In a busy weekend, Comag Matamata Swifts won 2-0 at Te Awamutu for their tenth victory of the Loaded WaiBOP Premiership season, while the Challenge Matamata Swifts Ladies were unlucky to fall by the same margin at the semi-final stage of the Waikato Cup.

On a challenging surface the Swifts scored a goal in each half to pick up a deserved win. Jamie Baxter drove home a first half penalty while Brad West finished after excellent work from Chris Walker just after the hour mark. The Swifts midfield largely controlled the tempo of the match and was the platform on which the victory was built.

Goalie Patrick Steele secured his clean sheet late on with a fine triple save as Te Awamutu pushed to get something from the game. The Swifts held them out, with the win pushing the team into the top four ahead of this Saturday’s visit by Rotorua United.

The early game between the two club’s reserve teams saw Te Awamutu run out 3-2 winners. Ram Singh and Jasom Khatkar scored for Richardson Racing Stables Swifts Reserves as they twice reduced the deficit to a single goal, but Te Awamutu’s early goal ended up being the difference in a game Matamata felt unlucky to not take anything from.

The Swifts A team lost 9-1 in a challenging match at Hamilton’s Eastern City. Kyle van Waveren scored the team’s sole goal.

On Sunday, the Challenge Matamata Swifts Ladies put in an excellent showing at the Domain against WaiBOP Premier League side, Melville United, going down 2-0 in a Waikato Cup semi-final they were unlucky not to win.

The visitors did their damage early, scoring both goals inside ten minutes during a horror start for Matamata. It was harsh but Matamata more than matched their higher ranked opponents throughout the remainder of the game.

The second half, in particular, saw Matamata dominant. They hit the woodwork, had a one-on-one snuffed out and saw several other shots go narrowly high or wide. Unfortunately it was a day the ball was destined not to hit the back of the net for Matamata. The effort and performance deserved more but sometimes football can be a cruel sport.

On Sunday evening the Swifts futsal team made their debut in the Waikato section of the new Loaded Futsal Premiership. The team opened with a resounding 8-0 win. Waikato Ball (3), Mahmood Alfarraji (4) and Ehsan Aslani got the goals.