A late strike broke Rotorua United AFC hearts as the local team crashed out of the Chatham Cup.
United lost 2-1 to South Auckland Rangers at Neil Hunt Park - with Rangers captain Mnit Krishna scoring in the 90th minute of the game, to snatch victory in the preliminary round of the Northern region games in the ISPS Handa competition yesterday. The Rotorua side had been leading after a well taken Fabrizio Gonzalez second half goal, but spurred on after a Rangers equaliser from the penalty spot, Krishna sealed United's fate in the dying stages.
United captain Hayden Eldridge said a lack of clinical finishing after his side's first goal let the team down.
"It's pretty disappointing. We had the opportunity to take the game and we didn't quite take our chances and take it out and it cost us in the end," he said.
"The result was a bit harsh. We could have had a few calls go our way, they could have had a few calls go their way ... We tried hard all game, just that one moment and they took their chance."
After a tense first half with little chances created the home side came out the stronger team from the restart. In-form striker Harawera Smith should have given United the lead early on in the second half but his low drive saw a smart save from the Rangers' keeper.
Smith redeemed himself shortly after. He provided excellent link-up play with Argentinian player Gonzalez who calmly slotted into the bottom right corner after 54 minutes.
The game turned into a heated affair with challenges flying in left, right and centre for the next 20 minutes. United created plenty of chances but failed to hit the target.
The home side's lack of finishing came back to haunt them when a defensive lapse gifted Rangers a chance from the penalty spot with 10 minutes to go.
United's heads dropped after the ball just escaped the grasp of a close Andrew Gibbs in goal. The game looked like it would head into extra time before the ball broke through to Krishna in the box, who crashed a shot past a diving Gibbs.
"The game was really hard for our boys and I'm just thankful for this kind of result," said Rangers player-coach Thabiso Tleane.
"The equaliser brought us back and gave us hope that we could go on and win the game. We then had the confidence to come back to the game. We came with a positive attitude and he finished well there."
United coach Ian Walker said conceding a penalty hurt his team.
"The penalty definitely had an effect but that's the way it goes sometimes and when you're leading you have to have that second goal," he said.
"If we had put a second goal in the back of the net before the penalty it wouldn't have mattered. But the boys did really well."
Walker's focus has now turned back to the WaiBOP Premiership and his side's next game against Taupo AFC Premiership, who beat Otumoetai 4-1 in their Chatham Cup match on Saturday, on the weekend.
"The league is the most important thing for me. Chatham Cup is great but we know you can only get so far from this level. This week we just have to work a little bit on the combinations and finishing. We had several strikes on goal but we just used the wrong option slightly or didn't quite finish how we should have."
ISPS Handa Chatham Cup Northern region preliminary round results:
Taupo 4 Otumoetai 1
Rotorua United 1 South Auckland Rangers 2
Waikato Unicol AFC 3 Tauranga Old Blues 0
Tokoroa 1 Cambridge 4
Matamata 3 Internationale 3 (Matamata won 5-4 in extra time)
Auckland Wanderers 3 Te Awamutu AFC 1
Kiwi True Blues FC 4 Central Brown 0