Match Report - Senior Men's CPL

Mid Canterbury Utd v Universities AFC.

The boys were going into this game off a great performance and 3 points in the previous week against Parklands, so they were pumped and ready for what Uni could throw at them.

Both teams had players out over the Easter break which meant you didn’t really know how this game was going to go. 

MCUFC were missing the front 2 of Luke Martin and Nick Eden which gave way for Sam Willis and Millar McLauchlan to raise to the challenge.

Also returning was Luciano Drudi after serving his 1 game suspension. 

The game started well and the boys managed to shake of some early pressure from Uni and stay solid at the back. MCUFC did start to look dangerous on the counter attack with Luciano and Millar linking up well to create a great opportunity for Willis, however his shot was well saved by the Uni keeper and the follow up from Ben Sutton proved to tight of an angle for him to get this in. 

The back line of Zac Woolf, Joel Chand and Jack Dudley proved solid and held the Uni boys at bay, when they did get through Liam Sheppard was there to protect his goal. 

Uni did get the break through 5min before half time when a free kick from the right wing wasn’t dealt with and fell to the Uni striker who slotted into the bottom corner. 

Half time 1-0

The second half was much of the same, Uni applying the pressure and keeping possession and the Mid Canterbury boys standing strong and working hard. The midfield of Wes Torres, Oskar McLauchlan, Ben Sutton, Luciano and Nick Campbell worked tirelessly to keep up with the young and quick Uni lads. Uni eventually found that important second goal with 25 minutes left as the hard running had started to show the tired legs from the MCUFC boys. The Uni winger skipping past a few challenges to put the ball past Liam and make it tough for the boys to get back into this. 

The game was sealed in the 84th minute when a cross into the MCUFC box wasn’t cleared and flew past Liam off the leg of Elkan Powley. The boys didn’t stop and they worked hard throughout but couldn’t find that breakthrough they needed. 

The boys go into next public holiday with a week off and regroup for April 30th at home to Waimakariri United. 

Full time UNI 3 - 0 MCUFC

^ Andrew Annable (Head Coach Senior Men's CPL)