Chatham Cup and Central League Round 13

Miramar continued its fine attacking form of recent weeks destroying Napier City Rovers 5-0 on Saturday in the Chatham Cup.  Although only a small crowd was on hand after the match was transferred to Endeavour Park, the match had the feel of a cup tie.  The first half was punctuated by strong tackles, most notably by the diminutive Miramar midfielder, Keiichi Nguyen.  Miramar started well in the wet conditions and could have taken the lead early, Matt Keane�s fine lead-up work let down by a weak shot.  Minutes later Keane crossed for Nguyen whose close range header was inches wide.  Napier struggled to keep up with Miramar�s slick passing but their direct attacking style was dangerous in the conditions.  Sacha Nathu got down well to a Chris McIvor shot after the striker was released on goal and Nathu was a relieved man soon after as a he dropped the striker�s tame header but watched it drift wide of the post.  At the other end Miramar lacked an end product as Dominic Rowe and David Batty got themselves into good scoring positions.  Rowe hit the side netting after cutting in from the left and Batty headed over from close range.  Miramar were completely dominant as the half drew to a close and Batty�s left footed drive skidded narrowly wide just before the break.

The second half was more of the same with Miramar failing to convert its chances, battering the Napier back four including Perry Cotton.  Dominic Rowe created space for himself with a clever turn on the edge of the box, but his left footed shot was turned away.  However, the deadlock was broken with twenty minutes to go, Michael Woodside�s first time cross was headed in athletically at the back post by a flying Rowe.  Tim Butterfield made it two soon after, picking his spot well after being found inside the box by a square ball from Rowe in the right hand channel.  His enthusiastic celebration, although not containing any backflips, showed how much this game meant to the Miramar players.  The sting had gone out of Napier�s game by now and Rowe got his second, capitalising after Napier�s goal keeper spilled a twenty five yard Butterfield free kick.  Butterfield got his second when his shot took a wicked deflection from outside the box and Rowe completed a fine hattrick with ten to go, clipping past the keeper one on one after being through put up the middle.  Napier struggled to create chances and to get their danger man Graham Fyfe involved in the game and Dominic Rowe, drifting wide into the channels, was too much for their back line to handle.  Michael Woodside got up and down the right flank well and was a reassuring presence throughout.

Wests set up a dream quarterfinal tie with their cross town rivals, doing it the hard way against giant killers Wairarapa United.  The home side started the stronger and Fijian import Lai Gatarua was brought down in the box after half an hour, referee Jamie Cross having no hesitation in awarding the home side a penalty.  Phil Imray got a hand to captain Peter Rabo's spot kick but couldn�t prevent the ball finding the back of the net.  After the break the return of injured Wests midfielder Darren Cheriton in the unfamiliar position of striker changed the game and he equalised for the visitors with quarter of an hour of regulation time remaining.  Both teams were then reduced to 10 men when Adam Birch (dissent) and Lai Gatarua (late challenge) were dismissed by Cross.  Wairarapas�s Fijian quartet and their Czech import Petero Dauniseka began to tire as the game went to extra time after causing the West's defence numerous problems throughout the match.  Rupert Ryan, who was only rated 50/50 by Matt Calcott on Saturday, was introduced in extra time and he scored with his first touch only to be judged offside, and was duly booked for remonstrating with the officials. Ryan then scored five minutes later from a perfectly flighted Cheriton free kick to take the champions through to the quarter finals.

In the Central League, Olympic got out of jail against Team Taranaki in New Plymouth on Sunday.  Leading two nil after a strong first half showing, Olympic allowed the amber and blacks to draw level before sneaking a late winner.  Mickey Maliuvik volleyed home after Jamie O�Connor�s header from a Mikey Halikias was saved by goal keeper Jeff Yates and O�Connor made it 2-0 just four minutes later, heading home from a corner.  With conditions worsening Taranaki attacked in the second spell and Nick Betteridge got his side back into the match 20 minutes into the second half, converting a Mark Bland cross.  Taranaki kept fighting and levelled the scores with just five minutes to go, Jared McElhannan, on debut, heading home for what his side thought was a valuable point.  However, it wasn�t to be as a Taranaki mistake inside its own half left Anthony Neonakis with just the keeper to beat and he made no mistake to take all three points.

Finally, Wellington United came back from two goals down to share the points with Palmerston North Marist on Saturday.  Newtown Park was in a soggy state and the match could have been abandoned but was played and an entertaining encounter was experienced by a few hardy souls.  Marist took the lead shortly before half time when Steve Tippet�s left footed shot from outside the box found its way into the back of the net.  United fell further behind in the second spell, goalkeeper Nick Tarrant a victim of the conditions when he slipped trying to clear a long punt by the Marist stopper leaving Phil Rayburn to side foot home into an empty net.  Ed Perryman headed home from a corner for United to get them back into the game and Steve Dornan equalised soon after to take a point from the match. 

I've said before that I can't be everywhere but one place I certainly can't be is Auckland, bit tough!