Nomads make best possible start to both halves

No team wants to concede a goal in the opening five minutes.

The Dunedin City Royals will be ruing their poor start after allowing Nomads in for an early goal.

Nomads hit them with the same formula to start the second half and claim a 2-0 win in Christchurch on Saturday.

It marks the second loss to open the Royals’ Southern League season, but there are still some promising signs.

The Royals were searching for their entry to goal when Nomads cleared the ball down the field and caught the Royals off-guard.

Flynn Holdem took the ball down the left for Nomads and took it right to the box.

While his attempt was saved, it fell for Angus McIntyre, who finished off for Nomads to lead 1-0 after just four minutes.

Royals captain Hayden Aish was lively in the middle and won most challenges, but the Royals really struggled to get any continuity or make their passes stick.

One of their better opportunities came near the end of the first half but Aish’s attempt went rolling down the right.

All the momentum was with Nomads as they went into the break a goal up and came out of the sheds firing.

McIntyre put a nice ball through the left for Holdem to collect at the left of the box.

He sent his cross inside to Harry Bushell, who connected his header to drop down in front of goal for McIntyre to score his second.

It was a well-constructed goal inside the opening two minutes of the second half and left the Royals wounded.

The Royals are back home this weekend for their first game at Tahuna Park against Ferrymead Bays.

Ferrymead had a narrow 4-3 loss to favourites Christchurch United, Selwyn United sneaked a 2-1 win over University of Canterbury, Cashmere Technical thumped FC Twenty11 12-0, and Nelson Suburbs and Coastal Spirit battled to a 3-3 draw.