Brothers kill off NBHS at death | Hawkes Bay Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Hawkes Bay

It looked like another draw until Watson boys intervened

OH, SO CLOSE AND YET ... Napier Boys' High School striker Andy Bevin tussles for the ball against St Pat's Silverstream goalkeeper Scott Basalaj during their secondary schoolboys' national soccer tournament yesterday. INSET: The agony of missing the opportunity to equalise. WARREN BUCKLAND HBT103937-01

SOCCER

It's the curse of the inevitable in sports.

With barely two minutes left on the referee's watch, Napier Boys' High School first XI soccer coach Peter McGlashan braced himself for the second stalemate of the day.

With NBHS having drawn 2-2 against Christchurch Boys' High School in their first match yesterday morning and the afternoon game locked at 1-1, McGlashan remarked on the sideline: "It feels like the All Whites. One more draw after this and we'll be undefeated."

The PE teacher was referring to the New Zealand team's sterling performance at the World Cup in South Africa this year.

Unfortunately, in the match against St Pat's Silverstream in the Lotto Premier Secondary Schoolboys tournament in Napier, McGlashan had spoken too soon.

The visitors broke the deadlock in the dying minute and hugged for joy as a frustrated McGlashan kicked a drink bottle into touch in the nearby ditch in disgust.

It was a brother act that brought grief to the Napier schoolboys.

Silverstream seventh-former Hamish Watson, a midfielder favouring the stiff breeze behind him at Park Island, struck the ball from an acute angle from the right flank but NBHS goalkeeper Ethan Williams was equal to the occasion - diving and parrying the ball to the left.

However, the keeper watched helplessly as Watson's younger brother, Lachlan, a fourth-former, pounced on the ball at the far post and jabbed it into the net for the winner to prompt rapturous celebrations and bear hugs from the Wellingtonians.

A dejected NBHS outfit had made a promising start with the wind in the first half, with Central League player Andy Bevin slotting a goal in just 56 seconds, according to the referee's official time, after receiving a through ball from midfielder Hamish Lewis to leave vocal Silverstream goalkeeper Scott Basalaj diving in vain.

The score remained 1-0 until St Pat's balanced the ledger in the 59th minute when midfielder Mitchell Blair latched on to the ball after a pin-ball passage of play from a James Vernon cornerkick.

McGlashan played down the wind factor after NBHS won the toss and elected to play with the wind behind their backs in the first half.

"We don't play well on boggy pitches because we prefer to push the ball around on hard surfaces," he lamented.

While the surface was sticky, both teams made unforced errors, coughing up possession at crucial times on attack as players tended to dribble when the first option was to pass.

NBHS defender Adam Chandler was slick in defence, showing his Federation League experience.

McGlashan thought life would be difficult but that was before he heard Christchurch Boys' High beat Rangitoto (Auckland) 2-0 on the adjacent pitch.

Rangitoto had pipped Silverstream 1-0 in the morning.

It's do-or-die for NBHS at 2pm today against Bevin's school team from last year, Rangitoto, if they are to make the play-offs in pool C. They finished 20th out of 32 schools in last year's tourney in Nelson.

In the morning game, NBHS midfielder Kentaro Oku, 17, a Japanese exchange pupil, was the hero after the hosts found themselves 2-0 down at halftime against Christchurch.

The Napier City Rovers Reserves Fed League player from Tokyo struck twice to keep them in the competition.

The sixth-former from Ikubunkan High School said he wasn't good enough to make representative teams in his country.

"I'm physically too small," he told SportToday with a grin but revealed the Japanese were taught to play the sport differently.

"There's more skill there and we're more organised and we make short, sharp passes.

"Over here, they are not selfish but they are selfish ... know what I mean?"

Oku, who arrived here in February and leaves in December, enjoyed NBHS team's energy.