The Tupapa Maraerenga FC Premier Men’s have once again taken the title of Round Cup Champions this year after winning the title in 2019. The Tupapa Men’s team have had an outstanding season this year, carrying over 11 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss as of Saturday’s match against Titikaveka.
On Saturday, the Titikaveka and Tupapa Premier Men’s played an outstanding 90 mins of football during Round 14 of the 2020 season. The first half of the match saw Tupapa’s Paavo Mustonen put the first point on the board for the Tupapa team giving them the lead in the first half.
As the second half was underway, Tupapa went on to score another two more goals midway through the second half from Anthony Samuela and Frances Terepo. This gave the Tupapa a comfortable 3 – 0 lead on the Titikaveka side and the match seemed to be set for a Tupapa win. But Titikaveka were not ready to give up just yet. Titikaveka’s ‘Action Man’ Akiona Tairi along with the support of his fellow team mates came back firing and managed to level the score at 3 all with less than 10 mins remaining in the second half. Titikaveka were high on the attack and ready to put another one in the back of the net, before Paavo Mustonen came swooping in to secure one last blow in the final 5 mins of the match to lead Tupapa to their 11thvictory. After the match the Tupapa Maraerenga Men’s team was handed back the Van’s Premier Men Round Cup Trophy to hold on to until next year.
In the other Premier Men’s match that was played on Friday. Puaikura FC visited Nikao Sokattak to battle it out for second place on the leaderboard. Steven Willis scored the opening goal for the Nikao team in the first 5mins of the match to give Nikao a lead for the first half. Puaikura’s Campbell Best returned the favour by firing one away to the back of the net, raising morale for the Puaikura side. A draw looked set in stone at that point as the match was approaching its last few minutes. Both teams had fought effortlessly, but Nikao’s Julius David managed to find just that extra bit of a boost that Nikao needed to secure their final goal for the match giving Nikao a 2 to 1 win over the Puaikura side.
Round 14 Results
Nikao Sokattak FC vs Puaikura FC
U7: 3 – 1
U9: 1 – 0
U12: 0 – 1
U14 Boys: 0 – 1
U15 Girls: 0 – 3
U17 Men: 2 – 0
Senior Women: 0 – 0
Premier Men: 2 – 1
Tupapa Maraerenga FC vs Titikaveka FC
U7: 4 – 1
U9: 1 – 0
U12: 2 – 0
U14 Boys: 0 – 0
U15 Girls: 3 – 0
U17 Men: 4 – 0
Senior Women: 1 – 0
Premier Men: 4 – 3
Avatiu FC vs Matavera Ngatangiia FC
U7: 4 – 0
U9: 5 – 1
U12: 1 – 1
U14 Boys: 2 – 0
U15 Girls: 1 – 1
U17 Men: 0 – 1
Senior Women: 2 – 1
Premier Men: 2 – 1
