Suburbs unable to upset competition front runners

After holding out for 30 minutes, Nelson Suburbs conceded their first goal in their 4-0 loss to an in-form Christchurch United.

It was always going to be a tall order for the visiting side as they faced off against an unbeaten Christchurch through their first seven games with a +23 goal differential, captained by former Suburbs player Matt Todd-Smith.

After rebuffing waves of attacks and probing balls into the defensive box, the Suburbs’ succumbed to the pressure as Christchurch darted down the left side with a fantastic through ball before a centring pass beat goalkeeper Corey Wilson and gave Sam Philip an easy tap-in goal.

Christchurch would add to their lead as Sam was brought down on the box searching for the cross, earning a penalty.

New Suburbs signing Connor Gillespie would have his team’s best chance, making Christchurch’s keeper stretch in a diving save from a free kick just outside the box.

Having just arrived from Cyrpus, he made a strong impact on the game despite not being able to find the back of the net.

While Suburbs were able to build some attacks, they didn’t have the venom of the Christchurch offence and struggled to find inroads.

Meanwhile, at the other end, the defence was caught out of position as the strikers were able to get through unmarked.

Suburbs’ issues only compounded in the 65th minute when Jordan Yong was shown a second yellow for a reckless tackle, subduing their attacking chances as they had to reposition their backfield.

They had been building some decent attacking chances through the opening 60 minutes, but the loss changed the flavour of the game and the resulting free-kick gave Sam Philip his second goal as he found himself unmarked when the ball fell to his feet.

Less than 10 minutes later, they were in the again as a well-built attack was finished by Daniel Meyn as Christchurch United showed why they have been a class above the competition.