With a national league programme that involves up to 6,000kms of travel for some players, WaiBOP are looking forward to their first home match of this season’s ASB Women’s League.
Squad members are spread throughout the region – from as far afield as Whakatane, Rotorua, Tauranga and Hamilton – and a big part of the team’s training and match schedule is the players’ willingness to travel.
The squad is itching to play before home fans and they get the chance this Sunday when Capital Football do the travelling to meet WaiBOP at St Peter’s School on the outskirts of Cambridge.
Capital won their opening fixture 3-0, at home to Auckland, while WaiBOP picked up a useful point when they scored twice in the final four minutes of their match against Central in Palmerston North, earning a 2-2 draw.
After the match WaiBOP Football’s head coach, Simon Mead, was honest in his appraisal of his side’s performance.
“We didn’t play well so I’m pleased we managed to get a point, even though we probably didn’t deserve it,” said Mead.
“We’ve got a bit to work on at training this week and I’m sure we’ll put in a much improved performance this weekend.”
Since the season opener, Mead’s squad has trained at Tauranga and at Cambridge, drawing on the lessons of last week. A couple of players will face end-of-week fitness tests but midfielder Bertie Wigelsworth (pictured) is a confirmed non-starter, having not recovered from a knock received in the recent pre-season win against New Zealand Under 17s.
Sunday’s match kicks off at 1.00pm.
