Swifts 3-1 Tauranga Boys’

Recap

Comag Matamata Swifts put in one of their strongest 45 minutes of the season on Saturday, which was enough to defeat current Loaded WaiBOP Premiership leaders Tauranga Boys’ 3-1 at the Domain.

The visitors have been one of the most impressive teams this season, but were stung early when Chris Walker shut down a Tauranga defender and squared for Brayden Lissington who hammered home his fifth goal in four games.

Tauranga looked good in possession and were given several attacking set-pieces, as well as winning a number of corners. The Swifts defence dealt well with everything that came at them, however, which gave young debutant keeper Karam Singh a relatively comfortable introduction to first team football.

Walker was back in the action just before the half hour when he was brought down in the box and a penalty awarded, which Jamie Baxter smacked home to double Matamata’s lead. Only a few minutes later the goal of the game saw Matamata break quickly, with Lissington feeding Walker who lifted the ball home to gain a tangible reward for an excellent first half performance.

The dynamic of the game changed six minutes into the second half when the visitors were given a huge advantage after a nonsense red card saw the Swifts reduced to ten men. As a result, Matamata was forced to dig in and the visitors gained more possession, which they capitalised on almost immediately to grab a goal back from a neat angled finish.

But that’s all they could muster. They went close again a couple of times, but the Swifts held their shape well throughout the remainder of the match to secure a deserved victory.