Tauranga Blue Rovers 2-1 Swifts

Recap

Comag Matamata Swifts missed a great opportunity to stay in range of the top sides in the 2018 Loaded WaiBOP Premiership after they fell to a 2-1 defeat at lowly Tauranga Blue Rovers on Saturday.

Missing a number of players due to a variety of reasons, the Swifts still should have had enough to beat Rovers. Brayden Lissington, fresh off the plane from China after representing New Zealand in futsal, and Hardy Rosas were back in the side but plenty of other players were absent, for genuine reasons, in what is becoming a recurring challenge for coach, Scott Parsonage.

Indeed, things looked bright as Matamata opened the scoring early. Youngster, Hayden Turlington, hit his first goal for the club with a neat finish and things seemed to be going according to plan.

That was as good as it got, though, as Rovers hit back twice before the break. The Swifts will be hugely disappointed in the manner with which they conceded the goals, but they had more than enough time to take something from the game.

Unfortunately, it was not to be and they fell to a second defeat this season against a side they really should be beating quite handily.