Earth is a ball with Isla Ganley Young Journalist

I'm Isla Ganley from Tauranga City AFC. I'm 11 years old and I'm heading to Russia in June as a young journalist to report on ‘Football for Friendship' (F4F) in Moscow in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup 2018. The aim of the F4F programme is to promote values embodied by football with the younger generation such as respect for other cultures and nationalities, as well as equality.

We leave for Russia early June but in the meantime I'm working on my skills as a journalist with media mentors from SunLive, Tauranga City AFC and Football Music Culture to write some match reports for my home club. Here is my latest match report:

Photos: Warren Ormsby.

19 MAY 2018, TAURANGA - On a gloomy Saturday afternoon Tauranga City AFC faced off at their home ground of Links Ave against Waiheke United. When the referee blew the whistle, the game was on!

The gloominess of the weather was replaced by a festive vibe from Waiheke who bring a global flavor to New Zealand football with players from Argentina, Spain, France, Uruguay and Japan playing in the side which gained promotion to the NRFL Division 1 this season after a successful 2017 campaign.

The first half was really tight, with both teams having an even number of shots on goal but no one scoring. With 30 seconds to go in the first half, TCAFC player Sam O'Regan got his second yellow card in the game forcing him from the field. Tauranga City's coach Nicholas Millichip felt this was the pivotal point in the game.

As expected, with one extra player, Waiheke United dominated the possession in the second half, forcing TCAFC to do a lot of extra running. Waiheke United scored the first goal from an amazing cross from the left that was connected at the far post and it flew into the goal. From then Waiheke United were playing with the ball a lot more, scoring two more goals and the final score was 3 – 0 to Waiheke United.

Waiheke United captain Tom Shaw thought that in the first half they were still in first gear 'we were very average and we did not really stick to our game plan”. He thought that the second half was much better and implemented what they had been working on during the year.

Tauranga City AFC captain Raymond How thought that they played really well in the first half, but found it hard when they went down to 10 men. He singled out Andrew Carter as having his best game of the season so far and the front three for 'working their socks off”. He said that the international players in the opposition brings a different flair, which is good for the competition.

Next weeks games see TCAFC take on the current leaders of Lotto NRFL Melville (at Gower Park in Hamilton) and Waiheke United play a home game against Mt Albert.