error the coaching staff have been trying to eradicate all season. And the fact they were perpetrated by players who would be considered first team regulars made them all the more disappointing.

The Swifts fortunes suffered a further blow early in the second half when the team's captain, and one of Matamata's most influential players, John van Gog, was forced from the field having been kneed in the head. Van Gog will probably be out with concussion for three weeks, complicating issues even further for future team selections.

From then on it was a matter of the Swifts trying to play out time and there were, at least, a few positives. Sixteen year old, Corey Clements, completed his first full match for the team, showing some good touches wide on the left. Matamata was also able to give the three substitutes, David Scott, Chris Bedford and Peter Vossen, all members of the club's Sunday League side, some game time. Scott looked good in the middle of the park after replacing Van Gog, while Vossen, coming on for his first first team appearance in nearly two decades, showed he still has a head for the game.

The Swifts will have to write this one off as, 'one of those games,' and look to regroup next week when they should have a stronger squad back in harness. Then, there should be no excuses.

The Matamata Hotel player of the day for the Swifts was right back, Colin Taylor.

Other Results:
Cambridge 4 v Te Awamutu 2, Ngaruawahia 3 v Melville 1,
Tokoroa 1 v Wanderers 3, Unicol 7 v West Hamilton 1.

Full Table (as at May 25):