Red-hot form in front of goal has seen Napier City Rovers rise to fourth in football’s Central League.
And as they head into a three-week stint where they’ll face the league’s top two teams – Wellington Phoenix Reserves and Wellington Olympic – one of the Bluewater Stadium-based team’s sharpshooters has opened up about how the side’s attack has fired into action in spectacular style.
Their last two league matches resulted in a 5-0 win over Waterside Karori and then a 5-1 win over Whanganui Athletic.
The flurry of goals now sees them having scored 18 in the first six rounds of the season, and places them second on the goal-scoring ladder behind table-topping Wellington Olympic, who have scored 24 goals; an average of four a match.
The golden goal-scoring form over the past two weeks comes after a frustrating start to the season for Napier City Rovers where they were unable to turn dominance on the pitch into dominance on the scoreboard.
Forward Deri Corfe – who spent six seasons on Manchester City’s books as a youth player – said it was pleasing hard work on the training pitch centred around taking chances was paying off, as well as improved composure in front of goal.
“We were always creating chances.
“But the more you keep getting into those positions, you become more familiar and comfortable. Maybe in the first few games, we were a bit more sporadic with our shots, not quite as calm and composed [as we needed to be].
“In the last few games we seemed a bit more composed, and chances just keep coming. Even if you miss one, you are always thinking that one of the lads will create something ... you know that a chance will come.”
Corfe is joint second on the Central League’s golden boot ladder, with five goals.
Teammate Jonny McNamara – who was voted last season’s Central League MVP – tops the list with six goals, while fellow Rover Christian Leopard is joint third with four goals.
Corfe said he believed he and McNamara had formed a strong combination, spearheading the team’s attack.
“Three points for a win is most important - it doesn’t matter who scores the goals.”
Corfe arrived in Napier about a month before the Central League kicked off in late March.
He said he had settled into Hawke’s Bay well, saying his new teammates had been hugely welcoming and the coaching team – led by head coach Bill Robertson – had “let me play the way I like to play”.
Away from his own playing and training commitments, Corfe is coaching Napier City Rovers’ under-15 side, as well as at Hastings’ St John’s College.
Corfe’s family back in England also followed the 25-year-old’s progress, including watching live streams of Central League matches.
This weekend will see them tune into a live stream from Bluewater Stadium as Napier City Rovers take on second-placed Wellington Phoenix Reserves on Sunday afternoon.
It is the first of two matches spaced over three weekends – with the middle weekend a league bye period due to the preliminary rounds of the Chatham Cup – which will see Corfe and his teammates take on the league’s top two teams.
On April 20 - after the bye from league and cup action - they travel to the capital to play league-leading Wellington Olympic.
They were challenges Corfe said he was looking forward to.
“We know if we can get two big performances against Wellington Phoenix and then Wellington Olympic, then we are right in amongst it and where we want to be,” he said.
“It is massive.”
“The lads are telling me about the names of the teams and who is there, and I am like, ‘Boys, we have got every chance of going well and beating these [teams]’. Like you say, they have two arms and two legs [like us].
“It is a football game at the end of the day, and I really back us. I really like those types of games ... I wouldn’t say we are underdogs, but if there is a name about them [the opposition], I really get joy in thinking that we can go and turn over a team.”
Napier City Rovers v Wellington Phoenix Reserves
Kick-off: 2pm, Sunday May 7, Bluewater Stadium