The Wanaka Associated Football Club (AFC) Premier football team took back-to-back wins on Saturday (May 8) with a 3-1 victory over Mosgiel AFC in round eight of the ODT Southern Premiership.

For the first time this year Wanaka had a settled lineup going into the match, with just one change to the starting XI from last week's 2-0 win over Northern.

Mosgiel started brightly when Rhys Quarrell gained possession at halfway and drove forward in the 4th minute. Wanaka midfield and defenders gave him too much space and just seconds later he was one-on-one with Wanaka’s goalkeeper Josh Shackleton and Quarrell calmly beat Shackleton to put Mosgiel up 1-0.

Wanaka’s response came in the 20th minute when Scott Mitchell intercepted a Mosgiel pass and then clipped a long ball into the path of striker Steve Pleskun just inside the Mosgiel half.

Pleskun showed his trademark strength and speed to out pace two defenders and then slot a shot past Robinson in Mosgiel’s goal to level the match at 1-1.

Late in the half Pleskun scored his second after Thomas Tinka won possession in midfield and found the forward run of Ethan Arratia in front of Mosgiel’s back line. Arratia drove forward and had the options of Adam Harms and Pleskun right and left of him. He slid a diagonal pass into Pleskun who again outpaced a defender and finished into the far corner giving Wanaka a 2-1 half time lead.

Wanaka continued to look dangerous in the second half with Thomas Tinka, Ethan Arratia and Mitchell having the upper hand in midfield where they looked to feed the ball to Pleskun, Toa Roode and Harms in Wanaka’s offensive unit.

Wanaka’s full backs of Lanigan and McDonald found little chance to get forward but it was McDonald who went close to extending the lead in the 60th minute as he drove forward into Mosgiel’s final third, delivering a far post cross that curled and dipped away from the Mosgiel keeper and hit the right hand upright, the ball rebounding into the keepers back and narrowly past the goal post for a corner.

With time running out Mosgiel searched for the equalizer giving Wanaka space to counter attack and with time nearly up a goal came when Arratia found himself in great attacking position and he showed composure to shoot past Robinson to make the score 3-1 and give Wanaka their first ever win over Mosgiel.

This was a real squad effort with some very good performances across the park. 

Coach Ian Bell said he couldn’t pick a MVP for the match as the likes of Tinka, Van Hees, Mitchell, Arratia and Pleskun all deserved accolades on the day.

Wanaka have a break from the Southern League this weekend as they host Invercargill side Queenspark AFC in round one of the New Zealand knockout competition, the Chatham Cup. 

This match will be played on Saturday (May 15) at the Wanaka Recreation Centre, kick off 2pm.

PHOTO: WAFC