Pullar Builders Whakatane vs Tauranga City

Pullar Builders have won 4-0 at Tauranga City to maintain their unbeaten run and stretch out their lead on the federation table.

On a cold and windy day it took a while for Whakatane to settle into the game and they were fortunate that the Tauranga players were unable to finish off a couple of early chances they created from corner kicks. In saying that the score may well have been 3-3 in the first 20 minutes had it not been for poor finishing or bad luck.

It wasnt until the 25th minute that Whakatane were able to go up 1-0. A snap shot from 20 metres by Sean Henderson was spilt by the keeper and pounced upon by Richard O' Regan who easily finished.
Moments later Whakatane were awarded a penalty for a handball which was converted by Werner Rechsteiner. Whakatane went into the break 2-0 up but were far from happy with their performance.

In the second half the game seemed to intensify as heavy tackles and scuffles were going unnoticed by the ref.
Finally a free kick was awarded to Whakatane just outside the 18 yard box and Sean Henderson managed to bend the ball around the wall and into the goal to put Whakatane up 3-0.

On the 80 minute mark there was a goal mouth scramble in the Tauranga box and the ball fell to Brendan Mitchell who tucked it away and gave Whakatane a 4-0 lead which remained until the end of the game.

Player-Coach Werner Rechsteiner said about the game important are the 3 points. ''We did not play well today but games can be that way. They can be bad or horrible games and we had a bad one today. But a win is a win. It's important that we take it the way they come at this time of the season.''

Bella Designs Player of the Day went to Shem Clark. 

Next week Whakatane have a bye as the Chatham Cup is played.