Ōhope Sharks new recruit Ben Howe is turning out to be a pretty successful off-season signing for the club.

Ōhope, who are in their second season as an adult men’s team in the Baywide league, have started 2025 in strong fashion, netting two first up victories, with
Howe banging home five goals from the first two matches.

Howe scored the first goal of the contest against Katikati at Moore Road in the 28th minute, with both teams sharing chances until the 41st minute, when the home side managed to find the back of the Ōhope net to level the scores at halftime.

In the second stanza, Ōhope came out firing and played a lot of quality football, however, it wasn’t until the 68th minute that they managed to regain the lead through a goal to Ricardo Gomez Da Silva.

The Sharks, who play in the Bay 2 league, continued attacking the Katikati goal, looking to seal the result, and managed to do so through Howe, who bagged his second in the win.

It was a good performance from the Sharks and leaves them at the top of the standings.

At Waipuna Park in Tauranga, a new ground for Whakatāne Town, they managed two late goals to share the spoils with Waipuna Rangers in their Baywide division 1 clash.

A goal five minutes before the teams went into halftime saw the home side ahead.

They doubled their lead in the 70th minute, before Town, who are a lot fitter this year than in the past, came to life in the final 10 minutes and bagged two goals.

The first went to Nathan White, who was outstanding all contest, and the equaliser came three minutes later when Brendan Mitchell found some space and scored.
Town will have been happy to return to Whakatāne with one point and currently sit second in the standings after two matches.

In the other Baywide division two clash, Plains Rangers bagged an impressive 4-0 win at home against Papamoa Bay 2.

Ben McPherson opened the scoring after nine minutes, before three goals in the space of seven minutes in the second half took the life out of the visitors.

Oliver Fort doubled Rangers’ lead to 2-0 before Benjamin Burr made it 3-0, then Rangers veteran James Hart added a fourth to ice the win.

In the Baywide division 3 clash at Tarawera Park in Kawerau, the home side picked up their first win of the season, a 4-1 victory against Tauranga Blue Rovers.
Goals came from Robbie Mitchell, Hori Richmond, Matt McKeown and Regan Conn.

Dan Hay had an outstanding game for Kawerau.

Kawerau dominated the first half to be up by three before giving away a penalty on halftime, which the visitors nailed.

Matt McKeown and Saveth Pon caused the visitors problems all game.

In the over 35s division, it was a tough day out for the Whakatāne Town team as they were hammered 7-0 at home.

Next up they face Ngongotaha at Rex Morpeth Park.

The teams get a two-week hiatus now as Easter and Anzac weekend mean no games until May 3.

Whakatāne Town Bay 1 will battle Otumoetai, while Ōhope host Plains Rangers and Kawerau face Papamoa.

In the women’s division, Whakatāne Town had the bye, while Plains Rangers women managed a 1-0 away win with Danielle Haldane scoring the winner.

It was an impressive performance from the Rangers women, who have struggled away from Edgecumbe Domain in the past.

Women’s football returns on May 4, with Whakatāne Town away to Papamoa Legends and Plains Rangers hosting Waiariki FC.