Late penalties keep unbeaten streak alive

Two penalties in the final minutes have kept FC Nelson’s unbeaten streak alive with a 3-2 win over Suburbs Reserves.

With time almost up in the encounter at Guppy Park between the top two teams in Nelson, with Blenheims' Rangers separating them on the table, two late lapses in concentration at the back gifted Sheehan Financial FC Nelson the win and left Suburbs licking their wounds.

While both calls were 50/50 and could have gone either way, that’s football, says Suburbs coach Nic van Huttum.

“It doesn’t matter who you talk to at any stage in football. Two penalties in two minutes shouldn’t be how a game ends.

“I just thought it was a good game of football, it could have gone either way.”

After conceding an early goal, Suburbs had fought their way back into the game by making the most of their chances and FC Nelson’s mistakes.

Having found themselves on the wrong side of the momentum through the first 45 minutes, the Suburbs were better in the second half and were rewarded for their persistence.

Their first goal came on the counter-attack after a wayward corner at the other end, while their second was on the back of a turnover as FC Nelson looked to clear the ball.

While FC Nelson did retake momentum in the final 15 minutes of play, they were unable to find the back of the net despite numerous chances.

They peppered the goal box and made several attempts with only the keeper to beat that they couldn’t take advantage of until they found their breakthrough from the penalty mark.

FC Nelson’s first penalty was saved, with the Suburbs’ keeper Charlie Cuff having a blinder of a game to keep his team in the hunt, but he lost where the ball was an it was an easy finish to tie the game back up.

Less than two minutes later, in almost exactly the same scenario, the same defender found himself on the wrong side of the call and was given a red card as Jamane Wilson-Daggan put it in the bottom right corner in the last play of the game.

Nic says it was an unfortunate way to end a good game, but they will be reviewing the footage to revisit the calls.

He was impressed with how his team performed despite the result.

“That’s football, the best team doesn’t always win.”

FC Nelson coach Paul Brydon says he thought they were the better team and got the result they were after.

“It was a great game, with end-to-end stuff. That’s what the fans want to see.

“We gave them two goals from defensive lapses, but at the end of the day I thought we deserved to win.”

He says they had numerous chances to find the back of the net and could have had double the amount of goals, albeit for Charlie Cuff’s defence at keeper.

“He was the man of the match.

“They’re the cream of the crop in Nelson football, Suburbs Reserves, so we knew that they’d be tough.”