Tauranga City see off Ellerslie

Tauranga City notched their third win of the 2018 NRFL campaign with a 2-1 victory over Ellerslie at Links Ave on Saturday.

The win saw City leapfrog the visitors into eighth place in the Division One table, after Jay Silcock grabbed a late winner.

Playing into a stiff breeze in the first-half, Tauranga shaded the early stages of the game and moved the ball around with purpose.

Chances fell to Luke Woolerton, Andy Carter and Riley Bidois as well as Silcock, while at the other end, City stopper Tom Pamment was called into action following a stray back pass to keep the scores level.

But he was beaten in the 19th minute when a free-kick to the visitors just outside the penalty area bounced awkwardly in front of Pamment, and Art Twigg was quickest to react to put Ellerslie one up.

Their lead, however, was cancelled out eight minutes before the break when a well-hit corner from Carter was fumbled into the net by Ellerslie's goalkeeper with a number of City players close by.

The home side maintained possession well after the break, and Woolerton worked an early chance after battling for a 50/50 ball inside the box before seeing his lob miss target.

As the game wore on, the likes of Jonny Routledge and Sam O'Regan grew in stature, while a City back line of Andy Smith, Ray How, Will Cleague and Yago Zavoluk kept their cool as the visitors looked to counter.

All that was missing was a winner, and Silcock duly obliged with just six minutes remaining.

There looked little danger when Pamment's long punt found Bidois, but after he turned his marker, his cutback from the byline found Silcock, who finished neatly to make it 2-1.

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