A late pair of goals to Greyfriars Motel Greytown FC leading scorer Josh Stevenson, held off a strong challenge from visitors North Wellington, outlasting them to win 4-3 at Soldiers Memorial Park on Saturday to keep alive their hopes of promotion.

Greytown hit the ground running early and goals to skipper Jarrod MacDonald and Gareth Gwyther had the home side on course for a win but two defensive errors let the visitors back into the game and a 2 all halftime score.

North Wellington lost their goalkeeper to a first half injury and with an outfield player taking over, Greytown weren’t able to test him on a regular enough basis and with both sides pressing forward searching for the win, something had to break and Stevenson’s goals in the 78^th and 86^th minute seemed to seal the game for the home team, but a free kick in the final minutes to the visitors found its way into the net off MacDonald’s head to set up the grandstand finish.

With a vocal home crowd spurring them on, Greytown held on for the win on a soggy and bumpy Soldiers Memorial Park to stay ahead of the chasing pack in second place behind Upper Hutt City.

Outside of the goalscorers, Greytown midfielders Harvey Parker and Nik Finlay were outstanding along with forward Landon Palmer, while Max Mitchell and fullback Alex Penman provided much needed solidarity at the back.

With four games to go, including a home game against Upper Hutt, Greytown are in a prime spot to secure back to back promotions for the second year in a row and will look to consolidate their position with a visit to Victoria University Reserves this coming Saturday.

Article added: Sunday 09 July 2023