Chatham Cup Quarter Finals this weekend
Western Suburbs (CL - Champions) v Bay Olympic (NLP - currently 7th)
Saturday 5th August, Endavour Park, KO 2pm
How they got here
Bay Olympic - Beat fellow Northern premier Forrest Hill-Milford United 3-1, snuck past Hamilton Wanderers 4-2 on pens after a 2-2 draw and fought of a spirited challenge from Northen Div 1 Western Springs to win 3-2
Western Suburbs - by scoring lots of goals, 26 in 4 games! 7-0 v Wainui, 7-1 v Napier Marist, 7-0 v Petone and 5-1 v Stop Out
Previous Chatham Cup Meetings - Never played
Best Performance
Western Suburbs – Won x3 (1935 (as Hospital), 1971, 2006)
Bay Olympic – Runners Up in 2010
My Pick - Western Suburbs to continue their unbeaten run
Nelson
Suburbs (MPL - 3rd) v Cashmere Technical (MPL - 1st)
Sunday 6th August, Saxton Field, KO 1pm
How they got here
Cashmere Technical - 3-1 over Western before 2 big wins over Parklands (8-0) & Nomads United (7-0) then a 2-0 win over Dunedin's Caversham (only their 2nd loss in 2 years)
Nelson Suburbs - back in the cup after a 4 year break as they didn't want the extra cost of cup games (of course they were rewarded with a trip to Queenstown!) beat FC Nelson 6-1, Marlborough's Central Pirates 5-0, Coastal Spirit 1-0 then Queenstown Rovers 6-1
Previous Chatham Cup meetings
2012 Cashmere Technical 2 Nelson Suburbs 0
Best Performance
Nelson Suburbs – Semi Finalists in 2008
Cashmere Technical – Won twice in a row in 2013 & 2014
My Pick - Nelson Suburbs, because I used to watch them when I lived in Nelson
Central United (NPL - 4th) v Wairarapa United (CL - 2nd)
Sunday 6th August, Kiwitea Street, Auckland KO 2pm
How they got here -
Central United - all games against lower league opposition, 7-0 v Waitemata, 4-1 v Takapuna and 4-0 v North Shore
Wairarapa United - beat Island Bay 4-2, won a cup classic 5-4 aet over Napier City Rovers and beat Miramar 2-1
Previous Chatham Cup meetings - Never played
Best performance
Central United – Won x5 (1997,98,05,07,12)
Wairarapa United – Won in 2011
Central v Wairarapa or Auckland City v Tasman United? Both teams packed with National League players, both have nothing to play for in the league and everything to play for in the cup, both previous winners, this has all the ingredients for a cup classic
My Pick - Central in extra time
Birkenhead United (NPL-2nd) v Onehunga Sports (NPL-1st)
Sunday 6th August, Shepards Park, Auckland, KO 2pm
How they got here
Onehunga Sports - couple of big wins, 6-1 over Tauranga City United, 5-0 over Hibiscus Coast before beating Melville 1-0
Birkenhead United - 4-0 over local rivals Glenfield Rovers, 3-1 over East Coast Bays and 2-1 over Three Kings United
Previous Chatham Cup meetings (Onehunga Sports were known as Cornwall until 1986)
1981 Birkenhead United 4 Cornwall 0
1984 Birkenhead United 2 Cornwall 1
1991 Onehunga Sports 3 Birkenhead United 0
Best performance
Onehunga Sports – Semi finalists in 2014
Birkenhead United – last season when they won the cup for the first time
Northern Premier 1st v 2nd, another with potential for a cup classic, just a shame they scheduled the game at the same time as the Central-Rapa one. Only Birkenhead's 2nd home cup game in 2 seasons, although in the 8 away games they have had in that time they have traveled 110kms! which is a little bit less than Nelson Suburbs had to travel in the last round to play Queenstown Rovers!
My Pick - Birkenhead as they have the home advantadge