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The Mangawhai Football Club Men’s First team has finished fourth in its first season in the Northern Football Federation (NFF) Northland First Division.
Mangawhai left the Rodney Otamatea Soccer Association competition last year.
Coach and player Matt Rowe says the team performed well overall.
“A lot of our players hadn’t competed at this level before so to start in the First Division and be competitive was great,” Matt says.
“We played each team twice and got a better result in the second match every time.
“A highlight for us was only just losing 4-3 to the top side Tikipunga after they beat us 5-1 earlier in the competition.”
Matt says the team’s structure has also developed well and fluidity on the pitch was good towards the end of the season.
This carried through into the team’s last match, a new tie against Bream Bay for the Brynderwyn Cup that Mangawhai club won overall.
“We took out our fixture 4-2 with some of the best football we’ve played this year.
“The standout player this season was Sid Pederson, our defensive mid-fielder, for the way he controlled the games.”
Matt says he isn’t sure if Mangawhai will move into a different league next year.
“Depending on what sort of squad we have and how the competitions are organised, we might move to another NFF division.
“Our 17th Grade team won its competition this year so we are hoping some good talent will join the men’s team from there.”
The club will also launch a campaign next year to try and increase registration numbers.
