Metro into semi-finals of Summer Cup

Metro's starting eleven against Nelson

METRO 3-2 NELSON EASTERN SUBURBS
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Metro gave debuts to their three new Scottish imports - Colin Sweeney (22), a central midfielder, Grant Malcolm (21), a central defender, and Ricky Orr (22), a striker.

The trio were still finding their feet when Metro went 2-0 down after just 8 minutes.

In the 4th minute, Drew Bannister scored a cracking opener with a half-volley from long range that gave Simon Land no chance.

Four minutes later and it was 2-0 for Nelson as Land failed to deal with Matthew Gasparin’s awkward back-pass, which bounced and skimmed off Land’s head and into the net.

Nelson were then hampered by an injury to striker Tom Gordon, which limited his contribution in attack.

Metro rallied and through the inspiration of player-coach Darrin Chaffey and Orr fought back to be 2-2 at the interval.

Chaffey scrambled the ball home after a corner in the 14th minute to make it one goal the difference, while youngster Danny Cowen swept home the equaliser in the 23rd minute.

Orr had shown some fine touches and a nice turn of speed and Metro gradually asserted its dominance in the second half.

Ten minutes into the second period, Orr collected a ball on the left and cut inside before scoring with a low shot from range that beat De Carpentier and whistled inside the right-hand post to give Metro their 3-2 win.

Malcolm might have added a fourth from Chaffey’s deep cross from the right, but his header flew wide.

Two minutes from the end, De Carpentier denied Orr when he dived and turned the striker’s header wide.

The win earned Metro second place in Group B and a showdown with Beachside in the semi-finals.

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• Metro coach, Darrin Chaffey, said:

“We didn’t start off too well.

“I think they actually expected us to put a few goals away and they were getting ten or eleven blokes behind the ball so we were trying to dribble through instead of playing the smart stuff and keeping possession.

“It took us quite a while to get in to it.

“We had a good chat at half-time and we worked out to keep possession of the ball and open the spaces and draw them out, so the second half was a lot better.”

• Nelson Eastern Suburbs coach, Michael Roach, said:

“We’ve gone in with half a reserve and half a senior side through the Summer Cup. It’s been the same squad for all three matches.

“We’re reasonably happy and we’ve got a lot of guys to come back in.

“We really only had the one striker and, when he went down injured, then we soaked up a lot of pressure.

“We’re confident in a few weeks’ time, when we take the park again, we’ll be able to control games and not be sort of hitting on the counter.

“Disappointed with the result, but if that’s the best squad Metro had, then we’ll happily play them in a few weeks’ time.”
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Metro: Land - Hawkins, Malcolm, Chaffey, Gasparin - Cowen, Dawes, Sweeney, McQueen - Brown, Orr [Substitutes: Marney, Leek, Farley, Lawler]

Goals: Chaffey 14, Cowen 23, Orr 40

Nelson Eastern Suburbs: De Carpentier, Chew, Bannister, Gibbs, Mills, Gordon, Flood, Gazzignato, Wallace, Vanderslink, Andrews [Substitutes: Wojcik, T Roach.

Booked: Chew

Goals: Bannister 4, Land 8 og

Ref: B Kopra

Att: 100