Te Awamutu 3 v Matamata Swifts 1

Matamata continued their pre-season build up with a match against old rivals Te Awamutu. The fixture was the tastiest of 'friendlies' being more notable for the uncompromising and, at times, ridiculous physical nature of most of the play. Right from the start the home side attempted to dish out the punishment although, early on, this proved less than worthwhile. Matamata was the better team during the first 45 minutes and went in to the break 1-0 up, although it should really have been more. Jamie Cox scrambled home a close range effort half an hour in to give the Swifts the lead.

After the break the home side regained parity early on with a messy equaliser and went on to score twice more to run out less than convincing victors. The loosely controlled match luckily didn't see any major injuries as it degenerated into a slugfest, with players from both sides resorting to kicking lumps out of each other.

For Matamata newcomer Steve Beattie, in his first game of senior football, looked good down the left, while veteran skipper, John Van Gog, led from the front in the middle of the park. With Sho Nakagawa, Bevan Edmeades, Joe Alves and Scott Hudson missing for this fixture the Swifts can expect to do better when they actually get stuck into the real stuff in three weeks.

The Swifts still have this much time left before their first league fixture and this match highlighted some areas of play they need to work on. They let the home side, who get their season underway next weekend, back into the match with some lazy second half play as they became strung out over the length of the pitch. Lessons will certainly be learnt from the manner of their second half capitulation.

Swifts Squad 1-Ian Moody; 4-Colin Taylor, 10-Adam Graham, 3-Bevan Slater; 13-Marcelo Marquez, 14-John Van Gog, 7-Jason Collins (16-Dwayne Barlow 60min), 11-Steve Beattie; 9-David Hyslop, 8-Rodrigo Navarro, 5-Jamie Cox