FC Nelson have fallen agonisingly short of progressing to the final playoff game for promotion to the Southern Premier Football League, losing 4-3 on penalties at Guppy Park in Nelson today.
Taking a 3-2 advantage into the second leg of the tie against Canterbury champions Waimak United, FC Nelson's fortunes swung back and forth in an open and entertaining game this afternoon.
Waimak were first to score but Phun Lian pulled the hosts level before Van Roland Hlawnceu gave FC Nelson essentially a two-goal buffer. But with 20 minutes to go Waimak staged a fightback, scoring two second half goals to take a 3-2 lead at full time, drawing the scores level across the two legs at 5 each.
So the game headed to extra time and when Waimak scored a stunning strike from outside the box it seemed all-but-over for FC Nelson. Then star player TJ Hansen bent a ball around the wall from a free kick in the final minute of extra time to send the game to penalties.
FC Nelson's outstanding young keeper Charlie Calderbank saved one but it wasn't enough with only Hansen, Labu Pan and Chris Main netting for the hosts, giving Waimak a stunning win.
FC Nelson coach Paul Brydon was red-carded in the 20th minute, his assistant Mark Johnston wasn't able to take the field due to injury, so stepped into the head coach role mid-game. He says it was a "cruel" way to get knocked out.
"That's penalties, if you don't take your chances it turns into the roulette wheel. But we're pretty proud of our effort over two legs. We didn't take our chances today and they did."
He says, despite the loss, he felt today was a better performance than the first leg.
"I thought we really took it to them and it's tough, we now have the whole summer to stew on it. We know we're at that level [Southern League], it's now just about getting over that final hump [to qualify]."
Waimak United will now play a game against Wanaka next week with the winner earning promotion to the Southern Premier League for 2025.
FC Nelson chair Phil Thompson was gutted with the nature of the loss but says the result won't change the trajectory the club is on, and they will try to qualify again next season.
"It's heartbreaking, yeah, but we're only going to get better. We're getting the right coaches to invest in the kids and when you get as many people here today, it shows that we can do it.
"We will set up the first team in the same way as we would have done if we were playing in the Southern League, same format, from the kids, through the college and to the senior teams."
