Struggling City need change of fortune

The Chatham Cup will be sideline at Links Ave on Sunday. Photo/Photosport

Tauranga City United will hope having one of New Zealand's most iconic sporting trophies pitchside on Sunday will inspire them to end a horror run of league defeats.

The ISPS Handa Chatham Cup will be sideline on Sunday at Links Ave for Tauranga City's round one tie with Waiheke Island that kicks off at 2pm.

The Chatham Cup dates back to 1923. The impressive trophy was gifted to the New Zealand Football Association in 1922 by the crew of HMS Chatham in appreciation for the hospitality they had encountered on a visit to New Zealand.

It is modelled on the famous English FA Cup, with the same format of knock-out football all the way to a grand final.

With Tauranga City defeated in four of their last five games in the Northern League First Division, and leaking 19 goals in their last three, the iconic piece of silverware on the touchline can only bring better luck.

Tauranga City coach Barry Gardiner says "it will be nice for the Cup to be there and for the boys to get a view of it".

"It might give a couple of players a little bit of inspiration to push on and hopefully we can have a good run in the Cup this year."

Gardiner is working overtime to sort out his team's defence after successive defeats over the last three weekends.

"We have had lapses of concentration, individual errors that are costing us. I think it is not that we are playing too bad, especially when we have got the ball, but certainly we are struggling when we lose the ball," he said.

"To be honest it has been pace causing us problems. If we give the ball away cheaply in certain areas, there is space in behind us for them to exploit and they certainly have been doing that.

"It is something we have tried to work on in training sessions and hopefully we will address that sooner than later."

The Chatham Cup will be sideline at Links Ave on Sunday. Photo/Photosport

Waiheke Island will be no pushovers on Sunday.

They are unbeaten in second place in the Northern League Second Division and have a decided Latin American flair to their play.

"It could be a potential banana skin. They have done well and will be full of confidence. The majority of their players are South American so I imagine they will be good technically and have a bit of flair so we will need to be careful," Gardiner said.

No Tauranga or Mount Maunganui club has ever won the Chatham Cup.

Tauranga City made the 2002 final before losing 0-2 away to Napier City Rovers and in 2014 had a good cup run through to the fourth round.

Mount Maunganui lost a controversial two-leg final against national league side North Shore United in 1986. Mount won 1-0 in the opening away leg but fell 1-4 at home in the second leg. Two leg finals were then scrapped for good.