Melville had a weekend to remember on May 18-19, with both the men's and women's northern league teams registering home wins against higher-ranked opposition.

And with rising teenage stars shining with the decisive goals in both cases.

On Saturday night Melville beat Bay Olympic in the northern premier league with 17-year-old Thomas Cave (pictured above) scoring what proved to be the winner in the eighth minute against opposition which started the match in sixth place.

Then on Sunday Melville women notched their first win of the season in the northern league championship with a 2-1 victory over second-placed Onehunga Sports. Laura Bennett (pictured above), 15, scored the winner in the 61st minute after Miche Cloete, also 15, had put Melville ahead in the eighth minute.

Melville's win over Bay Olympic was desperately needed, given they had started the day at 11th in the league, and had lost their previous seven matches - a club record of consecutive losses at northern premier level.

For striker Cave it also marked his first start in a northern league match after nine appearances as a sub this season, and four last season. The goal was his second of the campaign making him top-equal in the team's golden boot race.

Cave gave a fine all-round showing in the match, while the whole team stepped up.

Seasoned watchers were pleased to report it looked like "a proper Melville team".

Incidentally, Cave is the son of Nicolai Helwig, who played as striker for Melville from 2000-2002, making 47 appearances and scoring 14 goals.

Other feature of the night was assistant coach Aaron Folan making his playing debut.

In a match which featured 20 minutes of extra time, largely due to a floodlight failure during the second half, Folan, a Scottish-born 27-year-old, came on in the 106th minute for short-staffed Melville (and was soon booked).

Ry McLeod and Jack McGovern have left the club, with exciting replacements due to be named.

Melville men are away to East Coast Bays, two points below them on the table, on Saturday at 3pm.

Melville women are sixth on the table, are away to Manukau united at 1pm on Sunday at Walter Massey Park, 1pm.

Article added: Thursday 23 May 2024